Playful Aesthetics: The Deployment of Echoes in Jagun Jagun

Abstract

This paper examines how echoes or repetitions are used in Jagun Jagun - The Warrior, a 2023 Yoruba epic film on Netflix which is subtitled in English and has an English voiceover version. Like most Yoruba epics, Jagun Jagun is rich in oral forms including proverbs, incantations, praise, and naming which have several figurative elements in them. However, in addition to all these, the film deploys echoes in a way that has not been seen in most Yoruba epics. This deployment is multimodal, and it makes these echoes are central to meaning-making and aesthetic configurations in the film. That is, through these echoes, characterization, the flow of the storyline, and language and style are brought to life. The paper identifies three instances of echoes in the film which are lexico-tonal echoing, intertextual echoing, and echoing in plot. The paper’s description of echoing in the film as playful does not mean unseriousness. Rather, it implies the like pun-like quality that generally accompanies the deployment of the echoes.