Adebisi Ademakinwa
Department of European Languages,
Faculty of Arts,
University of Lagos ,
Akoka, Lagos
E-mail: bisikonga@yahoo.com
Abstract
The child as the photograph of an individual confirms a fundamental societal relationship especially in the creation of ‘positive heroes'. The individual is seenas been saddled with the duty of establishing himself as the frame or mirror upon which the image of the offspring is reflected. The paper aims to examine the ‘positive and negative' depiction of the photograph, how the society does react to the depiction of the photograph and how such a reaction contribute to the progress of the society?
Proverbs and folktales of the Yoruba people form the body of oral tradition while Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman are the written literature used in the analysis of this mirror or photography concept. Apart from this, interview of traditionalist like Chief Yemi Elebuibon is utilized.
This paper reveals that a typical Nigerian traditional society is predominantly a selfish entity which used the mirror or photographic concept to preserve the continuity of its aesthetics, mores and standard. The society's pragmatic orientation becomes apparent in its treatment of iconoclasts in reaction to its concept. The work further reveals that the modern iconoclasts are natural consequence of the rootless state of the contemporary era.
The paper proposes a re-examination and an eclectic choice of the ingredient inherent in the composition of this photographic concept as a way of rejuvenating the disorientation prevalent in modern society.