International Journal of Cultural Studies, Ahead of Print.
This article explores the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Nigerian film industry (Nollywood) and the local responses of filmmakers to the precariousness engendered by the pandemic. This research adopts the critical media industry studies framework and relies on interviews with 30 Nollywood filmmakers who provided insights on the impact of the pandemic on labour in Nollywood. Theorizing the Covid-19 dynamics as reflective of the ambivalence of informality, this article submits that although informality was central to Nollywood's industrial structure and sustainability, the pandemic triggered unprecedented tensions associated with those informal practices and highlighted existing precarity which had been largely masked by constant availability of jobs. Accordingly, a significant legacy of the pandemic for the industry is the unprecedented gravitation of industry players towards more formalized industrial structures and practices.
Author Archives: Godwin Iretomiwa Simon
‘They are now pocket videos, not home videos’: Streaming and reconfiguration of video consumption in Nigeria
International Journal of Cultural Studies, Ahead of Print.
This article examines how streaming is altering established viewing practices that traditionally characterised video film consumption among domestic Nigerians. Following the creation of the Nigerian video industry (Nollywood) as a straight-to-video film industry, audiences watched movies solely through the technologies of television sets and video players. The fluid and opaque circulation of video copies located audience consumption practices within informal realms and communal spaces. This article analyses how streaming is catalysing a distinctive viewing culture in Nigeria. It argues that streaming is formalising access to Nollywood movies, upending the communal practices associated with legacy video viewing, and fostering an individualised viewing culture though some informal communal practices persist in the streaming ecosystem. By emphasising the role of smartphones and apps in the emergent streaming culture, this article demonstrates how streaming is restructuring the temporal, spatial, and affective features of audience engagements that traditionally characterised movies viewing in Nigeria.
This article examines how streaming is altering established viewing practices that traditionally characterised video film consumption among domestic Nigerians. Following the creation of the Nigerian video industry (Nollywood) as a straight-to-video film industry, audiences watched movies solely through the technologies of television sets and video players. The fluid and opaque circulation of video copies located audience consumption practices within informal realms and communal spaces. This article analyses how streaming is catalysing a distinctive viewing culture in Nigeria. It argues that streaming is formalising access to Nollywood movies, upending the communal practices associated with legacy video viewing, and fostering an individualised viewing culture though some informal communal practices persist in the streaming ecosystem. By emphasising the role of smartphones and apps in the emergent streaming culture, this article demonstrates how streaming is restructuring the temporal, spatial, and affective features of audience engagements that traditionally characterised movies viewing in Nigeria.