Nigerian filmmaker, Adekunle Adejuyigbe aka Nodash has called on content producers to be wary of the kind of content they dish out to the public because human behavior is consistent with information consumed over time.
Baring his thoughts on social media against the backdrop of the ongoing #EndSARS protests triggered by police brutality and which has since dovetailed into bad governance, Nodash said that his experience of working in the music and film industries have shown that most entertainers really do not see a connection between the content they create and the real-life behavior of their fans. In the above light he says content producers must be aware that they have 200 million people to re-orient and the reformation must start with them first.
Nodash wrote: “Some years ago, a young man put a loaded gun to my head and said ‘if you calmly let me rob you, I won’t kill you. After all I am a hustler just like you.’ What shocked me the most was seeing that he actually believed he was hustling for his money just like I do. The events of the past couple of weeks reminded me of that robbery incident and like a lot of us, I have been asking myself, why are young Nigerians consistently behave the way we do. I am sure we all have different answers to this question but I believe we can all agree that, just as it is with food and health, human behavior is always consistent with the information consumed over time. And yes, information comes from different sources but the most influential source of information is entertainment.
“As Nigerian content providers, we need to ask ourselves, what have we been been feeding our people? Dear producer/ record label exec/influencer, the next time a filmmaker/artiste approaches you with that script/song/idea that actually has a message please, think twice before you launch that tired “Let’s just give the audience the feel-good stuff and make money” speech. I beg you to consider the hidden cost of consistently feeding vapid content to the masses.
My experiences working in the music and film industries have shown me that most entertainers really do not see a connection between the content they create and the real-life behavior of their fans. But that connection is there and it’s strong!
“We influence the Youths more than anyone else in their lives- parents included. They would quote their favorite celebrities 10 times over before quoting anything the pastor or Imam said. Inevitably, the content we create becomes the invisible filter through which they view the world. So as we gear up for what comes next (including 2023 and beyond) let us be aware we have 200million people to re-orient starting with ourselves. There are many battle grounds we have to conquer to win this war of change but the most important is the battleground-of-the-mind. And that, my dear colleagues, is where we play. Let’s go to war!,” he charged.
Known for making films like the internationally acclaimed ‘The Delivery Boy’ currently streaming on Netlfix, Nodahs has built a persona for himself as a formidable force within the Nigerian film industry.