Historical Appraisal of Costume Authenticity in Biyi Bandele’s Elesin Oba Nollywood Film

Abstract

Abstract: Costume design is one of the most valuable visual elements of film making considering its significance to the overall film outlook, authenticity, cultural reflection and documentation. However, one aspect that has often been criticised in Nollywood films is the historical accuracy of the costumes in them. This alteration from a strict historical continuum diminishes verisimilitude in film due to costumes misrepresentation. This paper therefore, addressed this gap by examining the historical authenticity of the costume designs in Elesin Oba by Biyi Bamidele in order to determine the extent to which the costume designer realistically reflected the clothing styles and cultural norms of Nigerian’s colonial era and old Oyo Empire in the film. The theoretical frameworks that foreground this paper are New Historicism by Stephen Greenblatt and Symbolic interactionism by John Dewey. This paper employed qualitative research method through analytical, descriptive and interview tools to gather the primary data in order to discover the creative techniques used by the costumier in the selected film; while the secondary data was sourced from relevant journals, articles, books and other internet materials in order to ensure a robust submission on the discourse. The Findings revealed that intensive research on the historical background of Elesin Oba by the costumier added depth to the historical narratives, character portrayal and enriched audience engagement. While, the key elements that contributed to historical authenticity of the costume designs in the film include: period-specific styles, appropriate colour, and meticulous attention to period fabric and accessories. However, the paper also observed that there are few costume accessories that the costumier improvised with instead of the real material in her costume designs. The paper concluded that, the challenges of costume misrepresentation in the production of historical films in Nigeria stemmed from the lack of proper research into the historical period of films by costume designers. The paper therefore recommend that, budding costume designers should research into the historical events and use them as a guide for their creative designs in order to avoid costume misrepresentation in their costume designs. Keywords: Historical, Authenticity, Costume, Appraisal, Elesin Oba, Culture, Nollywood Film