Journal of Development Communication And Applied Theatre

This study draws a comparison on character development in Hollywood and Nollywood films, assessing how culture influences the process in both industries. While the cultures of the environment in which film is produced usually affects the narratives, a gap identified is the comparison amongst industries, in this case Hollywood and Nollywood. Utilizing the Thematic Analysis approach and hinged on Stuart Hall’s Representation Theory, this study draws comparison from the Hollywood film Room and Nollywood’s Road to Yesterday. The units of analysis are two characters (the protagonist and the antagonist) from each of the films. Findings reveal a variance in the cultural influences of the two films industries to assert that development of Hollywood film characters is influenced by the culture of western individualism, as opposed to those of Nollywood that are greatly influenced by the communal and moralistic cultural lifestyle. The study, consistent with Hall’s Representation theory, shows that representation is a culturally encoded construct and not a neutral reflection of reality. It also shows that films are culturally encoded based on their industries and are decoded by audiences differently, supporting Hall’s polysemy claims. This study recommends that similar research should be conducted using other films produced by different industries. Further research could be conducted with more characters as units of analysis and more films to draw a more generic conclusion.

Open Full Text (PDF)