Ginsburgh - Media Works

The Materiality of Cinema Theater in Northern Nigeria. by Brian Larkin. (Fay Ginsburgh – Medea works chapter 16)

Brian Larkin takes a look at the ways Cinema Theater affects the community and culture. He points out that although it does not offer a “material object” for the spectator to take home with them offers an emotional experience. He explains what Cinema theater can offer in terms of sociability, he mentioned that one gentleman did not really care or understand the movie he was going to see but mostly went to be see and to see his friends. Going to the Cinema became a social activity. Though Cinema Theaters are supposed to be a local public space it became representative of the colonizing country. Theaters were named after the Queen and architecturally represented Europe. The Cinema Theaters in Kano and colonized area also played a role of modernization and cultural assimilation. Larkin explained “the erection of theaters in colonial cities created new social spaces for intermixing” They created urban areas that became known as morally questionable areas. Along came alcohol, and dance parlors which does not represent the Hausa people. I found it interesting how Larkin first start analyzing meaning of films at the Cinema and how it creates Travel without movement and ultimately it’s the effect of the Cinema Theaters on the environment that he focuses on. How the positioning of Theater can change the environment of a community and ends being the basis of a political movement or a revolt against for the oppressed.