Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Are they on death row???

I decided to spend my evening today in the company of all things Nollywood(ok it wasn't as much by choice as it was that everyone else wanted to watch the Nigerian movie). I had sworn off Nollywood after I had the misfortune of watching a movie called "hidden treasures". To talk about that movie would be to write a whole new post so before I get carried away, I'll just say calling the movie terrible would be an understatement. Ok back to this evening. I cant remember the name of the movie being shown. I decided to make things interesting for myself by playing a game I'd like to call "Guess the next scene". Yes its exactly what the name says. I was basically just guessing what the next scene in the movie would be. Guess who came out an undefeated champion(although I was playing by myself *full grin*). I used the word undefeated 'cause I didn't get even one wrong. I mean even if I was playing with someone, the worst that would have happened would have been a draw.

The movie was so predictable. It was as if the script writer was on a crusade against originality/creativity(I just imagined the dude rounding up his colleagues for a rally. On their placards would be written "let the sucker die" "no one loved him anyway" "originality should be hung" "kill him" "kill his brother too while you're at it" etc).
That's how bad it was. I mean there was a scene the dude went to the church and was like if his request was met, he would give to the lord whatever the lord desired. Oya which of you will tell me you don't know what the lord will decide to desire in the movie. His daughter of course. Now do you see what I mean?? Infact at a point I got mildly irritated 'cause they were not even tasking my brain.

Got me wondering, where has all the originality gone?? Why do writers feel the need to constantly repeat what has already been done/written?? I mean I'm an avid novel reader. Sidney Sheldon, Jackie Collins and Agatha Christie are some of my favourite writers and I can say that not once have I been able to predict what will happen next when I'm reading their books. Agatha Christie is just the worst. To say I love her would be an understatement. So there, I don't think being original is such hard work. Someone once said to me, "almost everything has been written already". I told him there was a reason he used almost. We(writers) should be creative enough to write things that fall in that little percentage that has not been written. We should be bold enough to go on that journey that others didn't want to. I mean the possibilities out there are vast. My writings are my pride. I'd probably put a gun in my mouth and pull the trigger first before I copyright or steal ideas from anybody's work.

Creativity and originality should please not be killed.

8 comments:

  1. I cnt watch nigerian movies.......I'll criticize from d beginin till d end so there's almost no point...my major prob wit dem is dey dnt carry out research n. D actors dnt study d role they r meant 2 play....as long as u cn perfect ur cryn scene u r gud 2 go.... Th@'s y u'll c a fat "athlete", if they shoot ur leg bandage on ur head n all.

    Yoruba movies however......☺ and yes I dnt put yoruba movies under d nigerian movies category.

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  2. Very True!!!! Infact, it's lyk u were reading my mind wen u were writing dis post cos i wtchd a horrible nigerian movie yes2day..our script writers nid 2 go bk 2 sch 2 gt a masters degree in scriptwriting, seriously..cos dere's no way on earth dt nollywood wuld eva meet up wit bollywood talkless of hollywood if we dn't ve gud script writers....and deres sumfin i disagree with in dis post; every story hs bin written already. Tk note i said "every" nt "almost every". So, dt "someone" ws half-correct; it's a writers job 2 re-invent a story dt has already bin written in a creative nd original way dt's unique 2 him or her....Afterall, most novels in a particular genre have very similar plots..it's jst d path or journey u take in arriving at d end dt differs..

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  3. The make it for their market i guess. Many people dont know better. Nigeria has 150mil people? if even 1/100th of that finds the movie interesting, thats profit. lol *sad*


    Most nollywood movies aside the poor stories come with poor acting and giant loop holes. I feel stupid every time I watch any so I choose to remain smart.

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  4. Bravo!! I love this. honest wivout hurt... I think script writers should see this. this is my best so far!

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  5. I love this. I once read somewhere that a writer's originality is actually plagiarism, but he must be able to use what he knows to tell an astounding story in a way that has never been done before. I admit that it's a challenge (from experience), but it's something we have to do. Even if we fail many times, we have to try again.

    I'm still waiting for a movie director in Nollywood to be different. I don't watch Nollywood movies like that anyways, unless a grp of friends force me to watch one.

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  6. Lovely post. Originality is truly going extinct.

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  7. Saw this youtube vid today. Was an excerpt of a home video. To say it was hilarious will be understating.

    They wanted to shoot a helicopter scene, and do you know, these guys used a toy helicopter for the scene? Talk about insulting the viewers intelligience.

    Well, as Mrwiseone said, for them, all na profit.

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  8. you should try watching ghananian movies, theyre so unpredictable (to me sha). Their scripts are always insane as in on point is an understatement. I think Nigerians can learn a thing or more from them. If you need recommendations just let me know..........

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