Netflix has wedged a hammer on Nigerian movies, by setting stringent policies for accepting Nigerian movies on their platform.
As if that wasn’t enough, they also came up with pricing rates which would be too low compared to what they were offering for Nigerian Movies before now.
So why did that happen, You ask?
It is us Nigerians. We are of course, our own problems.
It is our irrational way of addressing sensitive issues, that ought to have been handled differently.
It is our overly sense of entitlement and lack of appreciation for little effort being put together, especially in arts and other social issues.
You see, sometimes when I say some Naija people are gradually hitting the crescendo of lunacy, it would sound as though one talks too much or trying to make a mount out of mole hill.
Just a few days ago here, I made a post highlighting why Davido was being dragged and how trashy stuff he spat about his country in an interview, in far away US, triggered many people.
Many people here came for my head, and justifying Davido’s action, citing the tight economic situation as one reason for him to be unnecessarily vocal. Even while on a podcast in the USA??? Insanity!
That has been the undoing of many Nigerians. Too braggadocios and rash in addressing issues.
Back to Netflix matters, Netflix took that decision based on thesame rash and expressive nature of Nigerians, who would not only curse out the Netflix for showing monotonous Nollywood movies but also condemn the platform for being useless, right underneath the movies they just saw, simply because they expected to have better experience with their subscription.
That is uncalled-for if you ask me. Yes, you can review but not curse out other people’s achievements.
I have been a lover of artwork, I can’t count numbers of interesting and uninteresting movies and documentaries I have reviewed myself – paid and unpaid PR, on my socials and websites but that still doesn’t mean I would go to NETFLIX webpage and condemn the platform in its entirety.
That would mean lunacy for anyone, to have the nerve to outrightly demean other people’s source of livelihood because you are unsatisfied by just one service, out of many you have been enjoying.
This loud mentality that Naija people are becoming notorious for, doesn’t speak well of us at all, especially at the global level.
Many of us may see it as our strength but truth be told, it is gradually working against us and if you and I don’t check it, we might be in for more ‘troubles’ with other International brands.
Now, permit me to ask these dumb questions, who are those actors in those movies? NIGERIANS!
Who put so much effort and resources together to produce the movies? NIGERIANs!
Who get pay for their movies when accepted by NETFLIX?, NIGERIANS!
We can now see that all these benefits and more that were made available to these thespians might no longer be there, if we don’t change our mode of reactions to their works not just on Netflix but on other global platforms.
I rest my case.
As written by ©Dotun Roy