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Ghana, like many other African countries, is confronted with lots of developmental issues and so the movie industry, which is solely seen as for entertainment purposes, can wait, whilst we seek answers to our ‘pressing’ troubles. That’s correct; but seeking answers to our never-ending challenges has taken away our attention to the extent that a monster has been built at our blind side by film makers to destroy the people we need for our very development.

This is not good for all of us from the Negro race because institutions and governments need the minds of their people fine-tuned towards a certain direction in order to be able to achieve certain results. This is where what a country’s people watch or listen to come in- The camera industry!

Check this 82-year old quote. I find it very important to our conversation. They are words of Hadley Cantril and Gordon W. Allport in their book “Psychology of Radio” published in 1935.

It says “When a million people hear [or watch] the same subject matter, the same arguments and appeals, the same music and humour, when their attention is held in the same way and at the same time to the same stimuli, it is psychologically inevitable that they should acquire in some degree common interest, taste and common attitudes”.

Excellent!
They are saying that, as humans, we are moved by what we hear or watch, to the point of developing attitudes from them. In other words, someone can get us to change our mind, opinion or perception on a subject through what we are given to watch or listen to. That is the power of mass communication.

Films or movies are creative works. Not everyone gets to think like a movie or film producer. It is an industry that requires the finest brains of a country’s human resources. Downplay its seriousness and you are near doom either as an institution or a government.

That said, Ghana or the African continent has people who are able to think like that. For long, they have helped bring laughter and joy to our homes. The likes Ekow Smith Asante, David Dontoh, Egya Koo Nimo, Bob Santo, Super OD, the cast of Obra and Kantaata were all people and productions we long miss. We cheered, laughed, loved and celebrated their works. Growing up as a child, it was virtually impossible to miss Key Soap Concert Party on Saturdays and Kantaata on Sundays. We describe them as ‘good old days’.