The Trend Towards Nudity
Have you noticed the increasing amount of nudity on the covers of African Movies? I must confess that this title is slightly misleading as in most of the cases I will present to you the trend is more towards scantily clad young women, some making crude gestures; as opposed to full on nakedness, however I have noticed many Africans use nude and naked to mean half dressed, hence the title of this post.
What I am wondering here on nollywoodforever.com is what is up with these covers in Nollywood? They were hardly masterpieces to begin with but now things have disintegrated to the point where I go and buy my stash and if someone that was not a very close friend wanted to see what I had bought I may well just refuse. Why would I refuse you may ask? Well let me tell you point blank; I am embarrassed. Movie covers nowadays are looking like soft porn.
As far as I can see the nudity of primarily young women featured on the front of African movies is not necessary to convey the essence of the movie contained within, neither is it artistic or beautifully shot. So why is it there? Well that is the question that I too am asking. When these covers are being designed what do they have in mind? Is it to shock? To titillate? Or is it as simple as the fact that SEX supposedly SELLS?
From my limited observations it would appear to me that Nollywood’s primary consumers are FEMALE. I’m sure male addicts exist but all the Nollywood addicts that I know are females. All the people I know that buy movies en masse are females too. In fact all the males I know that watch Nollywood movies watch other people’s copies or catch them on TV. Guys that do buy movies (I see them at the stall where I buy them) buy one or two and not a whole load like a lot of women do, so how does it make sense to target half naked images to women? We don’t want to see that shit.
With that in mind I must ask again. What is the purpose of throwing all these naked and scantily clad young women and sometimes men (My Soul Mate and Strange Act) on the covers of African Movies? These images are not going to make women feel an impulse toward buying the movie so what is the marketing strategy behind this trend of late?
I can’t answer the question. The most I can come up with is that certain marketers saw the controversy the sex in Ghanaian movies was causing and wanted to emulate that controversy? Outside that I am baffled. Maybe one of you can come up with another answer for me. Now let me show you some of the covers that I am referring to:
African Movies - Cover Analysis
Hot Tears is a Ghanaian movie. On the cover you can see Francesca Grey, smiling showing off her beautiful body in a pink bikini. This movie did in fact feature a lot of nudity but isn’t it strange how on the cover the chick is wearing a pink two piece when in the actual movie she went to the beach in bra and panties. I even commented in my review how strange it was that they couldn’t even go get her a bikini to wear. So what gives? The girl does not even smile in the movie. She is repeatedly brutally raped but they have her on the cover wearing sunglasses and pink bikini like she is taking a trip down to the Florida Keys. How does it relate?
Strange Act is a movie about spirits and a haunted house. You wouldn’t think that from the cover would you? I feel sorry for Yemi and the actress that is posing for this cover with him because I’m sure they would not want their images used in this way. What is the point of this cover? It has nothing at all to do with the story. This image comes from a part at the beginning of the movie where Yemi is caught in bed with another woman by his wife. This is by no means a focal point of the story.
On the cover of Cruz we see Uche Ogbodo looking like a wanton woman, mouth ajar and grabbing her crotch. My first thought on seeing this was, WTF? Granted she was a wanton woman in the movie but what do we need to see her grabbing her crotch for?
Mansion Models repackaged as Fulton Mansion is the worst cover for me. Now wtf is going on here? We see Eve Esin legs akimbo, grabbing her breast and rubbing her crotch. Would you believe that this movie is about some girls training to compete in Miss Nigeria? Miss Nigeria? Can you imagine? Look at the state of them? More like Nigeria’s Next Top Ashewo. The movie is in fact almost as smutty as the cover. There was lots of half naked perambulating with some lesbian clinching thrown into the mix. The movie is a hot mess. I was so surprised that Stephanie Okereke even agreed to be a part of this.
Mind Game repackaged as Sexy Game tried to get in on the whole sex thing by renaming the movie Sexy Game. What for now? Were there any sexy games in the movie? Which kind nonsense be this? Your husband is cheating on you with a man. Oooooh how sexy! Look at Omotola on the cover of the movie. There is not one part of the movie where she wore daisy dukes or exposed her midriff like so. So why put it on the cover like that? That plus calling the movie Sexy Game is blatantly fraudulent. Look closely and you will even see that Omotola’s head has even been photoshopped onto another body. Shocking!
My Soul Mate was the last movie I watched in my latest stash. I left it until last because I was so put off by the movie cover that I kept avoiding watching it. I finally watched it and was surprised that I actually enjoyed the movie. It was alright. They chose images of Mercy, Van and Angela at the times in the movie when they have the least clothes on. You wouldn’t think that the movie was about a mother who gave up her daughter for adoption who then years later sets out to find her would you? They have taken a picture of Mercy and Angela from separate unrelated swimming scenes in the movie and thrown them on the cover to give the illusion of a lot of nudity in the movie.
So there is my selection. What do you think about this influx of nudity on African movie covers? If you know of any more instances of gratuitous nudity on the covers of African Movies let me know and I’ll add them here
Hi,
Please have you seen this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHsTxe4dYJ8&fe...
I consider this soft porn, would you please consider doing a short feature on how distasteful Nollywood movies have become. I thought they were called Home Videos.
I am ashamed because we were the same people criticizing Ghanaians.
Bollywood is No. 2 - I don't see them doing any of this rubbish. Genevieve rose to the top, even to the point of getting featured on Oprah and CNN and I cannot for the life of me, recall seeing her doing any of this junk. I still don't foresee such.
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