This chapter carefully reviewed the relevant contributions of various scholars on the topic and related issues, as found in books, journals, seminar and conference papers, previous studies conducted, etc. The chapter brought to the fore previous studies that have generated conclusion on the issue of foreign films on youths.
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
This chapter carefully reviewed the relevant contributions of various scholars on the topic and related issues, as found in books, journals, seminar and conference papers, previous studies conducted, etc. The chapter brought to the fore previous studies that have generated conclusion on the issue of foreign films on youths.
2.1 Theoretical framework
A number of theories come into play in explaining the communication situation being questioned by this study. However, the theory of acculturation with the cultivation hypothesis gives this study the bases for its existence especially with television social effects.
2.1.1 Acculturation theory
This theory was propounded by J.W Powell in1880 defining it as the psychological changes induced by Cross-Cultural imitation. The first psychological theory of acculturation was proposed by W.I. Thomas and Florian Zaniecki’s 1918. Acculturation involves those changes individuals are willing to make in their effective cognitive identities and interactive behaviours over time as they deal with life. It occurs through the identification, internalization and subsequent expression of the significant symbols of the “host” or “dominant” society. The theory of acculturation deals mainly with physical movement or removal of an individual from one cultural setting into another setting with foreign cultures (Obert 1960; Taff 1977; Bennett 1977). The television acculturation studies generally support the view that television does exercise significant influence on domestic, national and international audience. The acculturation effect on attitudes of individual has been discussed in terms of co-native or behavioural effects. Rohof and Miller (1980) shows a resultant change in attitude as a result of television viewing.
2.1.2 Cultivation theory
Cultivation theory was propounded by George Gerbner and Larry Gross (1976), it is one of the core theories of media effects. According to the theory, people who watch television frequently are more likely to be influenced by the messages from the world of television.
Walter Lippman (1921), suggested that the pictures in our heads are mainly constructed from the mass media. It was Lippman’s (1922) work that was refined to what is known as “cultivation” or “encultivation” hypothesis. This hypothesis is derived from the cultural indicators project of Gerbner (1977) and his colleague who since 1967 has conducted annual content analysis of U.S network dramatic television programmes (message system analysis) and investigated the contribution of those messages for viewers conception of social reality (cultivation analysis).
Cultivation theorists argue that television and film have long term influences which are small, gradual, but cumulative and significant Baran (2009). The basic hypothesis guiding cultivation is that the more time one spends watching television, the more likely one is to hold conceptions of reality that are congruent with televisions most stable and recurrent portrayals of life and society. This is called cultivation because; it is argued that television messages achieve these effects by virtue of their cumulative, systematic repetition over time. This theory argues that the mass media cultivation attitudes and values which are already present in a culture the media maintain and propagate these values amongst members of a culture thus binding it together.
Cultivation research looks at the mass media as a socializing agent and investigates whether movie (film) viewers come to believe the movie version of reality the more they watch it. The research contends that movie has small but significant influence on the attitude belief and judgment of viewers concerning the social world do theory focuses on “heavy viewers”. People who watch a lot of film are likely to be more affected by the ways in which the world is formed by the media than are individuals who watch less, especially regarding topics of which the viewer has little first-hand experience.
This theorist sees movie as a cultural aim of the established industrial order and as such serves primary to maintain, stabilize and reinforce rather than to alter, threaten, or weaken conventional belief and behaviours. According to this theory heavy television viewers would tend to take the social reality portrayed by television as the same as real life. If light viewers and heavy viewers were asked questions about any aspect of life constantly portrayed on television, heavy viewers would give television portrayal of life as reality.
In the cultivation theory, Gerbner (1977) hypothesized that television cultivates perceptions of reality on the basis of which people interpret and understand. Society people are therefore influenced into corresponding or acceptable behaviours towards the rest of the society Gerbner et al (1980) and Bryant et al (1981).
2.2 Conceptual review
The extent to which mass media content is perceived as portray of the real world by an audience is a long standing question of theoretical and social important. Effect of the mass media on attitude, knowledge and behaviour are generally found to be more immediate and direct, when the audience regards the content either a report about actual circumstances or a highly accurate portray of life and the immediate environment Igbenedion (1984).
Also effects of the media exposure tend to be greater, when the content is perceived by the viewers as containing realistic and appropriate models or standards of behaviour.
Lugard Omoymi in his postulation said that: “the mind is influence but what happens around, with what the eye sees, and with what the ear hears. When the eyes see too many evil, corruption and things worth not and the ears hear only about evil things the mind gets poisoned and put to Jeopardy.
In Meeds (1976) symbolic interaction theory, the self is seen as taking the role of the “generalized order according to the author of this theory. People develop their self concepts through interaction in the context of the social system of which both they and the relevant are apart. Among the perception that are taken from other goals and behaviour that deviate from these norms. These perceptions may be termed “social ideals” maintenance and functioning of the social orders are internalized by the individual and mass media content is assumed to be a representative of these social ideals.
For instance, Greenberg and Dominick (1974) found that disadvantage minority adolescents living in deprived neighborhoods perceived television as realistic more than the middle class adolescents living (in middle class adolescents) in more affluent areas. In many respects, television appears to provide disadvantage young stars with a “school of life” for their behavior, other than that provided by the immediate environment in which they live.
Joseph (1983) a media scholar has observed that:
“It is obvious that a single movie, radio or television programme is not very likely to change the existing attitudes of audience members, particularly if these predispositions are at work before and during exposure to mass communication and that they largely determine the communication to which the individual is exposed once he remembers of such communication. How to interpret their content and the effect which mass communication have upon him. (p.102)”
The general consensus is activities in these foreign films are affecting the mode of lives of the people, particularly the young as well as criminally minded person. Most people are of the opinion that thieves, armed robbers, pick-pockets and tricksters learn a lot of their tricks and use of dangerous weapons through this medium.
Most of the America Cowboy and Crime films encourage youths to steal and rob because they show how to plan and execute such idea, he said adding, “Can’t the time devoted to foreign film be used for educative programmes that can encourage to work hand and reap the fruit of their labour.
A study by Aliu (1982) found that university of Lagos students will tend to prefer foreign films to Nigeria film. Aliu said that the film did not just provide entertainment to the student but equally played important role in influencing the students choice of dressing pattern. The study led him to conclude that “Nigeria university have become a brain washed set of youths who think more transient and banal ideas foreign culture rather than theirs.
But in another study by Lovaas (1973) a different conclusion was reached Lovan stated that viewing aggressive programmes serve to arouse youth/children’s aggressive similes to some degree.
2.2.1 History of films in Nigeria
According to Thompson, (2003) Mechanisms for producing created, two-dimensional images in motion were demonstrated as early as the 1800’s with devices such as the zoopraxiscope and kinescope. These machines were outgrowths of simple optical devices (such as the Kodak cameras), and would display sequences of still pictures at sufficient sped for the images on the pictures to appear to be moving. A phenomenon called persistence of vision. Naturally, the images needed to be carefully designed to achieve the desired effect and the underlying principle became the basis for the development of films.
With the development of celluloid film for still photography, it became possible to capture objects in motion directly and in real time. By 1880’s, the motion picture cameras were developed, these cameras allowed the individual component images to be captured and stored on a single reel, and led quickly to the development of a motion picture projector to shine light through the processed and printed film and magnify these “moving pictures shows” onto a screen for the entire audience. These reels so exhibited became known as motion pictures.
Most pictures were purely visual art up the late 19th century, but these innovative silent films had gained a hold on the public imagination. Around the turn of the 20th century, films began developing a narrative structure. Films began stringing scenes together to tell stories. Other techniques such as camera movement were used as a more effective way to portray a film. The next major development in film was introduction of colours. While the addition of sound quickly eclipsed silent film and theater musicians, colour was adopted gradually. According to Olaleye, (2007), the public were relatively indifferent to colour photography as opposed to black and white. But as colour processes improved and became as affordable as black and white film, more films were then shot in colour after the end of World War II. By the end of 1960’s colour had become the norm for film makers in Nigeria and the world.
2.2.2 The media effect period
In developing the media effect over time, brings to light the following periods of the effect of the media Edeani (1998):
1915- 1942 period of very powerful effects
1942-1960 period of limited effects
1961-1974 period of moderate effect
1974-till date represents period of powerful effect
These periods is pioneered by the findings of Elizabeth Noelle Neumann using longitudinal studies approach. The powerful effects of the media enjoyed acceptance among the generality of communication scholars. Schwartz (1988), literally portray the power of the media especially the television when writes “Good like the media can change the cause of war, brings down kings, elevate the lowly and humiliates the proud by directing the attention of millions on the same event and in the same manner.
Schwartz’s viewpoint is consistent with the view expressed by Golting (1977) in Okunna (1994). “The media are central in provision of ideas and images which the people use in interpreting and understanding a great deal of their everyday experience”. More specific work relating to television is seen in Walter Lippman’s theory of pictures. He says that what we watch on television and other media form images in our heads. They shape our attitudes, perception and behaviours.
Hebert (1992), provides a general picture of how viewing films on television influences children’s play, their everyday behavior, dressing, mannerism, speech, emotions, ideas about romance, ambitions and carrier plans. He shows how children imitates cowboys, cops and robbery, pirates, solders, every conceivable hero and villain they have seen in films.
2.2.3 Influences of foreign films viewing on students
psychographical attributes
Studies have reexamined the content of home movies and the influence that different types of content have on viewers, in terms of viewers’ academic, cultural and sociological perception.
Academic influence: Over the years, many educators have claimed witness to foreign films negative impact on young adults’ language acquisition, reading ability and attention span. Educators and researchers have tried ways of limiting the negative influence and increase the positive influence of television by teaching viewers to be literate viewers. The importance of films as part of viewers growing experience has led in recent years to the view that viewers need to learn about how to watch and understand home movies.
One should remember the difficulty in receiving information into two different ways at the same time it is easy to focus on the imagery of visual message and not necessarily on the rational message. Even though, every media seems to be doing its best in its content and particular orientation. Films make use of fragmented conversation, rapid fire editing and student; youths who watch a lot of films perform poorer on average than those that watch less. It is evident that video technology is becoming increasingly important in education. What is not clear is that electronic communication modes are changing how we come into contact with knowledge. The crucial factor is how the technology is used by people. The ability of audience to take new information from home-video film is not very great, but then the audience does not generally turn to films with learning in mind.
Cultural: Over the years, foreign films have come to be closely associated with the culture industry. In Nigeria, such a role for the film industry is still evolving although certain factors are altering the profile of what could be regarded as the country’s culture, while the home-video industry itself is undergoing a crucial transition.
However, the immense potential of film was recognized even during colonial times. The Federal Information apparatus early acknowledge film as the most influenceive medium for internal and external publicity and by 1923, cinema entertainment had become immensely popular in Lagos Mgbejume (1989). In exploring the interface between culture and films, this work hopes to establish patterns which will provide a clearer basis for understanding a development which strongly impacts on the future of the society.
Movie is a powerful tool for the transmission of cultural values. In an analysis of how it could further the cause of cultural identity. As a propaganda tool, movies remain a vehicle employed by governments and others interested in the art of subtle diplomacy. Because of its popularity as an entertainment medium, it easily becomes a means of relaying and reinforcing information meant to promote a certain reality.
Film also plays the role of stereotype, helping to shape perspectives of people’s culture. The impressions which viewers develop about a people and their cultural values are greatly affected by movie portrayals.
As an educational medium, movie covers issues in the school curricula or things about their country of origin which tell viewers about different countries and peoples.
Movie also plays a role in promoting commerce. Where this character of movie has developed, it is a major source of foreign exchange.
The electronic media can open doors to a world beyond the home, community and national boundaries, but it also has the power to distort that world view. Movies often reinforce cultural stereotypes and teach viewers to see other cultures in very rigid ways. Moving in the opposite direction, foreign films have enlightened men’s and women’s knowledge of the opposite sex. One of the reasons for the merging of male and female realities is the new sharing and blends of male and female worlds by the electronic media.
In contrast, books demand a certain level of complex skills; movies can be accessible to nearly anyone. It has little word sentences with limited vocabulary. With its vocabulary, film has done little to improve language skills of the majority of viewers. The culture content of most of the movies imported into Nigeria is of little relevance to the social realities of the average Nigeria Uwakwe (2010).
Electronic media reshape social institutions. Based on the culturally negative trend that foreign movies have taken and its influence on the Nigerian society, Dr. Ofonagor stressed that the need to stamp out their exhibition without further delay. He said that:
The image and impressions conveyed throughout these video movies eventually end up stimulating our young ones into culture of immorality and violence, derailing the good and orderly development of a generation of our children. This sort of development should not be encouraged in a nation such as ours, acknowledge worldwide for her rich cultural heritage of explored by our movie producers. We must therefore eradicate foreign pornographic and violence films from our movie markets, television and cable station.
Sociological influences: There has been a debate about the impact of foreign on society. A prominent theme in these debates has been a concern about the adverse influences on specific types of movie content on children. The images and impressions conveyed through movies eventually end up stimulating or young one into a culture of immorality and violence-derailing the good and orderly development of our children.
As with most technological advances, social scientists have played a prominent role in examining movies’ influence on society. The question of what type of youth are most affected by films is a recurrent theme in the scientific literature, particularly since much cited conclusion that “for some condition, television is harmful, for other children under the same condition’s or for some children under other conditions, it may be beneficial”. Television in the homes is the greatest source of visual violence for children. The average child watches 8, 000 televised murders and 100,000 acts of violence before finishing elementary school. That number more than doubles by the time he or she reaches age 18. The youths are exposed to more violence than any generation in recent memory. Defenders of television programs say that is not true. They contend the television imagery does not make people violent nor does it make people callous to suffering. But if televised imagery does not affect human behaviour, then the television networks should refund billions of advertising money to television sponsors.
In essence, while claiming that a televised 30-second commercial can influence consumer behaviour, on the other hand, denying that a one-hour movie program wrapped around the commercials can influence social behaviour.
Violence images on television and in the movie do contribute to greater violence in society. Sociological studies along with common sense dictate that we do something to reduce the violence in the media before it further damages society. Foreign film violence affects both adults and children in subtle ways. While we may not personally feel or observe the influences of foreign violence, we should not ignore the growing body of data that suggests that televised imagery does affect our perception and behaviour.
According to Gerbner (1994) a steady visual diet of intense situations, especially when they are promoted as real, can instill a avid television viewers, a sense of danger, threat and fear. He goes on to say that:
All movies involves visual illusion, with the viewer’s mind misinterpreting a succession of still images as real, continuous movement… the horror movies play on our natural biases and reactions and actually increase our psychological sensations. The exaggerations are speculative… the viewers adapt to the movie, its language, losing themselves in the story. This type of adaptation and focus is natural. A darkened theatre aids this focus… we know the rules of the game: movie pacing, dialogue, the presence of music, and other conceits. Horror movies both follow and break our expectations… the human can’t focus on many things at once. The human mind does not have the capacity. This explains why the viewer can lose himself in a movie, literally forgetting where he is, for a period think the projection is real… movies play on our imaginative nature. Directors know the unseen can be scarier than the shown.
Films have great ability of affecting people. Of all the mass communication media, the motion picture has the most universal impact. They went ahead to say that if properly conceived, film can rise above language barriers through the power of its visual images and convey the same messages to a sophisticated audience. Many other scholars share the same view. for instance Casty cited in Wogu (2008) asserts on the advantages of film “film is the only arts besides music that is available to the whole world at once, exactly as it was first made… it is the only art involving language that can be enjoyed in a language one is ignorant of”.
This view shows that movies have an edge over the other mass media of communication because anybody can understand it. For that reason, it plays a great role in shaping the behaviour and attitudes of its audience through the influence it has on them.
Mass media play a large part in formulating of attitudes, beliefs and ideas, because we all incorporate mediated reality back in our lives. For example most of us have experienced major crime first hand, so we formulate ideas about it from what we see in films and television. Film provides us with a giant mirror-a reflection of the values, the half-truth and ideas of society.
Obviously, thinking and feeling are not separate activities, rather they are simultaneously experienced. The culture we consume comes in aggregate and helps to shape who we are. The books that we read, the movies that we watch and all the rest of it accrues and adds up together to shape the contents of our minds. If a teenager watches a stunt on television and imitates it, it is a direct reaction to what was seen in movies. According to Coyne, Robinson and Nelson “research indicates that kids who are exposed to higher levels of violence tend to behave more violently, kids who are exposed to higher levels of sex in media tend to become sexually active earlier in life than peers with less exposure. Because they are seeing people close to their own age behaving a certain way on these movie themes, they tend to accept that normative behaviour”. Therefore when teenagers and young adults see such behaviour held out in movies as the norm, it distorts their perception of what’s acceptable.
Berkowitz in theory postulates that exposure to mass mediated aggression raises people’s level of emotional and psychological stimulation that can in turn ignite aggressive behaviour, it is argued that how the media portray aggression will determine how people follow aggressive cues, people are more like to be influenced negatively if the media glorify, justify or dramatize aggression than if it is condemned Wogu (2008).
During the 1960s, numerous theories were brought to bear to explain television adverse effects particularly those resulting from the viewing of violent content. The most influential perspective was that of social learning theory, developed by Standford psychologist Ablert Bandura who proposed that much of what children learn about social interaction results from observing how others behave in various situations Bandura and Walter, cited in Uwakwe (2010).
The most prominent examination and explanation put forth about the impact of frequent movie viewing comes from Gebner (1994). Over the past 25 years have conducted extensive research on the topic and has concluded that the major consequence of extensive exposure to violent film programming is the “mean world syndrome”.
At its core, movies are a viewable source of information and entertainment, displaying and imitating the traumas of everyday life. Ronell (1995) just how real the influences of watching movies are has been a matter of scholarly analysis and contention since about the beginning of television itself. For the past 25 to 30 years the dominant perspective has been that of “cultural indicators and cultivation”. This perspective suggests that what people regularly watch on television affects their perception of the world (the reality) in which they live Gerbner (1994). As noted, violence is a common element of television that, when repeatedly seen, may affect a viewer’s sense of the world.
This assertion reflects the powerful influence of the media and gives us a glimpse of the behaviour shaping power of home movies in the society. Through this role, the youth may be mediated by other factors as peer group influences, family background and school influences.
2.2.4 Youths and Films
Researchers have empirically proved that most films appeal to the emotions of its viewers and ultimately affect their worldview. Because of the developing emotions of adolescents, films can have a huge affect on their lives. In a study of the retention rate of film details between different age groups, Rosen (1971) found out that both children and adults remember best, materials that have high emotional appeal that they easily understand and is concerned with the movie plot. The materials that youths will emotionally rate with differ from that of adults and children.
Youths are most likely to become emotionally interested in the situations that concern their changing views of the world and growing status in the society. These issues include identity formation, college life, moving away from home, driving and cutting out parental control Bello (2011).
The level of emotional involvement of youths, with film content can affect aspects of their psychosocial development. In the Nigerian society, the situation is quite alarming, in that, Hollywood films considerably influence attitudes and moral values of youths; and worse still, Nollywood films, which are mostly anchored on western models, consolidate these films; thereby promoting western values in the Nigerian societies.
This is not to say that films are completely negative. Huesman and Morse (1998) noted that films are media of choice for many adolescents. It shows them some interaction and experience which they may have encountered or will encounter latter in their development. Olaleye (2007) also added that while wrong films give youth’s wrong ideas, watching films does benefit youth’s cognitive development.
The sexuality of youths in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa is seriously going through transformation from what it used to be in the past. Bello (2011) attributes this to the effect of modernization causes by industrialization, education, exposure, and enculturation, through the importation of foreign films and cultures that are alien to the Nigerian cultures and values. Unfortunately, the internet has contributed in no small measures, to the removal of guilt, fear, and shame associated with unconventional sexual activities. In a study carried out by Longe et al (2001) it was discovered that, the sexuality trends among youths today is culturally alien to Nigerian society in the past. The authors further pointed out that among other factors, exposure, and enculturation through various foreign films especially American ones have been widely responsibly for the ugly situation.
It is therefore important for youths to understand that images are sometimes used to manipulate people and that these images are powerful enough to persuade us to buy certain products or encourage us to behave in particular way. There is a need for youths to be able to differentiate between information and misinformation, truth and fabrication.
2.2.5 Studies on media influence
In all of communication researchers, the area of media influence appears to be the most contentious. Several reasons account for this. For one, it is argued that, if the media have no influence on the society, is there any realistic justification for their continued existence? For another, if the media to have influences on the thought process and attitude of mankind, should they take responsibility for the emergent foibles and discomfitures of man in the society Defleur (1976).
Some schools of thought hold that, the media cannot be completely impotent because human existence itself is founded in parts, on communication. Any wonder the communication maxim that man cannot not communicate. However, the media cannot take sole responsibility for the vagaries of human attitude change because that would deny that contributions of other influential variables in the existential environment.
The above picture vividly underscores the quandary which media influence researchers mostly find themselves. As if to dismiss all skepticisms about media influence, Melvin de Fleur and Sandra Ball-Rokeach cited in Uwakwe (2010), examined the controversy and declared the “only the terribly naïve would argue that the mass media have no influences upon people or upon people’s lives”. The problem, however, remains that it is hard, if not impossible to set a standard framework for measuring the nature and extent of media impacts.
2.2.5 Effects of foreign movies on Nigerian youths
Psychologists have argued that youthfulness is the stage of development characterized by anxiety and curiosity. Viewing movies on television influences children’s play, their everyday behaviour, dressing, mannerism, speech, emotions, ideas, about salient issues such as roman, ambition as well as carrier plans. The television programmes especially foreign movies provide many powerful models for adolescent and abundant opportunities for observational learning. Foreign movies have strategic weapon aimed at subtly over powering the cultural values of Africa. However, the youths as a social category have been the most influenced by these western cultures. They have seen to be the most vulnerable as far as globalization is concerned, as they struggle to attain what can be described as a hanging identity, an identity that makes them belong neither here nor there.
In Nigeria, average youths spend their time either in front of television screen, laptops, phones or cinema screen watching foreign films which have aggressive tendency and damaging pressure on them. Crime romance horror and thrillers are the top genres that are most viewed. As young boys are growing up they start developing desire to play around with guns and other damaging instruments. Nowadays, due to the advancement in technology, access to all kinds of foreign movies is greatly increased through multiple platforms. Movies can be downloaded straight from the internet into phones, laptops etc. This makes the youths to become more violent while increasing hard drug usage thereby giving rise to different kinds of crimes. Children are not safe either, as they can harm themselves trying to practice those tricks learned from films. Basically, television screens in our society gradually been surrendered more to foreign movies that have little or no redeeming values as far as Nigerian culture is concerned. The media consistently feature foreign cultures that debase the African culture. Most of the cinema houses features the cultures of Europe and North America more prominently and consistently.
Furthermore, foreign movies have the potentials of generating both positive and negative effects. One may ask, what is the role of foreign movies on one’s life, are foreign movies harmful or beneficial or both? Therefore, to evaluate the worth of foreign movies, there is need to weigh the pros and coins of foreign movies. There is need to come to an understanding of how much importance and prominence should be given or not given to foreign films on our television screen. Movie are a source of popular entertainment. From the moment one indulges in watching a movie, one is transformed into a new world, where the mind is at ease. It creates relaxation, reduces tension and lessens the burdens of life. Everybody needs recreation. Recreation is an important part of life and movies provide that avenue.
Films are also social activators, they allow even unknown people to mingle with one another. Movies are like a common factor. This common factor can initiate or sustain a conversation with a strange. It brings socialization through conservation and debate. Movies stir up people’s imagination. The most unbelievable things are shown in movies. Foreign films play vital roles in educating the viewers at various levels, reducing the level of ignorance, hatred, prejudice and teach on social life while widening the mind or sense of reasoning through suspense. Films are platter of various discipline; they show one’s history, culture, science, technology, politics and lots more.
In outlining some of the negative effects of foreign films on Nigerian youths, the following are discussed;
Violence foreign movies profess violence: Nigerian youths are being heavily influenced by violence shown in movies. They show new ways of torture and physical abuse which inspires the young mind to indulge in these acts. Boys who grew up watching violent movies were more likely to be violent. Gun handling and shooting have become a general awareness. Dialogue, negotiation and peaceful demonstration that used to be employed as a tool of peace settlement have drastically reduced while terrorism, abduction, kidnapping, killing, militancy have become the order of doing things by the youths.
Reduction in moral values and standard: It is rather unfortunate that Nigerian youths have realized themselves in a society where little or no attention is given to moral standards any longer. People now behave the way actors and actresses behave in foreign movies, which sometimes may not be true life situations. The fear of God by the youths has also been thrown to the wind as a consequence of foreign influences perpetuated by foreign films. Teenagers can injure or kill themselves as the result of what they watch on foreign movies which seem to portray criminality and gangstraism as exotic life styles.
Drug abuse and cultism: Majority of the Nigerian youths who have taken to smoking take after their film role models and idols whom they admire very much. Foreign film always feature chain smokers, drug addicts and hardened criminals. These band influences push Nigerian youths to cultism and social vices.
Addiction to Movies: Many Nigerian youths suffer from complexities of life and instead of finding real solutions, they end up attempting movie answers forgetting that most of those scenarios were acted or simulated and not real. The addiction to foreign movies can affect people’s mental and physical health negatively.
Actually, it is a goal of foreign films to dispel stereotype while offering viewers the opportunity to examine various facets of culture around the world using guided and thoughtful teaching methods and learning activities.
2.2.6 Relationship between pictures and human behaviour
With few exemptions, everybody, social scientists, movie makers, and nonprofessionals seem to agree that there is a profound relationship between motion pictures and human behaviour. The initial important question is in the way in which these relationships are to be conceived. Any investigation on this field will be predicted on certain assumption about human collective behaviour about how human give and receive information and about how the individual comprehend his social roles and identify that of others.
Psychologist Bartlett (1990) argues that the process by which the individual comes to terms with his environment is dynamic and creative rather than passive and static. The individual does passively respond to the situation, rather she or he responds to the situation selectively and creatively this is cognition. Motion pictures achieve their effect because they help the individual organize his world. There is this view that the effects of the motion picture on behavior and attitudes are small and transitory. This seems to be the underlying attitude of those, which characterize motion pictures as mere entertainment. The much-publicized statement is that foreign films chief function is to provide entertainment and amusement or to create an opportunity for an anxiety-ridden population to escape into a land of fantasy. Bartlett, (1990) argues that the term “entertainment is psychologically ambiguous”. When applied to films, the term “purely entertainment” would appear to mean that motion picture may be made without meaningful content and without effect on those exposed to them. However, what is not obvious is that attitudes and perceptions are at work before and during exposure to mass media and that, the largely determine the communication that the individual is exposed. What he remembers of the communication how to interpret its contents, and the effect which mass communication have upon him; Anderson and Dill, (2000) support the hypothesis that visual image influence youths behaviour. In another study, Sergeant, (2001) was of the opinion that typically youth watching 150 film a year will be exposed to over 800 deceptions of overt immoral behaviours such as smoking and premarital sex.
2.2.7 Positive influence of foreign films
Television (film) gives youth helpful information, various forms of education which are all part of the positive influence the television (film) have on youths.
The liberation one gets from everyday works and anxieties by watching foreign contents contributes to the positive effects of television entertainment. In this high pace world one does not find time to read books and search for information, one desires television often acts as an almanac dictionary and an eye into the world around it. It informs youths the most recent happening around the world within seconds.
Television (film) vary from education programs to that combining sexuality explict material “Winns maintains that television and video entertainments prompt one to put off worries and anxieties, just like drugs and alcohol”.
Some positive effects also include
It helps youths to learn about other culture
It gives family members of all ages an opportunity to spend time together while watching.
Educational programmes can teach youths new things, and even help the make new friends.
Cultural entertainments can show youth the world of music and arts.
It shows youths places, animals, or things that they could not see
Documentaries can create a picture of the world in youth’s mind.
2.2.8 Negative influence
Foreign films have detrimental effects and they are easy target because the action of watching is passive and its content is usually violent, sexual or moronic. It has a great effect on the lives of the youth.
Studies using different perspective have argued that films exert a significant alienating impact or influence on the self perception of an individual. The accumulative effect of which is the depreciating of the Nigerian self image or cultural identity and an identification with the constructed self. A process referred to by social and clinical psychologists as self hatred Hatchen (1987).
Tan et al (1987), in their study of the impact of American television in the Philippines shows that frequent showing of foreign culture on Philippines has lead to the depreciating of the Philippines self-image and corresponding appreciation and the desire to behave like them when projected by the Americans and Western Europeans.
Many criticisms have also been leveled against the films shown in African television today. The Senegalese film maker Ousemene (1977) has observed that movies in Africa are playing a negative role. The majorities of the movies shown on African television are products of cultural alienation. He also noted that many Nigerians have complained of the poison content of films shown on the screens in Nigeria.
Lovas (1973) in his study on the effect of television, concluded that watching aggressive programmes serve to arouse youth’s aggressive impulse to some degree. Bandura and Rose (1973), in their own study found that people who watch aggressive programmes are likely to be more aggressive.
Sometime ago in Nigeria, a small girl was beaten, stripped and left alone to due by three boys age 5, 8 and 10. When asked why they had assaulted the girl the boys replied that they were doing what the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” do. Also, they said they were copying the movie “ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle”. It has been shown that viewing violent films can alter the youths behavior making the youth afraid, worried, suspicious or increasing that child’s tendencies towards aggressive behaviours.
Watching films does not develop a youth’s skill in word recognitions, decoding, vocabularies and spellings on high level thinking. Youths lose something valuable and personal when they don’t read. According to Winn “The connection between television effects on youths’ reading abilities and the decline. In their writing skills is clear, is book talk… and you only learn book talk by reading.
McBride (1981) consequently, the Nigerian media audience especially the youth is caught in a mesh of confusion of values. This is exemplified in their mode of dressing, speech mannerism, socio-cultural life. It has also wrought no little damage to how our youths perceive our culture and environment. Increase number in violent acts, HIV infection, immoral acts and such other vices by the youths has been traced to exposure to pornography in the foreign media.
Through films, powerful advertisement, fashion and musical shows the western has tried to sell to the developing world the notion that their goods, cultures of being depended on. What is obtainable in Nigeria media landscape is the dependency syndrome where they rely heavily on the offerings made available by the foreign media in augmenting their local sources in news content, entertainment, music and programming. The distressing fact is that they become models that display the various wares of their owners without any opportunity to refuse or choose Matterlart (1999).
2.2.8.1 Alcohol
The 1982 report of the Surgeon General revealed that alcohol is the most consumed beverage on prime time television and is times more often than water eighty percent of prime time. Entertainments showed or mentioned alcohol consumption and in half of these. Instances it was heavy alcohol consumption five or more drinks.
Television exposure affects our youths drinking ability/habits. Alcohol interferes with youth’s perception of reality and their ability to make good decision.
The effects of alcohol abuse on youths include:
Heart and central nervous system damage
Serious vitamin deficiencies
Loss of appetite
An increased risk of impotence
High risk of overdosing
Stomach ailments
Bad breath
Cirrhosis and cancer of the liver etc.
2.2.8.2 Sex scenes
According to the Awake (Oct. 2006) two third television contents of films foreign include talk about sex and 35% include sexual behaviurs which are usually presented as risk free and spontaneous and involved unwanted couples. Also according to the BSC briefing update citied in Adanri (2005), 78% of sexual scenes are scenes of kissing where the kissing implies further sexual activity might take place.
In the 1930’s sexual intercourse and sexuality were ignored on television by 1960 television gained sexual freedom on screen as married partners where seen together in the same bed Lalking (1978) teens having sex became a topic on television effects of this being that youth no longer view marriages as sacred (Adam 2005) today most of the films video’s are danced by nude ladies with amorous movements sexual connotations and though some of the scenes look outrageous parents ignore and allow the youths to watch due to the constant watching they develop the urge of having sex with other partner.
2.2.8.3 Life imitating art
A boy once had his friends bury him, head first, in a sand box to imitate something he have seen on an anime show. People, especially children, act out what they see. There have been other stores of children acting out violence they had seen movies leading to injuries and death.
Besides acting out, repeated graphically violent scenes lead to desensitization. Each year the media industry raises the bar of gore, abuse, and gun violence to shock the viewers. As violence becomes more common, youths become more aggressive and desensitized to the images they see.
2.2.9 The destruction of Nigerian culture
It is my view that most Western American television programmes in Nigeria have violent contents and contributes to the rise in violence in youths. Vincent (1984) agrees that Nigerian cultural values are being just eroded by foreign ones. He regrets the fact that there seem not to be any sign of resistance by Nigeria against these foreign invades that make matters worse. He further points out that Nigerians especially youths, adopt Western values in their ways of eating, dressing, speaking, education and even courting and sex life.
There could be no better way to analyze the situation on our university campuses than the one given by Maduka (1984). Nigerian Universities have become so materialistic and pleasure loving that they would buy hamburger, ice-cream, refrigerator, television sets, compact disk-sets, foreign dresses etc. rather than buying books and going to libraries to read. They would go to night parties and picnics instead of attending lecturers and classes. The list is endless but more disturbing is the fact that students often go to the extent of using their school fees to satisfy these desires.
The students are so carried away with the television projection of reality that they adopt hair and dressing styles that are nothing but outrageous. While most females’ students dress almost naked to school, male students increasingly wear spot ear-rings. They also learn, know and speak American slang’s more than English language. These behaviours are in line with the behaviours of characters shown in most Western television contents programme. This content of western culture is deemed to be violent and competitive. Harvard law professor (Duncan Kennedy 1993), says the culture of the “wild west” is individualistic, materialistic and philistine. Imitation of television realities of western nation by people of the third world nations as Nigeria was acknowledged and attributed to some major reasons by McBride et al (1980).
Some of the reasons include:
The continuing and increasing dependency of developing countries on rich industrialized nations for nearly
The over whelming in flow of news, television programmes, films, books and other cultural materials between develop and undeveloped ones with alien models and values.
The consequence this trend has for Nigeria and other third world countries over which the television hegemony of the west dangles can be measured in terms of the number of people from Nigeria and other third world countries (American), (Western Europe) in order to experience and realize their impression of western culture formulated through the television and construct perceptions of social reality. That is to give meaning to their projected self-image. This stunts real development.
2.3 Empirical Review
The review under this section is based on different findings from various past related literatures. Maduako (2004:42), in her work “An analysis of viewer’s reactions to foreign syndicated films”, found out that most consumers prefer indigenous films to foreign .films. Also, she established that these foreign syndicated films have serious negative impact on the Nigerian youths as they encourage crime, violence, drug abuse, sexual immorality as well as other forms of misbehaviours.
In addition, findings from her study (Maduako) also revealed that foreign syndicated films have some adverse effect on our cultural value, and this affects the general outlook of our youths.
Efedhoma (2010:64) in her study on “Influence of television soap operas on Port Harcourt residents” found out that a greater population of the study (50.3%) preferred foreign soap operas, to (13.3%) who prefer local soap operas. Also, her findings revealed that the terrestrial media like NTA, AIT and RSTV ranked the highest media, through which these foreign soap operas are viewed as against cable TV. She further pointed out that, her study revealed that issues potrayed in the soaps such as violence and obscenity ranked highest in terms of influence on the audience.
Lastly, Nwuke (2004:43) in his work “The impact of televised western violent films on youth established that antisocial behaviour exhibited by children and young adults can be linked to exposure to televised violence. He further established that televised violence could lead to emotional possession, and even after viewership to televised western violent programmes, youth attraction to antisocial behaviours was a consequence of such exposure.
In conclusion, findings further revealed that televised violent programmes are a major influence on negative attitude disposition.
Studies have reexamined the content of home movies and the influence that different types of content have on viewers, in terms of viewers’ academic, cultural and sociological perception.
Academic influence: Over the years, many educators have claimed witness to foreign films negative impact on young adults’ language acquisition, reading ability and attention span. Educators and researchers have tried ways of limiting the negative influence and increase the positive influence of television by teaching viewers to be literate viewers. The importance of films as part of viewers growing experience has led in recent years to the view that viewers need to learn about how to watch and understand home movies.
One should remember the difficulty in receiving information into two different ways at the same time it is easy to focus on the imagery of visual message and not necessarily on the rational message. Even though, every media seems to be doing its best in its content and particular orientation. Films make use of fragmented conversation, rapid fire editing and student; youths who watch a lot of films perform poorer on average than those that watch less. It is evident that video technology is becoming increasingly important in education. What is not clear is that electronic communication modes are changing how we come into contact with knowledge. The crucial factor is how the technology is used by people. The ability of audience to take new information from home-video film is not very great, but then the audience does not generally turn to films with learning in mind.
Cultural: Over the years, foreign films have come to be closely associated with the culture industry. In Nigeria, such a role for the film industry is still evolving although certain factors are altering the profile of what could be regarded as the country’s culture, while the home-video industry itself is undergoing a crucial transition.
However, the immense potential of film was recognized even during colonial times. The Federal Information apparatus early acknowledge film as the most influenceive medium for internal and external publicity and by 1923, cinema entertainment had become immensely popular in Lagos Mgbejume (1989). In exploring the interface between culture and films, this work hopes to establish patterns which will provide a clearer basis for understanding a development which strongly impacts on the future of the society.
Movie is a powerful tool for the transmission of cultural values. In an analysis of how it could further the cause of cultural identity. As a propaganda tool, movies remain a vehicle employed by governments and others interested in the art of subtle diplomacy. Because of its popularity as an entertainment medium, it easily becomes a means of relaying and reinforcing information meant to promote a certain reality.
Film also plays the role of stereotype, helping to shape perspectives of people’s culture. The impressions which viewers develop about a people and their cultural values are greatly affected by movie portrayals.
As an educational medium, movie covers issues in the school curricula or things about their country of origin which tell viewers about different countries and peoples.
Movie also plays a role in promoting commerce. Where this character of movie has developed, it is a major source of foreign exchange.
The electronic media can open doors to a world beyond the home, community and national boundaries, but it also has the power to distort that world view. Movies often reinforce cultural stereotypes and teach viewers to see other cultures in very rigid ways. Moving in the opposite direction, foreign films have enlightened men’s and women’s knowledge of the opposite sex. One of the reasons for the merging of male and female realities is the new sharing and blends of male and female worlds by the electronic media.
In contrast, books demand a certain level of complex skills; movies can be accessible to nearly anyone. It has little word sentences with limited vocabulary. With its vocabulary, film has done little to improve language skills of the majority of viewers. The culture content of most of the movies imported into Nigeria is of little relevance to the social realities of the average Nigeria Uwakwe (2010).
Electronic media reshape social institutions. Based on the culturally negative trend that foreign movies have taken and its influence on the Nigerian society, Dr. Ofonagor stressed that the need to stamp out their exhibition without further delay. He said that:
The image and impressions conveyed throughout these video movies eventually end up stimulating our young ones into culture of immorality and violence, derailing the good and orderly development of a generation of our children. This sort of development should not be encouraged in a nation such as ours, acknowledge worldwide for her rich cultural heritage of explored by our movie producers. We must therefore eradicate foreign pornographic and violence films from our movie markets, television and cable station.
Sociological influences: There has been a debate about the impact of foreign on society. A prominent theme in these debates has been a concern about the adverse influences on specific types of movie content on children. The images and impressions conveyed through movies eventually end up stimulating or young one into a culture of immorality and violence-derailing the good and orderly development of our children.
As with most technological advances, social scientists have played a prominent role in examining movies’ influence on society. The question of what type of youth are most affected by films is a recurrent theme in the scientific literature, particularly since much cited conclusion that “for some condition, television is harmful, for other children under the same condition’s or for some children under other conditions, it may be beneficial”. Television in the homes is the greatest source of visual violence for children. The average child watches 8, 000 televised murders and 100,000 acts of violence before finishing elementary school. That number more than doubles by the time he or she reaches age 18. The youths are exposed to more violence than any generation in recent memory. Defenders of television programs say that is not true. They contend the television imagery does not make people violent nor does it make people callous to suffering. But if televised imagery does not affect human behaviour, then the television networks should refund billions of advertising money to television sponsors.
In essence, while claiming that a televised 30-second commercial can influence consumer behaviour, on the other hand, denying that a one-hour movie program wrapped around the commercials can influence social behaviour.
Violence images on television and in the movie do contribute to greater violence in society. Sociological studies along with common sense dictate that we do something to reduce the violence in the media before it further damages society. Foreign film violence affects both adults and children in subtle ways. While we may not personally feel or observe the influences of foreign violence, we should not ignore the growing body of data that suggests that televised imagery does affect our perception and behaviour.
According to Gerbner (1994) a steady visual diet of intense situations, especially when they are promoted as real, can instill a avid television viewers, a sense of danger, threat and fear. He goes on to say that:
All movies involves visual illusion, with the viewer’s mind misinterpreting a succession of still images as real, continuous movement… the horror movies play on our natural biases and reactions and actually increase our psychological sensations. The exaggerations are speculative… the viewers adapt to the movie, its language, losing themselves in the story. This type of adaptation and focus is natural. A darkened theatre aids this focus… we know the rules of the game: movie pacing, dialogue, the presence of music, and other conceits. Horror movies both follow and break our expectations… the human can’t focus on many things at once. The human mind does not have the capacity. This explains why the viewer can lose himself in a movie, literally forgetting where he is, for a period think the projection is real… movies play on our imaginative nature. Directors know the unseen can be scarier than the shown.
Films have great ability of affecting people. Of all the mass communication media, the motion picture has the most universal impact. They went ahead to say that if properly conceived, film can rise above language barriers through the power of its visual images and convey the same messages to a sophisticated audience. Many other scholars share the same view. for instance Casty cited in Wogu (2008) asserts on the advantages of film “film is the only arts besides music that is available to the whole world at once, exactly as it was first made… it is the only art involving language that can be enjoyed in a language one is ignorant of”.
This view shows that movies have an edge over the other mass media of communication because anybody can understand it. For that reason, it plays a great role in shaping the behaviour and attitudes of its audience through the influence it has on them.
Mass media play a large part in formulating of attitudes, beliefs and ideas, because we all incorporate mediated reality back in our lives. For example most of us have experienced major crime first hand, so we formulate ideas about it from what we see in films and television. Film provides us with a giant mirror-a reflection of the values, the half-truth and ideas of society.
Obviously, thinking and feeling are not separate activities, rather they are simultaneously experienced. The culture we consume comes in aggregate and helps to shape who we are. The books that we read, the movies that we watch and all the rest of it accrues and adds up together to shape the contents of our minds. If a teenager watches a stunt on television and imitates it, it is a direct reaction to what was seen in movies. According to Coyne, Robinson and Nelson “research indicates that kids who are exposed to higher levels of violence tend to behave more violently, kids who are exposed to higher levels of sex in media tend to become sexually active earlier in life than peers with less exposure. Because they are seeing people close to their own age behaving a certain way on these movie themes, they tend to accept that normative behaviour”. Therefore when teenagers and young adults see such behaviour held out in movies as the norm, it distorts their perception of what’s acceptable.
Berkowitz in theory postulates that exposure to mass mediated aggression raises people’s level of emotional and psychological stimulation that can in turn ignite aggressive behaviour, it is argued that how the media portray aggression will determine how people follow aggressive cues, people are more like to be influenced negatively if the media glorify, justify or dramatize aggression than if it is condemned Wogu (2008).
During the 1960s, numerous theories were brought to bear to explain television adverse effects particularly those resulting from the viewing of violent content. The most influential perspective was that of social learning theory, developed by Standford psychologist Ablert Bandura who proposed that much of what children learn about social interaction results from observing how others behave in various situations Bandura and Walter, cited in Uwakwe (2010).
The most prominent examination and explanation put forth about the impact of frequent movie viewing comes from Gebner (1994). Over the past 25 years have conducted extensive research on the topic and has concluded that the major consequence of extensive exposure to violent film programming is the “mean world syndrome”.
At its core, movies are a viewable source of information and entertainment, displaying and imitating the traumas of everyday life. Ronell (1995) just how real the influences of watching movies are has been a matter of scholarly analysis and contention since about the beginning of television itself. For the past 25 to 30 years the dominant perspective has been that of “cultural indicators and cultivation”. This perspective suggests that what people regularly watch on television affects their perception of the world (the reality) in which they live Gerbner (1994). As noted, violence is a common element of television that, when repeatedly seen, may affect a viewer’s sense of the world.
This assertion reflects the powerful influence of the media and gives us a glimpse of the behaviour shaping power of home movies in the society. Through this role, the youth may be mediated by other factors as peer group influences, family background and school influences.
2.2.4 Youths and Films
Researchers have empirically proved that most films appeal to the emotions of its viewers and ultimately affect their worldview. Because of the developing emotions of adolescents, films can have a huge affect on their lives. In a study of the retention rate of film details between different age groups, Rosen (1971) found out that both children and adults remember best, materials that have high emotional appeal that they easily understand and is concerned with the movie plot. The materials that youths will emotionally rate with differ from that of adults and children.
Youths are most likely to become emotionally interested in the situations that concern their changing views of the world and growing status in the society. These issues include identity formation, college life, moving away from home, driving and cutting out parental control Bello (2011).
The level of emotional involvement of youths, with film content can affect aspects of their psychosocial development. In the Nigerian society, the situation is quite alarming, in that, Hollywood films considerably influence attitudes and moral values of youths; and worse still, Nollywood films, which are mostly anchored on western models, consolidate these films; thereby promoting western values in the Nigerian societies.
This is not to say that films are completely negative. Huesman and Morse (1998) noted that films are media of choice for many adolescents. It shows them some interaction and experience which they may have encountered or will encounter latter in their development. Olaleye (2007) also added that while wrong films give youth’s wrong ideas, watching films does benefit youth’s cognitive development.
The sexuality of youths in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa is seriously going through transformation from what it used to be in the past. Bello (2011) attributes this to the effect of modernization causes by industrialization, education, exposure, and enculturation, through the importation of foreign films and cultures that are alien to the Nigerian cultures and values. Unfortunately, the internet has contributed in no small measures, to the removal of guilt, fear, and shame associated with unconventional sexual activities. In a study carried out by Longe et al (2001) it was discovered that, the sexuality trends among youths today is culturally alien to Nigerian society in the past. The authors further pointed out that among other factors, exposure, and enculturation through various foreign films especially American ones have been widely responsibly for the ugly situation.
It is therefore important for youths to understand that images are sometimes used to manipulate people and that these images are powerful enough to persuade us to buy certain products or encourage us to behave in particular way. There is a need for youths to be able to differentiate between information and misinformation, truth and fabrication.
2.2.5 Studies on media influence
In all of communication researchers, the area of media influence appears to be the most contentious. Several reasons account for this. For one, it is argued that, if the media have no influence on the society, is there any realistic justification for their continued existence? For another, if the media to have influences on the thought process and attitude of mankind, should they take responsibility for the emergent foibles and discomfitures of man in the society Defleur (1976).
Some schools of thought hold that, the media cannot be completely impotent because human existence itself is founded in parts, on communication. Any wonder the communication maxim that man cannot not communicate. However, the media cannot take sole responsibility for the vagaries of human attitude change because that would deny that contributions of other influential variables in the existential environment.
The above picture vividly underscores the quandary which media influence researchers mostly find themselves. As if to dismiss all skepticisms about media influence, Melvin de Fleur and Sandra Ball-Rokeach cited in Uwakwe (2010), examined the controversy and declared the “only the terribly naïve would argue that the mass media have no influences upon people or upon people’s lives”. The problem, however, remains that it is hard, if not impossible to set a standard framework for measuring the nature and extent of media impacts.
2.2.5 Effects of foreign movies on Nigerian youths
Psychologists have argued that youthfulness is the stage of development characterized by anxiety and curiosity. Viewing movies on television influences children’s play, their everyday behaviour, dressing, mannerism, speech, emotions, ideas, about salient issues such as roman, ambition as well as carrier plans. The television programmes especially foreign movies provide many powerful models for adolescent and abundant opportunities for observational learning. Foreign movies have strategic weapon aimed at subtly over powering the cultural values of Africa. However, the youths as a social category have been the most influenced by these western cultures. They have seen to be the most vulnerable as far as globalization is concerned, as they struggle to attain what can be described as a hanging identity, an identity that makes them belong neither here nor there.
In Nigeria, average youths spend their time either in front of television screen, laptops, phones or cinema screen watching foreign films which have aggressive tendency and damaging pressure on them. Crime romance horror and thrillers are the top genres that are most viewed. As young boys are growing up they start developing desire to play around with guns and other damaging instruments. Nowadays, due to the advancement in technology, access to all kinds of foreign movies is greatly increased through multiple platforms. Movies can be downloaded straight from the internet into phones, laptops etc. This makes the youths to become more violent while increasing hard drug usage thereby giving rise to different kinds of crimes. Children are not safe either, as they can harm themselves trying to practice those tricks learned from films. Basically, television screens in our society gradually been surrendered more to foreign movies that have little or no redeeming values as far as Nigerian culture is concerned. The media consistently feature foreign cultures that debase the African culture. Most of the cinema houses features the cultures of Europe and North America more prominently and consistently.
Furthermore, foreign movies have the potentials of generating both positive and negative effects. One may ask, what is the role of foreign movies on one’s life, are foreign movies harmful or beneficial or both? Therefore, to evaluate the worth of foreign movies, there is need to weigh the pros and coins of foreign movies. There is need to come to an understanding of how much importance and prominence should be given or not given to foreign films on our television screen. Movie are a source of popular entertainment. From the moment one indulges in watching a movie, one is transformed into a new world, where the mind is at ease. It creates relaxation, reduces tension and lessens the burdens of life. Everybody needs recreation. Recreation is an important part of life and movies provide that avenue.
Films are also social activators, they allow even unknown people to mingle with one another. Movies are like a common factor. This common factor can initiate or sustain a conversation with a strange. It brings socialization through conservation and debate. Movies stir up people’s imagination. The most unbelievable things are shown in movies. Foreign films play vital roles in educating the viewers at various levels, reducing the level of ignorance, hatred, prejudice and teach on social life while widening the mind or sense of reasoning through suspense. Films are platter of various discipline; they show one’s history, culture, science, technology, politics and lots more.
In outlining some of the negative effects of foreign films on Nigerian youths, the following are discussed;
Violence foreign movies profess violence: Nigerian youths are being heavily influenced by violence shown in movies. They show new ways of torture and physical abuse which inspires the young mind to indulge in these acts. Boys who grew up watching violent movies were more likely to be violent. Gun handling and shooting have become a general awareness. Dialogue, negotiation and peaceful demonstration that used to be employed as a tool of peace settlement have drastically reduced while terrorism, abduction, kidnapping, killing, militancy have become the order of doing things by the youths.
Reduction in moral values and standard: It is rather unfortunate that Nigerian youths have realized themselves in a society where little or no attention is given to moral standards any longer. People now behave the way actors and actresses behave in foreign movies, which sometimes may not be true life situations. The fear of God by the youths has also been thrown to the wind as a consequence of foreign influences perpetuated by foreign films. Teenagers can injure or kill themselves as the result of what they watch on foreign movies which seem to portray criminality and gangstraism as exotic life styles.
Drug abuse and cultism: Majority of the Nigerian youths who have taken to smoking take after their film role models and idols whom they admire very much. Foreign film always feature chain smokers, drug addicts and hardened criminals. These band influences push Nigerian youths to cultism and social vices.
Addiction to Movies: Many Nigerian youths suffer from complexities of life and instead of finding real solutions, they end up attempting movie answers forgetting that most of those scenarios were acted or simulated and not real. The addiction to foreign movies can affect people’s mental and physical health negatively.
Actually, it is a goal of foreign films to dispel stereotype while offering viewers the opportunity to examine various facets of culture around the world using guided and thoughtful teaching methods and learning activities.
2.2.6 Relationship between pictures and human behaviour
With few exemptions, everybody, social scientists, movie makers, and nonprofessionals seem to agree that there is a profound relationship between motion pictures and human behaviour. The initial important question is in the way in which these relationships are to be conceived. Any investigation on this field will be predicted on certain assumption about human collective behaviour about how human give and receive information and about how the individual comprehend his social roles and identify that of others.
Psychologist Bartlett (1990) argues that the process by which the individual comes to terms with his environment is dynamic and creative rather than passive and static. The individual does passively respond to the situation, rather she or he responds to the situation selectively and creatively this is cognition. Motion pictures achieve their effect because they help the individual organize his world. There is this view that the effects of the motion picture on behavior and attitudes are small and transitory. This seems to be the underlying attitude of those, which characterize motion pictures as mere entertainment. The much-publicized statement is that foreign films chief function is to provide entertainment and amusement or to create an opportunity for an anxiety-ridden population to escape into a land of fantasy. Bartlett, (1990) argues that the term “entertainment is psychologically ambiguous”. When applied to films, the term “purely entertainment” would appear to mean that motion picture may be made without meaningful content and without effect on those exposed to them. However, what is not obvious is that attitudes and perceptions are at work before and during exposure to mass media and that, the largely determine the communication that the individual is exposed. What he remembers of the communication how to interpret its contents, and the effect which mass communication have upon him; Anderson and Dill, (2000) support the hypothesis that visual image influence youths behaviour. In another study, Sergeant, (2001) was of the opinion that typically youth watching 150 film a year will be exposed to over 800 deceptions of overt immoral behaviours such as smoking and premarital sex.
2.2.7 Positive influence of foreign films
Television (film) gives youth helpful information, various forms of education which are all part of the positive influence the television (film) have on youths.
The liberation one gets from everyday works and anxieties by watching foreign contents contributes to the positive effects of television entertainment. In this high pace world one does not find time to read books and search for information, one desires television often acts as an almanac dictionary and an eye into the world around it. It informs youths the most recent happening around the world within seconds.
Television (film) vary from education programs to that combining sexuality explict material “Winns maintains that television and video entertainments prompt one to put off worries and anxieties, just like drugs and alcohol”.
Some positive effects also include
It helps youths to learn about other culture
It gives family members of all ages an opportunity to spend time together while watching.
Educational programmes can teach youths new things, and even help the make new friends.
Cultural entertainments can show youth the world of music and arts.
It shows youths places, animals, or things that they could not see
Documentaries can create a picture of the world in youth’s mind.
2.2.8 Negative influence
Foreign films have detrimental effects and they are easy target because the action of watching is passive and its content is usually violent, sexual or moronic. It has a great effect on the lives of the youth.
Studies using different perspective have argued that films exert a significant alienating impact or influence on the self perception of an individual. The accumulative effect of which is the depreciating of the Nigerian self image or cultural identity and an identification with the constructed self. A process referred to by social and clinical psychologists as self hatred Hatchen (1987).
Tan et al (1987), in their study of the impact of American television in the Philippines shows that frequent showing of foreign culture on Philippines has lead to the depreciating of the Philippines self-image and corresponding appreciation and the desire to behave like them when projected by the Americans and Western Europeans.
Many criticisms have also been leveled against the films shown in African television today. The Senegalese film maker Ousemene (1977) has observed that movies in Africa are playing a negative role. The majorities of the movies shown on African television are products of cultural alienation. He also noted that many Nigerians have complained of the poison content of films shown on the screens in Nigeria.
Lovas (1973) in his study on the effect of television, concluded that watching aggressive programmes serve to arouse youth’s aggressive impulse to some degree. Bandura and Rose (1973), in their own study found that people who watch aggressive programmes are likely to be more aggressive.
Sometime ago in Nigeria, a small girl was beaten, stripped and left alone to due by three boys age 5, 8 and 10. When asked why they had assaulted the girl the boys replied that they were doing what the “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” do. Also, they said they were copying the movie “ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle”. It has been shown that viewing violent films can alter the youths behavior making the youth afraid, worried, suspicious or increasing that child’s tendencies towards aggressive behaviours.
Watching films does not develop a youth’s skill in word recognitions, decoding, vocabularies and spellings on high level thinking. Youths lose something valuable and personal when they don’t read. According to Winn “The connection between television effects on youths’ reading abilities and the decline. In their writing skills is clear, is book talk… and you only learn book talk by reading.
McBride (1981) consequently, the Nigerian media audience especially the youth is caught in a mesh of confusion of values. This is exemplified in their mode of dressing, speech mannerism, socio-cultural life. It has also wrought no little damage to how our youths perceive our culture and environment. Increase number in violent acts, HIV infection, immoral acts and such other vices by the youths has been traced to exposure to pornography in the foreign media.
Through films, powerful advertisement, fashion and musical shows the western has tried to sell to the developing world the notion that their goods, cultures of being depended on. What is obtainable in Nigeria media landscape is the dependency syndrome where they rely heavily on the offerings made available by the foreign media in augmenting their local sources in news content, entertainment, music and programming. The distressing fact is that they become models that display the various wares of their owners without any opportunity to refuse or choose Matterlart (1999).
2.2.8.1 Alcohol
The 1982 report of the Surgeon General revealed that alcohol is the most consumed beverage on prime time television and is times more often than water eighty percent of prime time. Entertainments showed or mentioned alcohol consumption and in half of these. Instances it was heavy alcohol consumption five or more drinks.
Television exposure affects our youths drinking ability/habits. Alcohol interferes with youth’s perception of reality and their ability to make good decision.
The effects of alcohol abuse on youths include:
Heart and central nervous system damage
Serious vitamin deficiencies
Loss of appetite
An increased risk of impotence
High risk of overdosing
Stomach ailments
Bad breath
Cirrhosis and cancer of the liver etc.
2.2.8.2 Sex scenes
According to the Awake (Oct. 2006) two third television contents of films foreign include talk about sex and 35% include sexual behaviurs which are usually presented as risk free and spontaneous and involved unwanted couples. Also according to the BSC briefing update citied in Adanri (2005), 78% of sexual scenes are scenes of kissing where the kissing implies further sexual activity might take place.
In the 1930’s sexual intercourse and sexuality were ignored on television by 1960 television gained sexual freedom on screen as married partners where seen together in the same bed Lalking (1978) teens having sex became a topic on television effects of this being that youth no longer view marriages as sacred (Adam 2005) today most of the films video’s are danced by nude ladies with amorous movements sexual connotations and though some of the scenes look outrageous parents ignore and allow the youths to watch due to the constant watching they develop the urge of having sex with other partner.
2.2.8.3 Life imitating art
A boy once had his friends bury him, head first, in a sand box to imitate something he have seen on an anime show. People, especially children, act out what they see. There have been other stores of children acting out violence they had seen movies leading to injuries and death.
Besides acting out, repeated graphically violent scenes lead to desensitization. Each year the media industry raises the bar of gore, abuse, and gun violence to shock the viewers. As violence becomes more common, youths become more aggressive and desensitized to the images they see.
2.2.9 The destruction of Nigerian culture
It is my view that most Western American television programmes in Nigeria have violent contents and contributes to the rise in violence in youths. Vincent (1984) agrees that Nigerian cultural values are being just eroded by foreign ones. He regrets the fact that there seem not to be any sign of resistance by Nigeria against these foreign invades that make matters worse. He further points out that Nigerians especially youths, adopt Western values in their ways of eating, dressing, speaking, education and even courting and sex life.
There could be no better way to analyze the situation on our university campuses than the one given by Maduka (1984). Nigerian Universities have become so materialistic and pleasure loving that they would buy hamburger, ice-cream, refrigerator, television sets, compact disk-sets, foreign dresses etc. rather than buying books and going to libraries to read. They would go to night parties and picnics instead of attending lecturers and classes. The list is endless but more disturbing is the fact that students often go to the extent of using their school fees to satisfy these desires.
The students are so carried away with the television projection of reality that they adopt hair and dressing styles that are nothing but outrageous. While most females’ students dress almost naked to school, male students increasingly wear spot ear-rings. They also learn, know and speak American slang’s more than English language. These behaviours are in line with the behaviours of characters shown in most Western television contents programme. This content of western culture is deemed to be violent and competitive. Harvard law professor (Duncan Kennedy 1993), says the culture of the “wild west” is individualistic, materialistic and philistine. Imitation of television realities of western nation by people of the third world nations as Nigeria was acknowledged and attributed to some major reasons by McBride et al (1980).
Some of the reasons include:
The continuing and increasing dependency of developing countries on rich industrialized nations for nearly
The over whelming in flow of news, television programmes, films, books and other cultural materials between develop and undeveloped ones with alien models and values.
The consequence this trend has for Nigeria and other third world countries over which the television hegemony of the west dangles can be measured in terms of the number of people from Nigeria and other third world countries (American), (Western Europe) in order to experience and realize their impression of western culture formulated through the television and construct perceptions of social reality. That is to give meaning to their projected self-image. This stunts real development.
2.3 Empirical Review
The review under this section is based on different findings from various past related literatures. Maduako (2004:42), in her work “An analysis of viewer’s reactions to foreign syndicated films”, found out that most consumers prefer indigenous films to foreign .films. Also, she established that these foreign syndicated films have serious negative impact on the Nigerian youths as they encourage crime, violence, drug abuse, sexual immorality as well as other forms of misbehaviours.
In addition, findings from her study (Maduako) also revealed that foreign syndicated films have some adverse effect on our cultural value, and this affects the general outlook of our youths.
Efedhoma (2010:64) in her study on “Influence of television soap operas on Port Harcourt residents” found out that a greater population of the study (50.3%) preferred foreign soap operas, to (13.3%) who prefer local soap operas. Also, her findings revealed that the terrestrial media like NTA, AIT and RSTV ranked the highest media, through which these foreign soap operas are viewed as against cable TV. She further pointed out that, her study revealed that issues potrayed in the soaps such as violence and obscenity ranked highest in terms of influence on the audience.
Lastly, Nwuke (2004:43) in his work “The impact of televised western violent films on youth established that antisocial behaviour exhibited by children and young adults can be linked to exposure to televised violence. He further established that televised violence could lead to emotional possession, and even after viewership to televised western violent programmes, youth attraction to antisocial behaviours was a consequence of such exposure.
In conclusion, findings further revealed that televised violent programmes are a major influence on negative attitude disposition.
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