Negotiating boundaries through reality shows: a multimodal study of Big Brother Naija

The initial reaction to the introduction of Big Brother Naija (BBN) is a moral panic, which is symptomatic of the belief that the show challenges social, moral, religious, and cultural standards, thereby negotiating existing boundaries. Although there is a moral panic about the show, while some studies have established that the attitude towards it is justifiable, little is known about the strategies (deliberate or not) used in negotiating existing boundaries, and how the show influences youth culture in Nigeria. This study, therefore, examines the strategies and communicative modes participants employ to negotiate existing boundaries in BBN. The data for the study were harvested from selected videos of Big Brother Naija’s second and third editions, and we analysed the data using Sigrid Norris’ Multimodal Interaction Analysis (MIA). The study affirms the status of Big Brother Naija as a boundary breaker in Nigeria. Gender, social, and ethnic boundaries are deliberately stretched to the limits through different discursive strategies and communicative modes in the show. It is found out that the show has the potential to serve as a unifying forum for different ethnic groups in Nigeria, although not much is committed to that at present. The study recommends that the show producers should introduce tasks and activities that can help reduce ethnic tension and engender peaceful co-existence in the country.