Chukwuemeka Daniel, a doctoral researcher based in Sydney, Australia, has weighed in on Nigeria’s surface level appreciation of film.
While updating his Facebook timeline on Sunday, the doctoral researcher posted that the raving Nigerian series “Shantytown” which was released on Friday has not been enjoying the critical evaluation it deserves.
He said, based on his observation, Nigerians only talk about the first 30% of an entire movie, adding that all it takes for a willing participant to join the conversation is to watch just one-third of the film.
“You could watch 30% of Shanty Town (and most other recent Nollywood movies) and still be able to contribute meaningfully to the ongoing conversation held by an online community regarding the movie,” he said.
“30%, like episode one and half of episode two. That’ll be enough for you to join the conversation, because nowadays the conversation (when it comes to recent mainstream Nollywood flicks) is hardly about the plot and narrative structure but about character(isation) and visual aesthetics,” he added.
The Nigerian also pointed out that much of the conversation is directed at the characters rather than appreciating all elements that are involved.
“The audience would be more interested in how Chidi Mokeme and one Mercy Eke played their role well than discuss the significance of their role to the development of the plot, because the audience had seen that the plot is not plotting,” he maintained.
Shantytown had generated a lot of reactions since its release in January 2023. One of the most talked about scenes is the part that showed Nancy Isime’s nude.
