AUDIENCE RECEPTION OF YORUBA FILMS: IBADAN AS A CASE STUDY

Much critical work has been done on the theatre
producer and the theatre product. The theatre audience
has not received adequate attention from literary critics.
In this work, therefore, attention is focused on the
audience, the consumer of the theatre product. We attempt
to ascertain the influence of socio-demographic variables
on reception by the audience of film products.
The theoretical background is hinged on theories of
'
communication9 namely, mass communication, literary
communication, and reader's response. Reception theory
is dependent on other disciplines, viz; history,
hermeneutics, and structuralism. The dialectical
relationship between reception theory and these other
disciplines has helped to_illuminate horizons of
expectatio1:1-s of film audiences. The linear nature of
the film medium with its inherent impatience, constitutes
a constraint on reception.