Contemporary Nigerian Society and Religious Parenting Style in the Film, Man of God

Abstract

Religious parenting style is commonplace in most contemporary Nigeria society. Parents who adhere to Christianity and Islam usually strive to nurture their children in line with their faiths. For the promotion and preservation of religious heritages, the film technology is often employed as a necessary tool. In the corpus and narrative of the film, Man of God, the necessity of corporal punishment as a religious nurturing tool for children/adolescence is underscored. The study, therefore, examined the seeming opposition in parenting approaches in relation to religion with the aim of envisioning a blend in parental approaches for a better society. It employed ethnography as research design and focus group discussion (FGD) as the data collection instrument. Participants affirmed that corporal punishment meted to Samuel by his father was responsible for his decision to live a wayward life on campus. Again, participants strongly agreed that Samuel- mother's softness has nothing to do with how he ended up in jail, and that he (Samuel) would not have gone to jail if he had kept the godly advice and commands his father gave to him. The study concluded that a blend of warmth, compassion, and corporal punishment with explanation may drive home the desired outcomes in behavioural lifestyle in adolescence and adult life. The study recommends that film producers should produce family dramas that engage the effects of religious parenting nurturing tools embedded in warmth and compassion.