Abstract
This research aims to investigate the social experiences of Nigerian film audiences in viewing centers to examine the possibility that social experiences are a potent influencer of the meaning construction process in the film viewing space. This study was conducted among other existing studies of the Nigerian film audience and it took on a performative approach. It involved the use of ethnography and unstructured interviews. The study examined Nollywood viewing center audiences during their shared practice of film viewing. Observing these audiences revealed several ways in which audiences negotiate meanings within the viewing center space from film texts based on their social identity and actual social experiences. It majorly revealed that viewers develop interpersonal understanding of each other’s similar relevant social situations through self-identification and then use this understanding in the interpretive process of meaning production.
Highlights
The first experience in film screening for Nigerian audiences was in 1903 at the Glover Memorial Hall, and the audience was deeply fascinated (Uchegbu, 1992)
To obtain detailed accounts of audiences’ negotiating meaning during the process of film viewing, and to avoid culturally ingenuous generalizations, data were collected through active participant observation and unstructured interviews during the process of film viewing in a viewing center
The viewing center audiences in this study expressed displeasure on the juxtaposition they perceived between the fantasy world in the films they watched and their real daily lives, which according to Koestler (1964) creates a dichotomy of meanings which are sometimes decided both collectively and independently
Summary
The first experience in film screening for Nigerian audiences was in 1903 at the Glover Memorial Hall, and the audience was deeply fascinated (Uchegbu, 1992). Film was introduced to Nigeria by a European merchant. It was a combination of the efforts of both the colonial government and the church that sustained the film industry (Ekwuazi, 1987). Film in Nigeria has been measured as more than just an art. It has been a medium for telling historical stories or modern stories that advocate against certain social problems, reiterate cultural values, mirror individual experiences within society, and project contemporary sociocultural adaptations. The Nigerian film industry has created a niche for repeated storylines and publicly relatable narratives designed solely for its audience
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