While it is the responsibility of the regulator to look at the creative bend and sense outrage which can be unhealthy to society, it is the responsibility of the writer and producers to take preemptive but courageous actions to manage and mitigate such losses concerning their works
POETIC License was like a dream seeker’s expression when we were in the university. The fact that a writer could be at liberty to use words freely and loosely, and also actually ascribe meanings to them, was something totally new and tantalisingly inviting to the creative writing world, which already had a lineup of patriarchs and matriarchs with enviable pedigrees. Seeking to walk in what looks like their pantheon was beyond a dream.
At the time, it was difficult to understand the saying of my people that a child has to grow up to buy meat in the open market. And that the young student rolling the two words in the mouth like a perfectly brewed cup of green tea will have to build up a storehouse of vocabulary to stand a little chance of featuring in the fringes of the enviable world of writers.
Ironically, the aspiring writer who could end up in the little world of a poetaster instead of a full-blown nirvana in the creative realm, could sooner find out that poetic justice is not too far away as a reward for vaunting ambition or self-over-reach that poetic license attracts. For the creative person, embracing poetic license is also to make room for all the unforeseen unpleasantness and heartaches that would follow thereafter.
Was the case of Ini Edo the story of poetic license taken too far, beyond the confines of tolerance? I watched her cry profusely as she begged for her film to be allowed to remain in the cinema circuit, and my heart bled. I know a woman in pain because my mother suffered severe pain while we were growing up. One day, I saw a woman in the hospital whose husband was involved in a ghastly accident. The lips were quivering, and the sunken eyes filled with pain and sorrow; no tear dropped, and that frightened me the more.
Revered as one of the very best that Nollywood has contributed to the global community, Ini Edo had worked very hard to release her film, A very Dirty Christmas, during the Christmas festivities which envelope the whole of December, although the actual day is December 25, the film had been cleared by the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), thus giving her the go-ahead to engage in the promotion and marketing of her film. At this time, she did no wrong and everybody involved in the value chain was working on a schedule to put another product in the market in what looks like a promising season.
However, the smooth sail was interrupted by an intervention from the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), which considered the film title “offensive and disrespectful to the Christian faith.”
“Christmas is a sacred season that marks the birth of Jesus Christ and represents purity, peace, love and redemption. Linking such a holy celebration with the word ‘dirty’ diminishes its spiritual meaning and trivialises a deeply religious observance,’’ CAN said in a statement.
The Christian body also frowned at the NFVCB for having to pass the film and asked the film producers to do something about the title.
A Very Dirty Christmas is an everyday story. A family coming together during one of the most anticipated Christian celebrations of the year, and things just not really falling in line with great expectations. Edo told the story herself.
‘’We deliberated on the title, to be honest. The title derived from a family reunion that was to be a happy one, happy Christmas, but the mess that happened in that revelation was a metaphorical way of telling a story.
‘’The last thing in me would be to ever dishonour and disregard the one thing that I am so afraid of, so much in awe of, which is God, which is Christendom,’’ Edo said in an interview.
For the time being, emotions are running high with very little suggestion on how to get the movie producer out of the pit she has dug herself into. CAN has advised her to do something about the title. The regulator of the industry, NFVCB, had also made such a request, while going into history to explain that there was nothing unusual in what has happened.
Stating its position, NFVCB said: ‘’The film, including its title, was earlier granted approval by the NFVCB following a careful and thorough review process, which took into account the narrative context and the creative intent of the producers. At the point of classification, the Board interpreted the title as metaphorical rather than literal – understood as a reference to human conduct, moral contradictions, or social realities unfolding during a festival period, and not as an ascription to impropriety to Christmas as a sacred Christian event. The title was therefore assessed within the broader context of the film’s storyline and thematic treatment rather than as a direct commentary on the religious celebration itself.”
In a strong defence for Edo, NFVCB testified that ‘’the film does not depict, reenact, mock, or trivialise the nativity, the birth of Jesus Christ, or any core Christian doctrine. There is no scene, dialogue, or imagery within the film that ridicules Christian worship or theology,” the Board observed.
I thought that was a good testimony. However, as was done in India in 2019 when the film, Mental Hai Kya (Are you mental?) was renamed Judgemental Hai Kya, after criticism from mental health professionals and activists, including the Indian Psychiatric Society, who felt strongly that the title put mental health in negative light and trivialised the issue, the Board advised the producers to modify or stylize A Very Dirty Christmas.
Edo has not done that, but we have seen buckets of tears instead of doing the needful. I am tempted to believe there is a superficiality of reasoning or even understanding which blinds her from seeing the depth of what is at stake. It goes beyond the person. It goes beyond the industry. It’s about the country and the need to strike a delicate balance in achieving peace.
The Board hints at this when it stated that what it has done according to the NFVCB Act, 2004, is aimed at “preventing avoidable public misunderstanding and mitigating any potential religious tension that could arise from the continued use of the current title.”
However, while the writer romanticises with poetic license, there is always the need to see the big picture and tread softly where religious issues are concerned. This can be neglected only at one’s peril and beyond.
Examples. In 1988, Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie released his fourth novel, Satanic Verses. It was an instant hit, but the Muslim world was outraged by some claims in the book which they felt dishonoured Prophet Mohammed. Rushdie has been on the run ever since in spite of the protection provided by the Western world, including the United States.
Famed Irish singer, Sinead O’Connor, on Saturday Night Live in 1992, called Pope John Paul 11 the real enemy and ripped his picture in protest of what she called the Catholic Church’s cover-up of child sexual abuse. She suffered a massive backlash because she had gone beyond the Rubicon. The world was outraged. Even Hollywood turned its back on Sinead O’Connor, and she simply just atrophied to death on July 26, 2023, unable to ever reclaim the zenith she once achieved in the music industry or even retain her huge followership.
Remember the Gangs of Lagos, a 2023 thriller, produced by Jadesola Osiberu for Amazon Prime Video? Some traditionalists in Lagos were unhappy with the uncomfortable portrayal of Eyo Masquerade and the Isale Eko community as a criminal gang and went to seek redress in court, which asked the producers to apologise for cultural misappropriation.
Beyond emotions, Ini Edo should know that the romanticising appeal of poetic license could attract a lot of trouble and losses. While it is the responsibility of the regulator to look at the creative bend and sense outrage which can be unhealthy to society, it is the responsibility of the writer and producers to take preemptive but courageous actions to manage and mitigate such losses concerning their works.
It is my expectation that nobody involved in the value chain will go into the New Year with a heavy heart. Happy New Year.
- Aihe writes from Abuja