The Wrong Side of Censoring Hausa Home Videos

By
Ahmad Abubakar

drahsak@yahoo.com

"it does not matter how slowly you go,so long as you do not stop"-Confucious


I have been enjoying movies weather on television, video or on satellite, and I feel that like most people I have developed such a stand of analyzing the content personally and judging it impacts on it’s audience. To be candid Films have some significant impact to our social and economic life, perhaps a genuine reason for analysis to how Censorship is applied here in my domain.

Hausa home videos have been a topic of concern for many years. After ‘Hiyana saga’ critics have been in the fore front to black list this industry from the lime light of the norms of the society, this dears the Government body to come in and regulates the Film industry. The Hausa film industry has been known as very rich with potentials and able hands, but full of technological inadequacies and mannerisms, as a result of their bad depiction of morals and wrong misrepresentation of our culture with out regard to norms and ethics.

To some few public analyst, which I belong to, we perceived the Government intervention to be a promising journey, and hope that the Government will employ the hands of professionals and minded individuals to steer this industry, so that the economic and social context of it are been put on right drive and their potentials been exhumed, wish respect to due representation of our culture. But, to our surprises, the Censorship board with its entire stench stand for Justice and punishments fall on it’s kneel to failure. The industry has been killed, and most of these able hands of practitioners have relocated to neighboring states, still producing films devoid of the ideological phenomenon of decency and right representation of Hausa people.

The Censorship board should have been a steering guard to guide these able young and talented film makers, so that the genre of films and the story line is technically on the track, and enriching the marketing unit, for profer distribution and maximizing the economy. With low budget films, the Hausa films were been a topic of discussion on many International and local papers in those days, why then shall we not put that to our state advantage and at the same time idealize these talented youth to imbibe our good cultures. This would have been a better option for many unemployed youth that litters the state as ‘yan jagaliya’(political thugs) and other ills-minded people. As well as a boost to the state economy and revenue generating chance,which many state have been seeking.

Let me say this, I can not imagine what codes the present censorship board is working with. Is it to tackle the economic part of the film making or the technical part? One must wonder how the journey changes its course. In the beginning Government propaganda was targeted on the issue of immorality on such films with reference to ‘Hiyana’s case’, and to some it is a dominance by some non state indigenes. Many debates and discussions were made, and by observing the trend running now, it seems like the issue here is been targeted either to champion a political cause or to totally bring down the industry down, there by neglecting a promising field for our state both in socio-economic context.

Now, let me site a scenario, it happens to be just like a pond in the middle of a town, where rampantly the inhabitants goes to fishing, with out regards to the number of fishes inside. Then the Government came and poisoned all the fishes, as a move to sanitize and regulate fishing. What would you say to such control measure?This is similar to what we have here in Hausa film industry .instead of sanitizing it through technical ways and regulating certain part of the film, the Government have not only killed the industry, but have push them outside the state, and makes them a right target for others to use them against the consumers, which are mainly our own self, either through Home videos or through satellite, and to top it all, we have been left with no chance but to fix a free to air channels on satellite, there by exposing our self to cultural flux, what a lost?

In US, there was a time when the Film making industry experienced a censoring time, during the Hay’s era. It resulted to emergence of Production codes, where morality and technicality of the film were the front words. Among the leading codes is that when depicting crime, producers were not allowed to include scenes on how to commit a crime, inspire audience to imitate the crime, or make criminals seem heroic or justified.

The production code also touches the religious side, which no film could ridicule on any religious faith. Also, representation of foreign countries and foreigners had to be respectful. The history, institutions, prominent people and citizenry of other nations had to be represented fully.

Overt depiction of sex was banned of course. In the depiction of gender relations, films had to be sympathetic to marriage as an institution. Impure Love could not be represented as attractive, it could not be the subject of comedy, it could not be presented so as to arouse passion or morbid curiosity in audience and it could not be portrayed as permissible. Compensating moral values were required where the scenario depicted impure love.

Under that Code, no Adult nudity was permissible. Bedrooms had to be treated with utmost discretion, because of their association with sexual life or with sexual sin; vulgarities, obscenities and profanities of any kind were banned. Producers could not depict dances which suggested sexual actions.

With so many restrictions like this, the industry would have solved all the immorality that goes with film making. But rather than such moves, the Censorship have wasted it resources in regulating the trade groups, and there by causing a break in the unity among the practitioners and had pushed them beyond our borders of scrutiny, yet we are the target consumers of all the ill-produced films.

Just a mere adjustment of genre of the films, from tense Love story line to a comic stand could have given room for suitable orientation. Some time I even wonder if we have any foresight at all when it comes to such rare field.

The Question that rises here is does the censoring of Hausa films now promote the morality of the practitioners or have given them way to become deviant to the society and its norms ?...I wish to have answers before my next columns