The ‘Hero’ in Selected Nollywood Videos

Abstract

Scholarly attention on Nollywood has focused majorly on thematic and cultural adaptations while the angle of heroism in contemporary Nigerian society has received less critical attention. Discourses on heroism which have dominated the literary sphere have focused on interrogating the heroic essence that characterises the sociological frames of classical societies as well as his (the hero's) variations through several literary eras in western civilisation. With the unfolding realities of the Modern era and its attendant events, there exist disparaging notions as to what constitute not just the existence of man but the place of heroism within modern discourse, thus the emergence of the tragic hero and the antihero. The study has examined the concept of heroism in two contemporary Nollywood videos; National crisis and Mama Africa and has further explored the nature and the dimensions of the hero within the Nigerian society portrayed in the Nollywood videos using Roland Barthes Semiotic Approach from the Social Constructionist Theory of Representation. It argued that there exists several dynamics within the micro- society that influence the hero in the contemporary Nigerian society. Therefore, an adequate knowledge of these ideologies and cultural themes provided insights into the substance that informed and regulated the behaviour of the characters, thereby sensitising the populace and government of their roles in ensuring a peaceful co-existence among individuals in the larger society.