Emotional Cues in Nollywood Film Culture: A Reading of Kunle Afolayan's October 1 (original) (raw)

2022, GUU Journal of Humanities Vol. 1. No. 1.

Abstract

The paper explores emotional cues in Nollywood film narratives. It looks at how visual elements used as representations tend to stimulate emotions in Nollywood film culture. Thus, visual elements carefully placed within series of shots, otherwise known as Mise-en-scene act as signifiers which elicit lots of cultural ideologies which often portray emotions as the narrative unfolds and stimulates the viewers' emotions. This paper therefore is anchored on the framework of cognitivesemiotic theory to explain the impact of Mise-en-scene as symbols through which meanings portray emotions as well as stimulates viewers in Nollywood narratives. It is hoped that this paper provokes film scholars and filmmakers to explore new ideas in film and the need for more study on Cognitive Semiotics.

Figures (3)

Plate One: Virgin girls, raped, strangled and killed with a pen knife by Aderopo in Akote community. (Source: October 1. Movie produced by Kunle Afolayan) emotions she or he experiences by taking a specific perspective, like that of « protagonist” (p.11). However, the movie October 1 is a historical fiction that is se in the Western Region of Nigeria in 1960. The film tells the story of Prince Aderopo, a prince who becomes the nightmare and serial murderer that ravages Akote at twilight. This series of death also evoked strong emotion in the content ir the film that is so intense. In the film, one of the many semiotic elements tha stimulates emotion in the film is the cross sign enshrined on the body of the deac girls with a pen knife by Aderopo after raping them. This is evident in the scene below: Aderopo, a prince who becomes the nightmare and serial murderer that ravages

Plate One: Virgin girls, raped, strangled and killed with a pen knife by Aderopo in Akote community. (Source: October 1. Movie produced by Kunle Afolayan) emotions she or he experiences by taking a specific perspective, like that of « protagonist” (p.11). However, the movie October 1 is a historical fiction that is se in the Western Region of Nigeria in 1960. The film tells the story of Prince Aderopo, a prince who becomes the nightmare and serial murderer that ravages Akote at twilight. This series of death also evoked strong emotion in the content ir the film that is so intense. In the film, one of the many semiotic elements tha stimulates emotion in the film is the cross sign enshrined on the body of the deac girls with a pen knife by Aderopo after raping them. This is evident in the scene below: Aderopo, a prince who becomes the nightmare and serial murderer that ravages

Plate Two: Inspector Danladi and the Catholic Canon inside the church discussing the murder cases in Akote. (Source: October 1. Movie produced by Kunle Afolayan)

Plate Two: Inspector Danladi and the Catholic Canon inside the church discussing the murder cases in Akote. (Source: October 1. Movie produced by Kunle Afolayan)

lingering sadness and bitterness towards the opposite sex. Hence, he sets a target for himself: six virgins, each representing one of the six years of abuse. For Koya, on the other hand, the effect of the abuse is a total rejection of Western education and all it stands for. Hence, he became a cocoa farmer despite being exposed to Western education as evident in the scene below: The sound that accompanied this conversation was that of catholic hymns in order to heighten the understanding of the period in time and also to engage the audience in a more emotional trance. Also the costumes worn by the actors are a deep reflection of the period in time, suggestive of the colonial period prior to Nigeria’s independence. As a matter of fact, “Film...can provide certain descriptive cues that improve our understanding of the narrative within the film. We can rely on these cues to boost our emotional response to the visuals on screen and therefore interpret the specific emotions that are being inferred” (Alyssa d'Artenay, 2019, p.10). Boggs and Petrie excellently explained the nature of film and how through its semiotics, it can evoke diverse emotions, ideas, and experiences to the audience just by viewing the composition of the images accompanied with sound. Hence, they comment:

lingering sadness and bitterness towards the opposite sex. Hence, he sets a target for himself: six virgins, each representing one of the six years of abuse. For Koya, on the other hand, the effect of the abuse is a total rejection of Western education and all it stands for. Hence, he became a cocoa farmer despite being exposed to Western education as evident in the scene below: The sound that accompanied this conversation was that of catholic hymns in order to heighten the understanding of the period in time and also to engage the audience in a more emotional trance. Also the costumes worn by the actors are a deep reflection of the period in time, suggestive of the colonial period prior to Nigeria’s independence. As a matter of fact, “Film...can provide certain descriptive cues that improve our understanding of the narrative within the film. We can rely on these cues to boost our emotional response to the visuals on screen and therefore interpret the specific emotions that are being inferred” (Alyssa d'Artenay, 2019, p.10). Boggs and Petrie excellently explained the nature of film and how through its semiotics, it can evoke diverse emotions, ideas, and experiences to the audience just by viewing the composition of the images accompanied with sound. Hence, they comment:

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References (20)

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  20. Tan, Ed. S. (1996). Emotion and the structure of narrative film: Film as an emotion machine. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Filmography. Title: October 1 (2014). Screen play: Tunde Babalola, Starring: Starring Sadiq Kayode Olaiya, David Bailie, Kehinde Bankole, Kanayo O. Kanayo, Fabian Adeoye Lojede, Nick Rhys, Kunle Afolayan, Femi Adebayo, Bimbo Manuel; Producer: Kunle Afolayan; Director: Kunkle Afolayan; Costumier: Golden Effects and Deola Sagoe (Haute Couture), Makeup Artist: Gabriel Okorie, Production Company: Golden Effects Studios, Distributed by: Netflix ; Language: English, Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa.