Street Culture in Omo Ghetto, King of Boys, and Nimbe, Selected Nollywood Films
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Abstract
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In contemporary society, the problem of street culture has been a recurring
issue. Some children or adults leave their homes to live in harsh conditions on the street, thereby imbibing behaviours that qualify as street culture. Several
studies have examined street culture from the perspective of gangsterism,
violence, and music as represented in written texts, with little attention paid to
films. Hence, this study investigated street culture in Nollywood films and its
effects on the character development of the characters played by the actors and
actresses portrayed in the films to highlight its implications for contemporary
Nigerian and wider society. The study adopted the content analytical method
in interrogating the selected films. A purposive sampling technique was used to
select three Nollywood films. The films were subjected to content and
qualitative analysis to explore the elements of street culture in them. The study
adopted Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory as the theoretical
framework. Findings revealed that street urchins are victims of poor parenting,
economic hardships, poverty, peer pressure, absence of a father figure, poor
societal values, the death of a parent, neglect, abandonment, physical and
emotional abuse, and violence as portrayed in the selected films. The study
found that the consequences of these factors on street urchins include
maladaptive behaviours, indiscriminate sexual practices, substance abuse,
prostitution, stealing, and pickpocketing. Further findings revealed that filmmakers deployed different narrative patterns to elucidate how the
characters develop in the films. The study, therefore, recommended that
parents should not shirk their duties towards their children and should provide
enabling environments through which the children can feel safe and repose
confidence in them. There should be a job creation and poverty alleviation
programme by the Nigerian government to reduce the number of street
urchins. The government should also censor the quality of films produced to
make them avenues for correcting societal ills.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General), PE English