Misrepresenting Nurses: An Overview of Some Selected Nollywood Movies
Publication Date: 18/04/2021
Author(s): Aduragbemi Oluwapelumi Ogunleye.
Volume/Issue: Volume 4 , Issue 1 (2021)
Abstract:
The projected image of any profession is a determining factor of the level of respect that would be accorded to the services rendered by members of such profession. In the same vein, this image would build confidence which people will repose in the operators of such services. Nursing, a popularly acclaimed noble profession, has enjoyed the wider acceptability of the Nigerian populace from time immemorial. Nurses are lifesavers; this, therefore, accorded them the opportunity to occupy the enviable position they are holding today in Nigeria. However, as projected by the Nigerian Nollywood actors and actress, the image of nurses and nursing profession has been that of misrepresentation, which has exposed Nurses to an unwarranted embarrassment in their bid to create an atmosphere of entertainment. Consequently, this misrepresentation sends the populace the wrong signal about the nursing career and the enviable position that nurses occupied in society. Therefore, the paper aims to review some selected Nollywood movies that portrayed nurses’ image in a wrong perspective. It will also present the true image of Nigerian nurses, both at home and abroad. The paper employs qualitative sources of data collection, which comprises: observations, printed documents, downloaded videos and internet materials. The paper concludes that nursing is an invaluable and noble profession that should be presented as such. The paper recommends that nurses themselves should jealously guard nursing profession, the Film Censor’s Board in Nigeria should intensify efforts in movie censoring before the final release of movies and the actors should desist from presenting nurses in a wrong perspective to checkmate the temptation of sending misconceived ideas about the Nigerian Nurses to the public.
Keywords:
Nollywood, Misrepresentation, Image, Nursing profession, Public