SEMIOTIC INTERPRETATION OF MAKEUP IN THE FEMI ADEBAYO'S SEVEN DOORS

This paper discusses the use of makeup as an artistic and storytelling medium of change in Seven Doors by Femi Adebayo, and puts it within the general context of African cinema in which the visual elements are not merely parts of aesthetic, but cultural representation as well as character growth. The study also uses a qualitative approach, which relies on semiotic research to decode the symbolic roles of makeup in chosen scenes. The analysis of the text and visuality reveals that through close analysis, makeup conveys the identity, power relations, and states of psychological condition and indicates the shifts in the characters role and plot. The findings show that makeup in Seven Doors overcomes its purely decorative role and serves as a sign system that brings forth cultural codes, highlights thematic conflicts as well as processes of transformation that are at the center of the plot. The article makes the conclusion that makeup is an inseparable part of the Nollywood cinema as a means of non-verbal communication and suggests that film makers, makeup artists and scholars should consider and utilize the narrative potential makeup has in the visual storytelling and that makeup studies should be incorporated deeper in the teaching approaches of the theatre and film disciplines so as to maintain its artistic and cultural value. scholars who have treated makeup as an artistic and narrative tool for transformation film are Judith Butler theorist of gender performativity , her work is widely used to explain how makeup and bodily styling perform gender. Erving Goffman classic sociologist on “presentation of self”; useful for thinking of makeup as impression-management and stagecraft of everyday life. (Sander L. Gilman) cultural historian who writes about the body, appearance and aesthetic/medical transformation such as cosmetic surgery, beauty practices.