Evaluation of the 2D Animation on the Story of Asebu Amenfi the Giant: The Theatre Perspective

This study sought to evaluate the animated video on the following themes: Storyline, character(s), setting, costume, plot, sound effects or scores and moral lessons, among other theatrical technicalities, to ascertain if indeed it has achieved its goal of projecting and preserving Ghanaian cultural heroes and heritage, respectively, as well as the purported related moral values. Through a qualitative study and a single-case study design, the 2D animation, which was selected from a secondary source, was evaluated using content analysis. As revealed by Nkrumah-Abraham (2022), foreign animations which do not reflect Ghanaian cultural values, characters and heritage are dominating the Ghanaian media space and therefore pushing the act of traditional storytelling into extinction. Ghanaian folktales, which have been a medium for instilling moral values, revealing and revering cultural heroes or heroines, have seen a dreadful decline over the period. And in effect, the nation as a whole is losing the benefits it derives from traditional Ghanaian mythical stories or folktales. He further posits that an intervention to remedy the situation or mitigate its repercussions is to project indigenous Ghanaian stories through animation and other audio-visual media. To that effect, a 2D animation on the story of Asebu Amenfi the Giant, a traditional hero and founder of the Asebu Kingdom, was produced. This study considers the animation as a tool for preservation of historical and cultural narratives of the Asebu Community as well as a reflection of their cultural values and identity. The study therefore recommends a more deliberate means of distributing the 2D animation in the multimedia space, towards the promotion of indigenous Ghanaian content. Keywords: Theatre; Animation; Culture; Heritage; Identity; Asebu Amenfi; Ghana Keywords: Heritage; Identity; Ghana; Culture; Theatre; Animation; Asebu Amenfi