CAN NOLLYWOOD HEAL OUR HOMES?

Nigerian homes are endangered species. Marriages are crashing for the flimsiest reasons. Domestic violence is on the rise. Trauma is a common ailment now. Men are traumatizing their women; women their men. Parents their children and the ripple effect continues. Drug addiction is on the rise. Murderers and serial killers are being made on a daily. They hide under the cloak of UGM, kidnappers and organ harvesters to fill their grotesque needs. These things are happening in our country and I am surprised we are making a joke of it all. I shudder at how we are so engrossed with consumerism culture and mirth or lewd contents meant to distract ourselves while our homes are on fire. When man’s inhumanity to his fellow man is on the rise. When there is, indeed on a global scale, indications of an impending third world war, ecological cataclysm of a global scale as a result of human ‘mal-activities’ in the name of civilisation, which ever one comes first.

But, let us come back to our homes and the role of Nollywood if healing can be. An Igbo wise man once said; a na esi na- uno diri mma were puwa na-ama. Transliterated as; “you starting making progress from the home.” You cannot say you are successful when your home is in shambles. And yet, we find many today who are ex wives and husbands or one of the wives or husbands of one or the other. And such ones still seek success independent of a stable home front. But are they really successful? Are they really happy or fulfilled?

I love what Tobe Nwigwe, the US born Igbo conscious rapper, is doing with his music and rap culture version. He does his thing with his wife and his children and he cannot be anywhere without his whole family.

Now that is some inspiration. Nollywood can borrow a leaf from this practice, as novel yet natural as it is. Given that this perverted consumerism attitude and “the man is there to take care of me or he is less a man and I am not cut out for work mindset were mostly picked up from western movies and recently from Nollywood movies.

The same way Nollywood can start making movies that promote positive family values and putting family system first as the sine qua non for restoring the families and thereby our society.

Because, of a truth, our homes need some healing and our women believe so much in our shows and movies. We can pass the right messages through them. How about doing reality TV shows that would promote spousal bonding?

I understand ANAMBRA Broadcasting Service has one programme like that for couples where they are tested to know how well they know each other. That is quite laudable and I encourage the producer to put in more into the promotion of the show and creating some others like it. Instead of all these lewd social experiments being conducted in the name of Big Brother, apologies to the producers, how about holding such grand prize offers for shows that would have actual spouses or intended spouses exhibiting those core values that promote cohabitation; forgiveness, listening ear, submissiveness, respect, love, discipline, caring thinking skills.

Think about it for a minute. Don’t you think that we need the intervention of the one programming tool that we focus our attention on most of the time; the TV, in healing our society and getting things right in all facets of our living experience?

Movies that would teach how to forgive and resolve disputes among couples; movies that would teach that the right way to raise kids is to get them as many teachers as possible in various basic skills and problem solving techniques there are; arts, music, self defense and manipulation of tools; movies that would teach the respect of elders, husbands and the voice of the people as the way to go in having a homogeneous society. I cannot wait for the day we would start seeing such movies making number one at the box office.
How about you?