Womens Roles In Ghanaian And Nigerian Films - Research Paper Example

Women’s Roles In Ghanaian And Nigerian Films When the Nigerian film industry, famously referred to as Nollywood burst into the world of film-making in the early 1990s, Africans and indeed the entire black world applauded and cheered at an industry that was not only homegrown but also one that was ready to finally show the world that Africa had finally found its place into that bastion of white Western civilization – the movie – and television – screen (Onuzulike 1). It was also seen as an opportunity to tell the African story to fellow Africans and the rest of the world and challenges the stereotypes that had for long been entrenched in the Hollywood-authored movie scripts. Here, at last was a chance to show the side of Africa, Africans and the black race in a way that the predominantly white Hollywood had never done and which the other major movie industry – Bollywood, based in India – had completely ignored. Nigerian movies are popular not just in Nigeria but also in other African countries where the viewers identify with the culture and are at home with the social and religious environments in which most Nollywood video films are immersed. The Nollywood movies are so popular that, commenting on their popularity, a BBC staffer noted that Nollywood films are full of dramatic and simple storylines where a distraught woman yells “Ah, you want to kill me now, Oo!”, yanking her hair, complete with contorted facial expressions and then dares the man: “No, not me, not today, no!” and her body, shuddering, she transforms into a vicious vengeful mongrel with loud, blood curdling growls. The women are usually depicted as wailing and covetous money lovers, countering the equally dramatic emotional, loud and vengeful men. Add an another worldly animal skin clad juju man and a fire-and-brimstone breathing Bible waving preacher and you have a complete stereotype of everything that no one will believe is not an accurate picture of what happened all over the African continent (Daite 19). However, rather than use this chance to break down and finally deal a death blow to the western and “white” stereotyping of African society and the African woman, Nollywood has continued to perpetuate the same and even gone on to broadcast them even more, with the polite acquiescence and tacit approval of the Africans that flock to buy the Nollywood video films. That these movies have a huge following not only in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, but throughout the African continent, the Caribbean and even among the African-Americans in North America – is a testament to the great need that these movies have continued to fill but also the opportunity that it has presented for telling the African story, from an African perspective and for a mainly African audience. Unfortunately, this medium has only been used to further institutionalize and very strongly engender negative and stereotypical representation of the woman, and more specifically, the African woman (Onuzulike 20). As a result, the African films fail to depict women in their true light in contemporary African society. Instead women are shown as distraught creatures that rely on superstition, charms and their wiles to get power and prestige. This is often also wrapped in criminal acts, prostitution and other rogue-like behavior (Dabale 2). Ina research conducted that looked at popular Nollywood movies including Omata Women (2003) and More than a Woman (2005) the films stand accused of continuing to perpetuate and portray the African, both Christian, Muslim, as being typically patriarchal, where the woman is psychologically, physically and economically disempowered. And where there is a woman shown to rise above this “norm”, the movies consistently show the “negative” impacts of this upsetting of the “natural” order (Prinsloo 3). In Omata Women, four Nigerian women try everything from fraud to murder to black magic in a bid to gain wealth and power. For a while, they appear successful but eventually, in true exaggerated Nollywood style, they each eventually destroy themselves, their family, their beauty and even their lives as it all implodes in their faces. In More than a Woman, a beautiful rogue, Trechia, passes herself off as a man and steals from the most well guarded stores in town. This very good looking and glamorous heroine as usual at first appears invincible but eventually fails in her criminal enterprise ending up being arrested and imprisoned (Prinsloo 6). But Nollywood just continued a tradition that started from the “birthplace” of the movie industry, Hollywood California where for long the staple has always been to cast women in roles where the narrative is always of the strong (usually white) knight in shining armor who saves the naïve woman from her humdrum and boring existence and whisks her off to a fantasy paradise where they get married and live happily ever after (Van Dalen 1). As a result the only real heroes we have in the movie world still include James Bond, who, being a man, in between saving the world from one heinous and catastrophic occurrence after another, occasionally interrupts his “mission” to have numerous bedroom romps with all these good-looking women that somehow cannot help falling over themselves to be available for him (Van Dalen 4). Black women in many western films that are exploitative of women are also particularly singled out for being depicted as sexual objects and have more than their fair share of overt sexuality and nudity. While the (white) men are shown as the confident protagonists the black women play roles such as drug abusers, prostitutes, ignorant bystanders and others who have no control over what happens to them, especially in sexual situations. This is somewhat similar to what happened to black women who had to endure slavery (Francois 8). There is no portrayal of a powerful, articulate, educated black woman comfortable in her own skin in many of the mainstream films that continue to be made today – be they in Hollywood, Bollywood or Nollywood. In many western movies, blacks are often cast in parts where they are the junior staff, with preset prejudices on their abilities; their intelligence, their sexuality and where they are shown as helpless victims and shown in a bad light even and almost always end up playing unimportant or only supporting parts (Dabale 2). There have thus been very few western films where the central rounded character was a woman, let alone an African (or African American) woman. In all fairness to the film studios, this state of affairs is not entirely of their doing. Films are produced for one and only function – to make profits and money for the makers through selling to viewers, and what viewers want or are perceived to want, is what gets to be produced and is what gets to be popular and it is what gets to be shown in the movie theaters or bought as DVDs. These viewers comprise children, teenagers, adult men and, yes, women. Thus the stereotypes are not perpetuated by the film studios only. They are cultivated and indeed fertilized and irrigated by the same women whose role in society they so unfairly and wholesomely ridicule. Sometimes the film directors and producers are wrongly blamed for their misrepresentation of women, but these films and their views are not presented in a vacuum. The films reflect the views of the contexts in which they are made. It is particularly telling that even female Nollywood producers have also adopted this attitude in the movies that they produce (Prinsloo 9). In conclusion therefore, despite this bleak picture, Nollywood still has the ability to challenge and change these stereotypes. And it is able to do it as part of African communities inviting and initiating change on their own and not imposing some kind of foreign ideology or practice on the continent (Prinsloo 10). This would be the right way for African society to fight for change from within and also provide an appropriate vehicle for this message to be carried not just throughout Nigeria, Africa and the entire black community but also to the rest of the world. And the film still remains by far one of the most powerful mediums through which this change can happen. The Nollywood experience has gone a long way in ensuring that the film medium is still relevant by bringing it closer home and also by liberalizing the film industry and making it possible for the common man in the street to be entertained and educated through it without the need for expensive and economically unviable film theatres of the west. Nollywood has also proved that there is a largely under tapped market for films that have relevance and appeal for Africans not just on the continent but also in the diaspora. Its however not just the film-making industry that should stand at the ready and able to make the changes that are required to result in an improved portrayal of the African woman in films. The film viewers, and in particular the female viewership and buyers of movies have to demand and make it profitable for the filmmakers to produce such films. And this would in the end ensure that the film industry, not just in Nollywood but also in Hollywood and possibly Bollywood would have no choice but to stand up and take notice. After all, culture is a dynamic force that keeps changing with the growth and development of our society and it is only fair that the art that is available correctly and accurately depicts life as it is and is not used to promote and institutionalize outdated and non-factual stereotypes of the African woman. Works Cited Daite, Ben. Women’s Roles in Ghanaian & Nigerian Films. N.P., 1 June 2011. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. . Dabale, Yoknyam. White Controlled Media Portrays Black/ African Women in a Negative Light in Order to Uplift White Women: White Women’s Heaven is Black Women’s Hell…. N.P., 13 Sept. 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. . Francois, Tiffany S. "How the Portrayal of Black Women has shifted from Slavery times to Blaxploitation films in American Society." High Point University, 13 Sept. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. . Onuzulike, Uchenna. "Nollywood: The Influence of the Nigerian Movie Industry on African Culture." The Journal of Human Communication: A Journal of the Pacific and Asian Communication Association. 2007. 10.3: 231-42. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. . Prinsloo, Aidan. " ." Nollywood and the Femme Fatale: The portrayal of women in Nigerian English-language films. Consultancy African Intelligence, 13 May 2011. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. . Van Dalen, Samantha. WHY ARE WOMEN PORTRAYED SO NEGATIVELY IN FILM? Shadowlocked, 17 Feb. 2010. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. . Read More