Environmental Threats and Media Control Measures in 93 Days

This paper examines the socio-cultural imperatives of eco-critical conceptualization of the film 93 Days. The analysis is premised on Ecocriticism and Symbolic Interactionism as the theoretical foundations. As a movie that dwells on contemporary socio-cultural experience and captured on the Nollywood artistic platform, the film portrays the Ebola outbreak as well as the creative measures deployed to inform the public about the threat, stimulate collective consciousness and advocate cooperation of Nigerian society in the bid to manage the situation towards the final eliminating of the outbreak. The study adopts qualitative approach in its explorations in which the Film was purposefully reviewed and contextualised. Findings show that well-orchestrated spectacles in film, apt stimulation of public empathy, visual pontificating of dire situation and use of shots to magnify emotions could retune public perception and mind-set as utility for calming nerves and anxiety that characterised the moment of the disaster such as is portrayed in 93 Days. The paper concludes that film embodies imaginative power that allows the audience understand its content and context in given socio-cultural environment with usefulness in educating and reliving society of such disasters as Ebola outbreak. The paper aptly illustrates the fact that film remains an integral medium and tool for creating environmental awareness in times of disaster.

Keywords: Control-Measures Ebola Ecocriticism Film Media 93 Days

Authors

• Mary Emmanuel Emah
  Department of Performing Arts, Faculty of Arts
  Akwa Ibom State University, Nigeria
  marytonyomoregie@gmail.com
• Church Akpan
  Department of Mass Communication, Faculty of Social Science
  Akwa Ibom State University, Nigeria
• Nkirika Jacinta Akaenye
  Department of Performing Arts, Faculty of Arts
  Akwa Ibom State University, Nigeria
• Monica Udoette
  Department of English, Faculty of Arts,
  Akwa Ibom State University, Nigeria