Naija on Netflix series
Gangster rhetoric and its representation of Indigenous languages
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21790534 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Uzoma Okoro (0009-0008-8549-7103, Atlantic University), Aifuwa Edosomwan (0000-0001-9588-8310, Atlantic University) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 195-210 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of African Cinemas (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1754-9221 • E-ISSN: 1754-923X |
| Publisher | Intellect (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1386/jac_00153_1 |
| OpenAlex | W4416646719 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
Language is a significant tool of societal interactions. Films mirror the society, its culture, aspirations, nuances and experience. Films contribute to the linguistic realities of society with their depiction of the underlying dynamics and dispositions concerning language choices. Due to the linguistic diversity of Nigeria, mutual intelligibility has led to the submersion of these languages under the unconstrained possibilities of English, the country’s official language. The prevalence of English over Indigenous languages is also seen in Nollywood, Nigeria’s popular film industry, as more movies are made in English than in Indigenous languages. In this study, we explore Nollywood’s inclination towards using Indigenous languages through the Netflix series King Boys: The Return of the King (2021) and Shanty Town (2023), which were high-grossing series with exclusive rights to Netflix. The series is selected based on their preoccupation with gangster rhetoric, which is the apotheosizing and positioning of a gangster as the protagonist. They are also purposively selected based on their delineation of the multilingual complexities of Nigeria. Through a critical study, we explore and analyse the underlying patterns in the representations of languages, the position of Indigenous languages and their implications in the promotion and de-promotion of the Nigerian cultural heritage
Depiction · Indigenous · Indigenous language · Linguistic diversity · Rhetoric · Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity · Multilingual Education and Policy · Swearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |