MUCH ADO ABOUT “A VERY DIRTY CHRISTMAS”
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and some members of the public have raised concerns about the title of Ini Edo’s recently released film “A VERY DIRTY CHRISTMAS”, and The National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) has requested her to modify the title, but this is a tough ask for a film that is already in the cinemas with all the branding materials printed and distributed across cinemas in the country.
Ini Edo herself being a practicing Christian could never have attempted to ridicule Christianity with a film title, and as someone making film for commercial purposes, she wouldn’t have attempted to affect her own sales with anything that will offend the sensibilities of her potential customers. This is why I think her film should be left alone. If it was a mistake, it was an innocuous one as there are no intents to offend. She wasn’t attempting to do what Salman Rushdie did with “Satanic Verses” that made Ayatollah Khomeini declare a Fatwa on him.
However, we moving forward as an industry, we should note that a modern producer should be a Dramaturg or at least have one around. You must look into the Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics and Etymology of your title.
Christmas is a season of festivity to most people. But if we look into the Etymology of the word CHRISTMAS, it was derived from The Mass of Christ or Service of Christ. Christ itself meaning The Messiah or The Anointed of God. A Dramaturg would have been able to see how the title could have been deliberately misconstrued by the mischievous. She wanted to entertain and teach ,not court controversies, so she would have easily opted for another title if she saw the possibilities of these misinterpretations .
I believe she has learned lessons from this and other filmmakers would also have learned. CAN should look at the fact that Ini is not trying to deliberately offend Christians, their points have been made and well understood, going forward, Creatives will do better and avoid such controversies.
~Túndé Ọláoyè
DISTINCT AUDIOVISUAL LTD.
