The Critic's Lens

  A political poster is more than just a picture with words—it is a powerful tool used to send messages about leadership, values, and national identity. In this essay, we will closely look at one of Peter Obi’s campaign posters and study its visual features such as color, text style, image placement, and symbols. Each of these design choices helps to shape how people see him as a leader and what kind of message he wants to share with Nigerians. By examining these formal elements, we can understand how the poster reflects Obi’s political values, shows his connection with ordinary citizens, and tries to unite people from different parts of the country. This analysis will show how the visual design plays a big role in building his public image and campaign message. Firstly, the color scheme of Peter Obi’s campaign poster uses green and white—the national colors of Nigeria—to visually communicate unity and patriotism. In the featured poster, Obi is placed against an outline of Nige...

  The film “Chief Daddy” centers on a wealthy industrialist who embodies elite privilege, showcasing Nigeria’s upper class as living in excess and detachment from ordinary laborers. The mansion, private ambulance, chauffeur, caterers, and estate staff set up an environment of opulence from the opening scenes. Chief Daddy’s lifestyle is not just comfortable—it is excessive enough to draw in all those around him when he dies. The presence of mistresses, concubines, and various children all scrambling for inheritance underscores how wealth radiates outward, attracting dependents. This setup immediately signals a sharp class division: the one who holds capital (Chief Daddy) benefits while others are positioned either to serve or depend on him. In closing, this elite world presents wealth as decoration and power, while ordinary roles exist only to sustain that image. While the film minimizes the labor behind elite comfort, it briefly shows how service workers are alienated under capi...

  Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding theory explains how media messages are created by producers (encoding) and interpreted by audiences (decoding) in different ways. The CNN investigation into the Lekki Toll Gate shooting is a good example of this theory in action. While CNN had a specific message they wanted to pass across, different groups of people interpreted the video in their own way based on their experiences, beliefs, and interests. This essay will explain the intended message of the video and how three main groups—local protesters, the Nigerian government, and international viewers—might respond using the dominant, negotiated, or oppositional reading. The encoded message in the CNN video is clear: it aims to expose the truth about what happened on the night of October 20, 2020, during the #EndSARS protest at Lekki Toll Gate. CNN uses eyewitness interviews, time-stamped videos, and satellite footage to prove that Nigerian security forces opened fire on peaceful protesters. ...

  In today’s review, we’ll be looking critically at The ‘Koroba’ music video released by Tiwa Savage in 2020 using the Laura Mulvey’s concept of the ‘Male Gaze’ focusing on how the camera frames her body parts, movement, and setting. Then we’ll be applying Bell Hooks’ ‘Oppositional Gaze’ lens to evaluate how a black feminist viewer might reject or reinterpret the framing. We’ll also be considering the balance between empowerment and commodification in the representation of black Nigerian femininity. A large portion of this music video emphasized women’s bodies and even the abuse of it to some extent. So, instead of accepting what we see passively, we will actively question, resist and also reclaim our way of seeing. In the video, one of the elements of the ‘Male Gaze’ is the extremely exposing outfits that some of the ladies put on and even Tiwa Savage herself. For some it was ‘bump shorts’, miniskirts and some even went as far as putting on underwear. For example, in the salon...

  In a world saturated with media, who gets to look—and how we are taught to look—shapes much more than entertainment; it frames identity, power, and resistance. bell hooks, in her theory of the oppositional gaze , presents a radical framework for challenging the way Black people—especially Black women—are represented and how they engage with visual culture. The oppositional gaze does not passively consume dominant imagery; it critiques, resists, and reclaims the power to look back. In contrast to mainstream media that often renders Black characters voiceless or hypervisible yet powerless, hooks urges Black audiences to reject these terms and develop a critical, politicized mode of watching. Within this context, Glo’s “Feliz Navidad Nigeria” Christmas commercial—a colorful, upbeat celebration of Nigerian festivity—seems, at first glance, to be inclusive and affirming. Yet, through the lens of the oppositional gaze, it becomes apparent that the ad reproduces the same visual politics...

  “Feliz Navidad Nigeria” was a Christmas Commercial done by Globacom Limited as a way of wishing their Nigerian audience Happy Holidays and New Year Celebration. This video focused on tap-dancing, music, singing, dancing and celebration generally of a large group of people harmlessly rejoicing over the season’s atmosphere. But beyond this, through Laura Mulvey’s lens, we can see how women and their bodies were being somewhat objectified for visual pleasure. Therefore in this review, we’ll be talking about the gaze of the camera; this is how the camera frames and moves in a way that objectifies the women in this video. We would also be looking at the gaze of the characters within the film; Typically, the male character and how the move their gaze towards the female characters also signifying who the subject is and also who the object is. Consequently, we’d be diving into the gaze of the audience and how they are encouraged to look at the female characters in the commercial as passi...

The Gucci x Dapper Dan commercial has been praised by many people as a powerful message about celebrating Black culture and giving credit to a legendary Black designer. On the surface, it looks like a great example of a luxury brand finally doing the right thing by teaming up with someone they once ignored. But when we look more deeply and use a theory from a cultural expert named Stuart Hall, we can understand the commercial in a very different way. Hall believed that media—like TV shows, commercials, and music videos—have different meanings depending on how people "read" or understand them. While the company may try to send one message, the audience might see another. One type of reading is called an “oppositional reading,” where the viewer completely disagrees with the message being sent. In this essay, we will explore how the Gucci x Dapper Dan commercial can be seen not as progress, but as a clever business move to make money off Black culture without fixing real problem...

  The Gucci x Dapper Dan Commercial shows a representation of cultural and economic themes/concepts that will be analyzed through the Marxist Lens. This lens emphasizes the struggles between the different social classes (the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat), the belittlement of culture, and the implications of Capitalism. The Commercial serves as an intersection of elite fashion and street culture. At the first look of the commercial, it might appear to be in support of the Capitalist motives that are the basis of this collaboration. By showcasing Dapper Dan, a designer who rose from a humble background, Gucci attempts to showcase a narrative of empowerment while still operating within the profit-driven framework. By examining this commercial’s elements, we can uncover how it reflects the broader capitalist system. Dapper Dan being a pioneering designer in Harlem, represents more than just personal success but also embodies the struggles of marginalized communities. His earlier wor...