Anthropology of proverbs in the feature film genre: An appraisal of Isakaba 1&2

Proverb has been an advanced form of communication between two or more persons in African societies. As the Igbo adage goes, “a man who cannot interpret the meaning of a proverb said to him and allows it to be interpreted by the same speaker, renders his mother’s dowry useless.” The use of African proverbs in the feature film genre naturally gives a flavor that only a true African narrative portends. Hence, this paper focuses on interrogating the usefulness of African proverbs in Nollywood film narratives, using Isakaba as case study. While adopting a qualitative research method, the paper interrogates its theoretical framework with the Social Semiotics Theory, explicating the manner in which the theory underpins the comprehension of meaning and meaning-making in human interactions. This premise is foregrounded by expounding how the film director’s interpretational prowess is also guided by the knowledge of the culture, setting or social order in which the writer has domiciled his story – towards creating a realistic and engaging audio-visual narrative, which is about typical indicator in the culture of proverbial language globally. Findings show among other things, that the usefulness of proverbs ranges from compacting protracted dialogues into simple and fewer sentences – thereby making the story less boring, spelling out the culture in which the narrative world is pitched, etc. The paper recommends that for the preservation of the nation’s culture, Nollywood filmmakers should integrate Proverbs in their films amongst other cultural traits on a more consistent basis.