SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF SOME SELECTED HOLLYWOOD AND NOLLYWOOD MOVIES

Abstract

Movies possess a rare combination of modern technology, music, literature, and dance, a movie is a phenomenal art production, and has a steering hold on its viewer. By using signs which are content/culture specific, a movie achieves its universality; nonetheless, some movies pose certain levels of difficulty to viewers, not because of the use of elevated language, but due to the use of signs which viewers can barely grasp. This study attempts a semiotic analysis of Hollywood and Nollywood movies, it seeks to identify the type of signs used in movies, and their cultural and contextual meanings. The objectives of the study were to investigate the use of signs and the type of signs used in selected American and Nigerian movies, as well as how the signs contribute to the meaning of the movies. Six images (one for each) were purposefully selected for analysis. The study adopted a descriptive qualitative approach, movies used as data for the study were downloaded from Netflix and YouTube streaming, the source of the data were scenes (screenshots) from US, Mulan, Black Panther (American Movies) and October 1, Black November, and Sugar Rush (Nigerian movies). The result of the study revealed that movies are an amalgam of signs, and these signs need to be situated within the context they are used, to fully grasp their meanings. Further findings also confirm that ICONIC, INDEXES and SYMBOLS signs are richly deployed in American and Nigerian movies and enhance the overall meaning creation of movies produced in these cultures.