‘Nollywood’ film industry still tethered to patriarchal stereotypes despite progress of female characters, expert says

LAWRENCE — Like Hollywood is to America and Bollywood is to India, Nollywood is to Nigeria. Based in Lagos, Nigeria, it is the world’s second-largest film industry by output, producing thousands of movies annually.

“For me, Nollywood represents a world of creativity,” said Abisola Akínsìkù, a doctoral candidate in English at the University of Kansas. “I would describe Nollywood as a remarkable industry defined by ingenuity, improvisation and the ability to create extraordinary work even within significantly limited resources.”

But that doesn’t necessarily mean Nollywood is doing everything right.

Akínsìkù’s new article, titled “Power Dynamics: Women in New Nollywood Epics,” uses feminism as a conceptual lens to interrogate how female characters are portrayed in this burgeoning industry. She believes that although Nollywood is maturing and creating more nuanced female characters, it remains tethered to patriarchal stereotypes of power distribution that privilege men above women. The article appears in the journal African Studies.

“What I found out in my research is that when men tell the stories, they tell it to benefit themselves. That is not strange. Even in African literature, it’s the same thing, especially with the first-generation writers” said Akínsìkù, who is a native of Ogun State, a region of Nigeria that neighbors Lagos State.

“That is exactly what is happening in Nollywood. In the films I closely analyzed, there is always that gap where women would have been the best tellers of their own stories of empowerment. Maybe it is an unconscious gender gap, or perhaps it reflects broader social and patriarchal assumptions about gender and power. Those assumptions can seep into the stories we tell and the ways we choose to tell them.”

In her article, she analyzes two 2022 Nollywood blockbusters: “King of Thieves: Ogundabede” and “Aníkúlápó.” The latter picture in particular became the impetus for her article.

“This is an iconic film. When you think about contemporary Nollywood, Kunle Afolayan, the director, is one of the industry’s most accomplished filmmakers. So, I told my husband, ‘Let’s watch this movie together.’ And then there was one scene that got me spiraling. Like I couldn’t stop talking about it. I had to put my phone on record and record my voice because my husband and I were having such a long conversation into the night about it,” she said.

In this epic feature, the youngest Oyo queen, Arolake (played by Bimbo Ademoye), is given a magical gourd.

“The gods have allowed her to take, to handle, to be the owner of this metaphysical power that can literally raise the dead. And you know what this woman did? She gave it to her unfaithful husband,” Akínsìkù said.

“How could you leave a toxic marriage and not take with you your empowerment? Why don’t you want to use it for yourself?”

In some ways, she views this key plot element as a metaphor for the Nollywood industry. 

“I know every day when I switch on my Instagram, I look at TikTok, I go to YouTube, I go to X, there is a serious gender conversation going on in Nigeria right now,” she said. “And not just Nigeria; it is across the globe. There are people who are reporting people’s accounts because they consider them to be doing things that are not right gender-wise. And there are more people on the street now who are identifying as feminists in Africa.”

Such empowerment is gradually becoming reflected in Nollywood pictures.

“For instance, if you watch the films of Kemi Adetiba, Funke Akindele, Mo Abudu and actresses Genevieve Nnaji and Omoni Oboli — all of those women are doing fantastic work in the industry already. We need more. We need more women who are telling female-centered stories that truly empower women and distribute power much better,” she said.

Now in her fourth year at KU, Akínsìkù focuses her research on African diasporic literature and does some work in digital humanities. Much of her efforts are devoted to feminist works and literature viewed through a feminist lens. She is expected to earn her doctorate by 2028.

“I hope more people talk about African feminism in many more spaces because questions of gender and power remain important across African societies and films. Patriarchal structures have shaped many of these contexts, and there is still a great deal of conversation and scholarship needed around gender imbalance” she said.

“Everybody should have a place to breathe in this world, and it will benefit all of us eventually.”