Audience Response to Cameroonian Films : The Case of Ninah's Dowry and Jungle of Heirs.

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Ateh, Tafor:
Audience Response to Cameroonian Films : The Case of Ninah's Dowry and Jungle of Heirs.
Bayreuth , 2025 . - IX, 244 S.
( Dissertation, 2022 , Universität Bayreuth, Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies - BIGSAS)

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Abstract

Most studies on African cinema in the postcolonial era concentrate on the role of cinema in nation-building and its relation to economic and political power in the context of colonialism, imperialism and nationalism. Even though the viewership of African films has expanded considerably since the 1990s, Cameroonian viewers constantly complain of non- representativeness of their cultural values in present day Cameroonian films. This work sets out thus to investigate and understand current trends of audience behaviour in Cameroon. It uses two films, Jungle of Heirs and Nina’s Dowry as basis to explore the different variables that impact the film audience in Cameroon. This study seeks to understand the Cameroonian film audience’s stress on nationalistic representation in Cameroonian films and verisimilitude as an important element of identity representation. It also sets out to understand which social, psychological and cultural expectations the audience brings to the film viewing experience and if their expected gratifications and needs are met by Cameroonian films. In order to find answers to these questions, this research uses theories from cultural and reception studies. Uses and gratification, encoding and decoding, and mediated reception were used as the analytical frameworks while predominantly qualitative but also quantitative methods were employed for data collection. Thus, focus group discussions and questionnaires were used to collect audience responses to the two films under study. Findings from this study show that the Cameroonian filmmaker’s text is challenged by the perceptual and receptive readings apportioned to it as the audience vividly contests any text considered to be outside the cultural matrix of Cameroon. The audience’s positioning in terms of identification is planted in deeply anti ‘non-identical’ or non-recognisable elements of production. It could be said that there is a perceptible transformation from passive spectatorship to audience ‘prosumption’ by the Cameroonian film audience. This attitude has brought about new forms of audience activism with a more radicalised demand to focus on the gratification of their needs, be they affective, cognitive or otherwise. Such activism has brought about new dynamics of social interaction and perceptual focus on self-representation and, in the case of Cameroon, of local and national representation and identification. Most studies on African cinema in the postcolonial era concentrate on the role of cinema in nation-building and its relation to economic and political power in the context of colonialism, imperialism and nationalism. Even though the viewership of African films has expanded considerably since the 1990s, Cameroonian viewers constantly complain of non- representativeness of their cultural values in present day Cameroonian films. This work sets out thus to investigate and understand current trends of audience behaviour in Cameroon. It uses two films, Jungle of Heirs and Nina’s Dowry as basis to explore the different variables that impact the film audience in Cameroon. This study seeks to understand the Cameroonian film audience’s stress on nationalistic representation in Cameroonian films and verisimilitude as an important element of identity representation. It also sets out to understand which social, psychological and cultural expectations the audience brings to the film viewing experience and if their expected gratifications and needs are met by Cameroonian films. In order to find answers to these questions, this research uses theories from cultural and reception studies. Uses and gratification, encoding and decoding, and mediated reception were used as the analytical frameworks while predominantly qualitative but also quantitative methods were employed for data collection. Thus, focus group discussions and questionnaires were used to collect audience responses to the two films under study. Findings from this study show that the Cameroonian filmmaker’s text is challenged by the perceptual and receptive readings apportioned to it as the audience vividly contests any text considered to be outside the cultural matrix of Cameroon. The audience’s positioning in terms of identification is planted in deeply anti ‘non-identical’ or non-recognisable elements of production. It could be said that there is a perceptible transformation from passive spectatorship to audience ‘prosumption’ by the Cameroonian film audience. This attitude has brought about new forms of audience activism with a more radicalised demand to focus on the gratification of their needs, be they affective, cognitive or otherwise. Such activism has brought about new dynamics of social interaction and perceptual focus on self-representation and, in the case of Cameroon, of local and national representation and identification.

Abstract in weiterer Sprache

La plupart des études sur le cinéma africain dans l'ère postcoloniale se concentrent sur le rôle du cinéma dans la construction nationale et sa relation avec le pouvoir économique et politique dans le contexte du colonialisme, de l'impérialisme et du nationalisme. Même si le public des films africains s'est considérablement élargi depuis les années 1990, les spectateurs camerounais se plaignent constamment du manque de représentativité de leurs valeurs culturelles dans les films camerounais actuels. Ce travail vise donc à étudier et à comprendre les tendances actuelles du comportement du public au Cameroun. Il utilise deux films, Jungle of Heirs et Nina's Dowry, comme base pour explorer les différentes variables qui influencent le public cinématographique au Cameroun. Cette étude cherche à comprendre l'importance accordée par le public cinématographique camerounais à la représentation nationaliste dans les films camerounais et à la vraisemblance en tant qu'élément important de la représentation identitaire. Elle vise également à comprendre quelles sont les attentes sociales, psychologiques et culturelles du public vis-à-vis de l'expérience cinématographique et si les films camerounais répondent à ses attentes et à ses besoins. Afin de trouver des réponses à ces questions, cette recherche utilise des théories issues des études culturelles et des études sur la réception. Les utilisations et gratifications, l'encodage et le décodage, et la réception médiatisée ont été utilisés comme cadres analytiques, tandis que des méthodes principalement qualitatives, mais aussi quantitatives, ont été employées pour la collecte des données. Ainsi, des discussions de groupe et des questionnaires ont été utilisés pour recueillir les réactions du public aux deux films étudiés. Les résultats de cette étude montrent que le texte du cinéaste camerounais est remis en question par les lectures perceptives et réceptives qui lui sont attribuées, le public contestant vivement tout texte considéré comme extérieur à la matrice culturelle du Cameroun. Le positionnement du public en termes d'identification est ancré dans une opposition profonde aux éléments de production « non identiques » ou non reconnaissables. On pourrait dire qu'il y a une transformation perceptible du spectateur passif vers une « prosommation » du public cinématographique camerounais. Cette attitude a donné naissance à de nouvelles formes d'activisme du public, avec une demande plus radicalisée de se concentrer sur la satisfaction de ses besoins, qu'ils soient affectifs, cognitifs ou autres. Cet activisme a entraîné une nouvelle dynamique d'interaction sociale et une focalisation perceptive sur l'autoreprésentation et, dans le cas du Cameroun, sur la représentation et l'identification locales et nationales.