Rita

[Jibrin Ibrahim]

Rita Dominic and Nigerian Citizenship 

Jibrin Ibrahim, Deepening Democracy Column, Daily Trust, 22nd April 2022

This week, I am taking time off from the depressing and ugly life of discussing Nigerian politics to address the issue of beauty, elegance, love, romance and above all, happiness of all Nigerians at the traditional marriage ceremony of Rita Dominic and her heart throb, Fidelis Anosike in Owerri, Imo State on 19^th April. I have looked at the photos circulated in the social media and both bride and groom looked radiant and so happy. I have been following Rita on the social media since 2009 and one of the central themes around her has been speculations and above all the genuine desire of Nigerians that this great icon of Nigeria should marry, she’s done it, congratulations.

I have not followed Nollywood closely and know little about the industry and its personalities. My first encounter on the implications of my ignorance of Nollywood was while checking into a hotel in at Jinja, the source of the River Nile in Uganda almost twenty years ago. The receptionist decided to try her luck when she saw my Nigerian passport - do you happen to have the latest Aki and Pawpaw film she asked me. I responded that I had no idea what she was talking about. She looked at me as If I was from another planet and said since Aki and Pawpaw are the best actors in the world and they are from Nigeria, I cannot say I do not know them. She added that given my corpulence, I actually look like one of the big ogas with mansions and four-wheel drive vehicles in Nollywood films. Her verdict about me was clear, if I don't know anything about Nollywood, I cannot really be African, and certainly, not Nigerian. She appeared to be quite upset with me, checked me in with a frown as I wondered what the whole conversation was about. I quickly did my research, found out who they were and was ready for the next random person that would ask me about these two great Nigerian stars. 

I did wonder however whether I am too old school in political science to get it, that being a Nigerian means being knowledgeable and passionate about Nollywood. My decision was that surely and slowly, I start learning about our film industry but as we shall see below, my learning curve was simply not steep enough.

My next encounter once again caught me totally unprepared. I had arrived in Lilongwe airport, Malawi, with a letter from the Commonwealth requesting I be given a visa on arrival to monitor their 2009 elections. I was worried about the usual airport humiliation Nigerians suffer. I handed my passport and waited with trepidation. The question from the immigration officer threw me off guard - "did you travel with Rita Dominic?" I asked who Rita was and he responded that as a Nigerian, how could I ask him who Rita was. I apologised for my ignorance and he that Rita was a Nigerian star who like me was to fly in from Johannesburg. Disappointed that I did not even know Rita, he gave me a form to fill and said when I get into town; I should go to the immigration office and get my visa. He was scanning the queue behind me hoping he would have the privilege of stamping Rita’s passport. Once again, I felt very bad about my ignorance of my country’s flagship industry.

On reading the local papers, I realised the visit of Rita Dominic was causing as much frenzy as the elections we had come to observe and both were connected. Rita Dominic was the headline story about the 2009 Malawian presidential election. The highlight of President wa Mutharika's campaign was the unveiling of a mausoleum in honour of the late dictator, Kamuzu Banda and Rita was invited by the President as the star attraction in the unveiling ceremony. That evening, a major concert was to be organised in Blantyre to present Rita to the people of Malawi. The newspapers and indeed everybody in the country referred to her as the girl with the silky skin. Mutharika’s election gift to Malawi was to bring the girl with the silky skin to voters live, and that was why she made all the radio and newspaper headlines during the elections. 

Intrigued by the role Rita was playing in advancing Malawian democracy, I decided I must also see the world event unfolding. I convinced the Chair of our observer team, former Ghanaian president, John Kufuor to go and see Rita and her silky skin. To my surprise, he accepted and off we went to the sports centre where I quickly contacted protocol and we were led through the crowded VIP entrance to the executive lounge. Two hours later, the show had not started and the general manager of DSTV Malawi, organisers of the concert, came to explain that the hall was full, the crowd outside was larger than the one inside and the crowd had massed round the VIP entrance so they do not know how to bring Rita in safely.

I told him President Kufuor and I walked through the crowd so why can't Rita do the same. He looked at me as if I was an idiot. Rita, he explained slowly, was a mega star and her security is very important. They cannot afford to take a risk. Knowing our place vis-a-vis a Nollywood mega star, President John Kufuor and I quietly walked through the crowd and left. The manager was right; no one took a second glance at us.

It was at that moment that I realised that Nollywood is Nigeria’s gift to the world and the branding of the country needs to pivot on the industry. The reality is that Nollywood is the institution branding the country, and the brand revolves around crime, treachery, drugs, superstition, black magic and sex. These for me were not the best elements for branding a country without throwing in some positives. I was however wrong to assume that this Nollywood formula used to lift Nigeria into number two position in the world film production league table would not lead to significant improvement in the scope and quality of their production.

In October last year, I illustrated this improvement in quality in this column while reviewing the Nollywood film, King of Boys, by Kemi Adetiba. It was released in 2017 and became an instant box office mega-hit. The film recounts the narrative of massive corruption in Nigeria’s political system through the rise and fall of the protagonist, the iconic ‘godfather’, Eniola Salami, excellently enacted by Sola Sobowale. It is a gripping story because she is not the typical Nollywood female protagonist engulfed in superstition and romance. She is a real ‘godfather’ and as the 2023 elections approaches, I recommend the film to all Nigerians. Following the film’s runaway success, Netflix commissioned a sequel: a seven-part limited series. It was the streaming platform’s first from Nigeria. The series, the Return of the King, picks up the story five years after the events of the original. Kemi Adetiba assembled a stellar cast with RMD, Nse Ikpe-Etim and Charly Boy, displaying impeccable acting. This is just bragging on my side to show I am reducing the level of my Nollywood ignorance. 

Back to the topic, I join billions of Africans, the Caribbean and film lovers the world over in wishing Rita Dominic and her heart throb, Fidelis Anosike blissful marital life. President Buhari, do your job, I have not yet seen your congratulations to the couple.

 

 

 

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim

Senior Fellow

Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Superb writing

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[Adigun Agbaje]

I was there with you at Ninja,  Jibo, along with a few other notable Nigerian Political Scientists in town for a conference, largely unnoticed in their own right by a receptionist more interested in them as moere sources of information on Nollywood actors and key words, including those you mentioned, Genevieve, and of course Chineke (what did that mean, we were asked with much anticipation).

It was a great lesson in context, content, balance and the enduring power of Nollywood. As usual, however, our "leaders" still do not "gerrit"....

--

[Ezinwanyi Adam]

Thank you very much, dear Prof. This is a good break...indeed! I enjoyed every line... however, the following lines:

"Intrigued by the role Rita was playing in advancing Malawian democracy, I decided I must also see the world event unfolding. I convinced the Chair of our observer team, former Ghanaian president, John Kufuor to go and see Rita and her silky skin. To my surprise, he accepted and off we went to the sports centre where I quickly contacted protocol and we were led through the crowded VIP entrance to the executive lounge. Two hours later, the show had not started and the general manager of DSTV Malawi, organisers of the concert, came to explain that the hall was full, the crowd outside was larger than the one inside and the crowd had massed round the VIP entrance so they do not know how to bring Rita in safely.

I told him President Kufuor and I walked through the crowd so why can't Rita do the same. He looked at me as if I was an idiot. Rita, he explained slowly, was a mega star and her security is very important. They cannot afford to take a risk. Knowing our place vis-a-vis a Nollywood mega star, President John Kufuor and I quietly walked through the crowd and left. The manager was right; no one took a second glance at us."

Yes, these lines, especially the ending part cracked me up.

On Fri, 22 Apr 2022, 13:10 Jibrin Ibrahim, <jibrinib...@gmail.com> wrote:

--

[Jibrin Ibrahim]

Thanks

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim

Senior Fellow

Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CADfQU8dq%3DpNZUNWrxADdezfS8ndurP%3D5id%3D8XuNc23--cMbc8Q%40mail.gmail.com.

[Moses Ochonu]

I wrote about this on my Facebook page several years ago. My own encounter with the continental ubiquity of Nollywood was at a Johannesburg hotel restaurant/bar. The waitress dropped a glass cup or ceramic plate on a concrete floor, making a loud, shattering sound. She screamed “chineke.” I did a double take to make sure she was South African, and heard her talking to a fellow waitress in what I assumed was Isi-Zulu or some other South African language mixed in with South African-inflected English. I came away with a new, healthy respect for Nollywood’s pan-African reach and domestication in African countries.

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 23, 2022, at 6:50 AM, Jibrin Ibrahim <jibrinib...@gmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAPWX8rVjy6GMcFyh4tvpSdMyEY_Yz2uUuzGL70YQMqJmdiLfew%40mail.gmail.com.

[Toyin Falola]

In the age of vcd and videos, they were selling them on street corners and in front of Union Buildings in Pretoria.

They know about Nollywood not just in Africa but in Haiti, Brazil, Jamaica, etc.

Same as music. Adekunle Gold, Davido, wizkid, etc. are the same. As I hate to sleep, I pub-crawl and the music of this generation is everywhere. Sudan tried unsuccessfully to “kill” them.

TF 

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 23, 2022, at 8:13 AM, Moses Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com> wrote:

I wrote about this on my Facebook page several years ago. My own encounter with the continental ubiquity of Nollywood was at a Johannesburg hotel restaurant/bar. The waitress dropped a glass cup or ceramic plate on a concrete floor, making a loud, shattering sound. She screamed “chineke.” I did a double take to make sure she was South African, and heard her talking to a fellow waitress in what I assumed was Isi-Zulu or some other South African language mixed in with South African-inflected English. I came away with a new, healthy respect for Nollywood’s pan-African reach and domestication in African countries.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/397D5B87-D6F3-4C87-ADC2-B3FDAAC7DB6B%40gmail.com.

[Harrow, Kenneth]

i join toyin adepoju in praise for this really enjoyable posting on nollywood. jibrin's postings are always thoughtful and interesting; this one on nollywood was great.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839in

har...@msu.edu

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jibrin Ibrahim <jibrinib...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2022 7:37 AM
To: 'chidi opara reports' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Rita

 

--

[Salimonu Kadiri]

​The reality is that Nollywood is the institution branding the country, and the brand revolves around crime, treachery, drugs, superstition, black magic and sex - Professor Jibrin Ibrahim.

Nigeria is good at copying and practising the worst out of Europe and the U.S., in particular. Nollywood is Nigeria's counterfeit copy of the U.S. Hollywood, but mostly in negative manners. Thanks to Nollywood, Nigeria is the largest importer of bleaching creams in the world. One-quarter of what is spent on imported bleaching creams is said to be enough to provide the entire citizens of Nigeria with potable water. Most skin bleaching products that help to remove melanin in the skin contain mercury, hydroquinone, corticosteroids, a variety of alpha and beta hydroxy acid, kojic acid, arbutin, azelaic acid, ascorbic acid, glutathione and others. These are either used as the main ingredient of a bleaching product or in combination. Cutaneous effects of skin bleaching are said to include mottled and uneven skin decolouration, acneiform eruptions, recurrent infections, skin atrophy, poor wound healing (especially after surgical operation), telangiectasia, body odour (bromhidrosis), exogenous ochronosis, skin cancers and hyperhidrosis. System effects of skin bleaching include hypertension, hyper-glycaemia (diabetes mellitus), Cushing's syndrome, adrenal insufficiency, cataracts, immunosuppression, renal failure and skin failure. Through Nollywood, Nigerians are indoctrinated to believe that black skin is ugly and are, therefore, encouraged to apply hazardous creams on themselves to remove the ugly black skin. Not only that, the traditional air braiding and plaiting which were Nigeria's gift to the Black world, especially the female gender, have been abandoned for imported Brazil's synthetic long and straight hairs. Sometimes, the counterfeited white skin is topped with blond straight hairs. Lifestyles which Nollywood induce ordinary Nigerians to adopt and consume cut deep into Nigeria's foreign reserves. Nollywood actors/actresses start quenching thirst with whisky instead of water and end up being drunkards.

Concerning superstition and black magic, Nollywood has helped to promote in younger generation of Nigerians that one can become stupendously rich, without working, through money rituals. Thanks to Nollywood's money ritual films, Nigeria's pen robbers, who steal funds meant to build schools and employ teachers to teach children; who steal funds to generate and distribute electricity; who steal funds to build and equip hospitals; who steal funds meant for maintenance of old and construction of new roads; who steal funds for refinery of crude oil for Nigerians; and who steal funds meant for purchasing weapons, recruiting police, soldiers to maintain security in Nigeria are very safe because Nigerians, both young and old attribute the sudden cause of pen robbers' wealth to money rituals.

In the good olden days, the would-be bride and bridegroom were brought together by a third-party, a-times from either of the parents or a close relative. Sexual intercourse was restricted within married couples and its purpose was to regenerate. Nowadays, Nigeria's social and print media are saturated by the boasts of Nollywood actresses and actors about how many men and women they have had sexual intercourse with respectively. They even talk openly without restraint about their sexual dates or dating. The Nollywood sexual culture in Nigeria is seen everywhere in the open stagnant sewages that criss-cross towns and cities of the country, clogged with expended condoms. Nigeria is said to be importing seven hundred million packets of condoms annually at the expense of the nation's ever dwindling foreign reserve.

She added that given my corpulence, I actually look like one of the big ogas with mansions and four-wheel drive vehicles in Nollywood films - Professor Jibrin Ibrahim.

The a-forecited is a real permanent laughter stimulator because Nigeria is a country where overpriced petty-traders are used to posing as business giants and capitalists. The economy of Nigeria has remained till date at the age of open defecation and riding donkeys, and Nollywood is projecting Nigeria as a nation of big men with mansions and four-wheel drive vehicles. What kind of joke is that?

S. Kadiri     

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Ezinwanyi Adam <ezii...@gmail.com>
Sent: 23 April 2022 06:59
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Rita

 

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[Toyin Falola]

One small correction to a wonderful piece:

You no longer need bleaching creams—there are now tablets you can swallow to produce the same effect. It is dangerous as well.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/HE1P193MB0076E8180AD2B60219B0651DAEF69%40HE1P193MB0076.EURP193.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM.

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Salimonu,

Your image of Nollywood loks more imaginative than realistic to me.

As for Jibrin's summation of Nollywood, it does not represent my experience of the representative spectrum of Nollywood movies as I understand that industry.

Thanks

Toyim

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/HE1P193MB0076E8180AD2B60219B0651DAEF69%40HE1P193MB0076.EURP193.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM.

[Dr. Oohay]

Inferiority Complex (IC), unfortunately (though understandably) persists as our Number One “decisive” problem in the history or even “genealogy” of racism. Ironically, IC requires intensive care in every sense of the phrase.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/DM6PR11MB3356E524CF56BE8B112D1CB7F4F69%40DM6PR11MB3356.namprd11.prod.outlook.com.

[Salimonu Kadiri]

​Thank you, my professor, for the correction of which I am aware besides that of black pregnant women in complete black couples swallowing tablets so that their children would be born with pale skin. We have been rewired and retooled into abandoning our real and essential needs and aspirations to devote our lives and entire existence into serving the global conquerors.

S. Kadiri

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From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Toyin Falola <toyin.f...@gmail.com>
Sent: 23 April 2022 23:16

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/DM6PR11MB3356E524CF56BE8B112D1CB7F4F69%40DM6PR11MB3356.namprd11.prod.outlook.com.

[Toyin Falola]

The Miseducation of the Negro!

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/HE1P193MB00766F3DD2F24E72A4F75C7BAEF99%40HE1P193MB0076.EURP193.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM.

[Salimonu Kadiri]

​Oluwatoyin, 

Can you share your own realistic image of the Nollywood movies with me, especially with regards to the distortion of the black colour of the skin of most their actors and actresses. I want to know from you what impact Nollywood films on ritual murders for money have on Nigerians, and particularly on the Nigerian youths. Share with me your experience of the Nollywood's tomfooleries that you erroneously referred to as Industry.

S. Kadiri

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>
Sent: 24 April 2022 03:35

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[Toyin Falola]

This is precisely why I like this Dialogue. I am a Nollywood worshipper, and your devastation works well with me.

I am an Esu—I don’t like conclusions!

TF

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/HE1P193MB007605EA7E78C71E6D159136AEF99%40HE1P193MB0076.EURP193.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM.

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Congratulations and best wishes to the newlyweds. 

Nollywood has many fans all over the world; isn't Nollywood next to Bollywood when it comes to worldwide popularity?

My Sierra Leonean Brethren Kassim and Saidu are among Nollywood's most faithful.

I sent Kassim the following to make him a little wistful :

The Bride: https://dailypost.ng/2022/04/19/reactions-as-rita-dominic-anosike-ties-knot-in-imo-photos/

The warning: https://dailypost.ng/2022/04/23/ill-run-you-up-if-you-mess-with-rita-dominic-omotola-jalade-ekeinde-to-anosike/

About the warner, what a stunner!  Some of the potential candidates are left hanging and wondering,

 where is she hiding? 

[Emeagwali, Gloria (History)]

“ The reality is that Nollywood is the 

institution branding the country, and 

the brand revolves around crime,

 treachery, drugs, superstition, 

black magic and sex”JI

I, too, did not think this 

was a fair summation of 

Nollywood.

Appreciate Nollywood’s audacity to be the 

world’s second largest, and the 

creativity that makes this

possible. Nollywood is vast

 with various genres 

of film. 

GE

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2022 9:35 PM

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Rita

 

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[Harrow, Kenneth]

i have some knowledge of nollywood. not like that of the true specialists, but enough to have published on it, and will publish more.

the descriptions of nollywood that i read were true in 1992, around when living in bondage came out. in the 1990s kelani refused to align himself with nollywood.

that began to change by 2000, more or less. they are no longer really accurate at all, especially since what was called neonollywood replaced the old school esoteric style films. especially since the new great generation marked by afolayan and many many many other talented directors came on the scene, including fine actors like nnaji and mnay many others.

nope, not like the early semiamateurist days.

now there is much to criticize, but not one the lines of the old style stuff. my major complaint is the influence of global or world cinema commercialization, with netflix and amazon prime and many others now generating stock cliched genres and styles that lost the inspiration of neonollywood.

it's a long story, so i'll stop there where i hope many others will find space to agree. overall, nollywood was an incredibly brilliant success story that gave a model to ALL THE REST of africa (well, give credit to ghana too, please) that inspired enormous offshoots from tanzania and kenya and many other, especially anglophone countries. the francophones maybe are chasing behind on this, for once... having been the great foreparents of afr cinema

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

---

From: 'Emeagwali, Gloria (History)' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2022 1:05 PM
To: Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>; usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/BL0PR01MB4514A736018B2D85CF3FB207DEF99%40BL0PR01MB4514.prod.exchangelabs.com.

[Moses Ochonu]

Let me be provocative and take a slightly contrarian stance on this Nollywood issue. What if Nollywood’s original (and/or ongoing) badness is precisely the reason its films are popular, the basis of its initial and enduring appeal and its pan-African resonance? So, instead of, or in addition to, trying to refute Jibo’s characterization of Nollywood, perhaps we should ask why and how the tropes of Nollywood badness that he references came to into existence, defined for a time, and remains marginally present in Nollywood’s repertoire.

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 24, 2022, at 5:42 PM, Harrow, Kenneth <har...@msu.edu> wrote:



To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/BL1PR12MB5191136DD9F75896156F2D08DAF99%40BL1PR12MB5191.namprd12.prod.outlook.com.

[Harrow, Kenneth]

i can give an answer to that--putting on my film scholar hat.

it isn't only nollywood that would have to respond to that question, but many many other non-commercial or non-hollywoodian cinemas. there is a long answer, but in brief, we all have grown up with a theatrical commercial experience that trained us to expect hollywood or its offshoots as the norm for good cinema.

for film scholars it is not, of course, any more than pulp fiction represents good much less great cinema.

in any event, early nollywood films were made on a shoestring, and did not have trained personnel or money for good postproduction cinema values. that is not the case so much any more. anyone questioning the quality now obviously has not seen the really quality work of much neonollywood filmmaking.

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Moses Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2022 7:37 PM
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Cc: Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/091C3E4E-2A5B-48BB-AEAE-2A88D1F8BA8F%40gmail.com.

[Edward Kissi]

Nollywood films are destroying my community in Ghana. At the very least that is what many of the people I speak with when I visit Ghana tell me. They have become a cultural fixture in Ghana, and a negative force in productivity at barbershops, chop-bars, and seamstress shops. I also hear that these films, often played in buses, on long distance journeys, are causing deadly distractions to the drivers who play them in their buses. I have seen these distractions myself as a passenger in some of these buses. Ultimately, the onus falls on the drivers who have become addicted to these Nollywood films and their themes of seduction, intrigue, witchcraft, and adultery. It is clear, from what I have observed in Ghana, that these Nollywood films are breeding a culture of cynicism, and deepening already existing superstitions. 

For the young men who love these films, they seem attracted to the Nigerian actresses with dark lipsticks and clad in half cloth with bare shoulders. Certainly, Nollywood films are feeding some urges in Ghana, but creating new troubles for my people.

Edward Kissi 

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 24, 2022, at 8:08 PM, Moses Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com> wrote:

 Let me be provocative and take a slightly contrarian stance on this Nollywood issue. What if Nollywood’s original (and/or ongoing) badness is precisely the reason its films are popular, the basis of its initial and enduring appeal and its pan-African resonance? So, instead of, or in addition to, trying to refute Jibo’s characterization of Nollywood, perhaps we should ask why and how the tropes of Nollywood badness that he references came to into existence, defined for a time, and remains marginally present in Nollywood’s repertoire.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/091C3E4E-2A5B-48BB-AEAE-2A88D1F8BA8F%40gmail.com.

[EXTERNAL EMAIL] DO NOT CLICK links or attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

[Toyin Falola]

This is a problem to have!

It means the films are successful.

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 24, 2022, at 8:00 PM, Edward Kissi <eki...@usf.edu> wrote:

 Nollywood films are destroying my community in Ghana. At the very least that is what many of the people I speak with when I visit Ghana tell me. They have become a cultural fixture in Ghana, and a negative force in productivity at barbershops, chop-bars, and seamstress shops. I also hear that these films, often played in buses, on long distance journeys, are causing deadly distractions to the drivers who play them in their buses. I have seen these distractions myself as a passenger in some of these buses. Ultimately, the onus falls on the drivers who have become addicted to these Nollywood films and their themes of seduction, intrigue, witchcraft, and adultery. It is clear, from what I have observed in Ghana, that these Nollywood films are breeding a culture of cynicism, and deepening already existing superstitions. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/FB034E56-BFF5-4D25-B005-979F0694A009%40usf.edu.

[Harrow, Kenneth]

i'm sure in the old days the same complaints were made about hollywood. nollywood was miraculous in turning a desperate situation for almost all african cinema into a positive one. cinema theatres were closing everywhere, no one could afford to made a celluloid film by the 1980s, the audiences had disappeared. nollywood turned all that around, first in ghana and nigeria, then throughout the continent. they created a viable cinema industry. like all such industries, you could find low quality pop films, with sex and violence (sound familiar??)but also top talent fine films with emerging talents in cinematography and editing and acting and screenwriting.

maybe those better films are less seen on buses!

k

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Edward Kissi <eki...@usf.edu>
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2022 8:51 PM

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/FB034E56-BFF5-4D25-B005-979F0694A009%40usf.edu.

[Okey Iheduru]

"Nollywood films are destroying my community in Ghana. At the very least that is what many of the people I speak with when I visit Ghana tell me. They have become a cultural fixture in Ghana, and a negative force in productivity at barbershops, chop-bars, and seamstress shops. I also hear that these films, often played in buses, on long distance journeys, are causing deadly distractions to the drivers who play them in their buses. I have seen these distractions myself as a passenger in some of these buses. Ultimately, the onus falls on the drivers who have become addicted to these Nollywood films and their themes of seduction, intrigue, witchcraft, and adultery. It is clear, from what I have observed in Ghana, that these Nollywood films are breeding a culture of cynicism, and deepening already existing superstitions." -- Edward Kissi

I love my Ghanaian friends' cynicism because these days every single malaise in their country is caused by "the Nigerians"!

Nigerian film makers now tell Ghanaians in barbershops, chop-bars, long-distance buses, etc. what to do with their lives! The same way failed Pentecostal churches, violence-wracked selection of new Imams, failed banks and other financial institutions, failed micro-, small and medium enterprises, failed cocoa farms, the menace of "kenke degrees" from questionable private universities, etc. are all the fault of "the Nigerians."

I wish Ghanaians will recognize that they do, indeed, have local agency. Perhaps, some of these Nollywood-films-are-destroying-my-community-in-Ghana types will encourage Ghallywood folks to make some really good films that reflect their "oasis of great values," rather than being poor copies of "the Nigerians"! The Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah would be smiling down from up above!

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/FB034E56-BFF5-4D25-B005-979F0694A009%40usf.edu.

--

Okey C. Iheduru

e-mail: okeyi...@gmail.com

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

                   

Sir Harrow and other connoisseurs of African Cinema, I understand your distress, although up till today, I have still not watched a whole Nollywood movie,  so boring, and really not my cup of tea... so I'm in no position to say anything about Nolly, sorry ..I was at the theatre last week, got a free ticket to see the final rehearsal before the premiere of Månen och de andra planeterna ( The Moon and the other planets )  a three-hour piece, and I thought it was excellent! 

Tweedledee and Tweedledum ( good lyrics)

 Good genteel gentlemen and good ladies too, go ahead, – alphabetically speaking and you may if you like to. write your next thesis entitled Bollywood, or Hollywood vs Nollywood, even Sorrywood, “ God’s Piece of Wood”. you name it, write it all on papyrus but please don’t burn it, and and and, as long as you please don’t forget that it all began in Africa, and that said, all said and done, we ought not to despise our humble beginnings. As the learned discerners among us sometimes tell us,” Rome wasn’t built in a day” that said, all you’ve got to do is to come back five hundred years from now to witness how far we have come, ( if the planet is still around ( spinning, 24 hours a day...I mean, if Joe Biden hasn't succeeded in blowing up the planet 

An early stage of Black Cinema here : 

LOUIS JORDAN & HIS TYMPANY FIVE – CALDONIA (in colour)

See how far we've come, since the beginning

Maybe, Baba Kadiri is being too hard on Nollywood, it seems that he would prefer that Nollywood was the standard-bearer -that would set standards for Nigerians to emulate, he’s disappointed that this is not the case, his main point being that Nollywood mirrors and reflects the state of Nigerian society and society’s various assets, including everything that he feels is an abomination, skin-lightening creams, synthetic hairpieces from Japan, the very lucrative market for Human hair being exported from Brazil to Nigeria, and more than once he has told me the joke, about love letters to  Brazilian women, ( Adichie too must have some views on these latest developments ) in short, Baba Kadiri’s cry is a modern-day Nigerian Song of Lawino and Song of Ocul

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Edited

The Significance of Nollywood in Film History

A flash of lightning illuminating a landscape of possibilities hidden in darkness. That image adapted from Susanne Wenger's account of the effects of Yoruba ritual on the mind of the participant in Ulli Beier's The Return of the Gods sums up the significance of Nollywood in the history of film.  

I once aspired to be a filmmaker when Nigeria had no film industry beyond Hubert  Ogunde and a few other pioneers. ''There is no point,'' was one response. ''Nigeria is not economically mature enough for a significant film industry.''

 

‘’Could film thrive in an environment in which people had not risen above basic needs, a prerequisite for cinematic growth as I understand is suggested by W.W. Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth?’’

 

The advent of Nollywood put paid to such orientations, decisively expanding the relationship between economics, art and audience in the global film ecosystem, doing this in a way perhaps unprecedented in film history, making the presence of Black people, specifically Africans, their physical environments and cultural expressions, however those cultural environments are filtered,  a  decisive visual force in world film for the first time ever. 

 

Even if one does not go out of one's way to watch  Nollywood, perhaps because of their need to further develop their production values, the  range, resilience and creativity of Nollywood are readily evident through even brief exploration.

 

On Superstition and Magic in Nollywood Film

Jibrin references the presence of  "superstition and black magic" in Nollywood films. I see with him, although one might need to contextualise this.

 

Nollywood's use of magic may  suggest an inadequate understanding of classical African spiritualities, focusing on its negative aspects.

 

But if they wanted to know more, how would they do it? 

 

This is a largely oral spirituality. Even its visual aesthetics, from which many have been alienated through colonization, might not be appreciated without education.

 

What would one need to read, watch or listen to in order to appreciate this cultural form? How accessible is such literature, particularly in Nigeria? A lot of what is readily available on African religions looks theoretical to me, with much less on practice and personal experience.

Nollywood might need better education on these spiritualities. This would require moving from the closed mindset of those Christianized orientations that often shape how these spiritualities are perceived in Nigeria, to exploring how they see themselves and how they operate in people's lives beyond such mundanities as money rituals and such horrors as human sacrifice.

Belief in the Supernatural and Magic as a Global Cultural Force

 

The supernatural, of which religion is one expression, and magic another, though they entwine, represents humanity's conviction that the universe consists of more than it's material coordinates, an expansive identity with which the human being may relate and even take advantage of.

Religion may be more passive than magic, relating more to human minisculity within the mystery that is existence, particularly in relation to the Absolute, while magic is more invested in knowledge of this mystery and in harnessing its powers through the will of the magician.

       Magic as a Shaping Force in Western Culture

            Magic, Literature and Film

Forms of orientation towards the supernatural in it's expression as  magic are a feature of perhaps all cultures, including the deeply secularized West, as demonstrated by the unprecedented success of the witchcraft novels and film adaptations of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, one of the more recent in the very rich magical fantasy genre of Western literature and film, from Homer's ancient Greek epics to the iconic Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon and  Ursula Le Guin's  A Wizard of Earthsea and its sequels.

These and other  novels from Europe and North America, in their imaginative reworking of magical philosophy and practice, complement the rich history of Western magic, from early times to the modern flourishings represented by such movements as modern Western witchcraft, perhaps the world's most highly developed magical  culture in terms of innovations in practice and theory, widespread dissemination through publication and in terms of institutionalization through academic study.

      Magic and Science

Ever since the pioneering work of Frances Yates and the  subsequent refinements of her theses by other scholars, the role of magic, represented by such aspects of the Western esoteric tradition as Hermeticism and alchemy and its investigation by Isaac Newton and the relationship between Johannes Kepler's work in  astrology and  his achievements as a pioneer in scientific cosmology, is now recognized by scholars in the history and philosophy of science and related fields in European cultural history as strategic  to the emergence of modern science. This development may be seen as emerging  through a transmutation of magical models and cosmologies in terms of intellectual analysis whose parameters  are open to everyone.   

 

My Nollywood Experience

Favourite Nollywood movies of mine include The Last Believer, about a battle between Christianity and a water spirit. Impressive depiction of psychological and social dynamics at an intersection of dimensions, life under the sea and life on Earth.

 

My exposure to Nollywood so far, admittedly quite limited, shows an overly Christianised culture, in which classical African spiritualities are negatively portrayed, as in the film above.

 

It would be great if the complexities of these spiritualities are better taken advantage of, as seems to be the case in Yoruba movies.

 

In this context, does Nollywood show money rituals as being effective or projects them as acts of gullible people, as is done with the human sacrifice context of the film Rituals?

 

I also enjoyed Rituals, with the powerful performance of Pete Edochie. Impressive cinematography, fine acting, powerful ritual scene. Striking irony.

 

I have watched others, impressively exploring the complexities of relationships and other possibilities within rural life and city life. These include Osoufia in London, the central actor being the unforgettable comic master Nkem Owoh. A memorable comic piece. I have also encountered other memorable characters such as Mr. Ibu ( ''one of Nigeria's most talented and highly paid comic characters. His humorous acting is often characterized by stupidity, hilarious imbecility and a sharp disconnection from reality"-Wikipedia).

I also watched King of Boys. Impressive effort in all aspects of filmmaking, particularly cinematography. The performance of the central character needed more refinement,though, and the whole piece could do with more subtlety.

 

The scope of Nollywood films is broad. It's creativity indisputable.

 

 Between Female Aesthetics and Morality in Nollywood

Researching Nollywood actresses online, I seem to see a range of skin tones, although fair skin seems prominent. As for the morality of Nollywood figures, I don't know anything about that although sexual freedom also marked the lives of Hollywood figures, particularly before the 21st century, such freedom also shaping life in entertainment generally, possibilities emerging from a range of factors, including visibility, accessibility and emphasis on male and female physical aesthetics. 

 

From Nollywood to Nigerian Skits

A fine offspring of Nollywood are Nigerian skits, very short dramatic pieces, as shown on YouTube and TikTok, among the better known of which are those dramatising the characters Mr. Macaroni, Brother Shaggy and Sister Ekwitos ( a muscular man dressed as a ridiculously holy Christian woman). Beautifully comic. 

 

I also think the expressive range of these could be better developed, coming from my enjoyment of the skits  of Big Jahh and his classical The Lesbian Homie and Tiberius the Hoodhitman, of TroyinLa, as in his painfully  comic My Wife Don't Respect My Job and Ten Year Entanglement, along with the work of ElhadjTV who introduced me to the world of African-American skits, to which all these  belong.

Nollywood in the Hierarchy of Nigerian Achievement on the Global Stage

 

Nollywood is Nigeria's most significant achievement of global impact. After Nollywood comes it's music, with Wizkid, Burna Boy, Goya Menor and others, then literature, with Soyinka, Achebe, Nnedi Okoroafor, Chimmamanda Ngozi Adichie and others, then the visual arts with El Anatsui, Victor Ekpuk, Bruce Onabrakpeya and others. 

 

After these perhaps, the impact of such figures in global finance as Ngozi Okonjo Iweala.

 

Thanks

 

Toyin

 

 

On Tue, 26 Apr 2022 at 09:04, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com> wrote:

The Significance of Nollywood in Film History

A flash of lightning illuminating a landscape of possibilities hidden in darkness. That image adapted from Susanne Wenger's account of the effects of Yoruba ritual on the mind of the participant in Ulli Beier's The Return of the Gods sums up the significance of Nollywood in the history of film.  

I once aspired to be a filmmaker when Nigeria had no film industry beyond Hubert  Ogunde and a few other pioneers. ''There is no point,'' was one response. ''Nigeria is not economically mature enough for a significant film industry.''

 

‘’Could film thrive in an environment in which people had not risen above basic needs, a prerequisite for cinematic growth as I understand is suggested by W.W. Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth?’’

 

The advent of Nollywood put paid to such orientations, decisively expanding the relationship between economics, art and audience in the global film ecosystem, doing this in a way perhaps unprecedented in film history, making the presence of Black people, specifically Africans, their physical environments and cultural expressions, however those cultural environments are filtered,  a  decisive visual force in world film for the first time ever. 

 

Even if one does not go out of one's way to watch  Nollywood, perhaps because of their need to further develop their production values, the  range, resilience and creativity of Nollywood are readily evident through even brief exploration.

 

On Superstition and Magic in Nollywood Film

Jibrin references the presence of  "superstition and black magic" in Nollywood films. I see with him, although one might need to contextualise this.

 

Nollywood's use of magic may  suggest an inadequate understanding of classical African spiritualities, focusing on its negative aspects.

 

But if they wanted to know more, how would they do it? 

 

This is a largely oral spirituality. Even its visual aesthetics, from which many have been alienated through colonization, might not be appreciated without education.

 

What would one need to read, watch or listen to in order to appreciate this cultural form? How accessible is such literature, particularly in Nigeria? A lot of what is readily available on African religions looks theoretical to me, with much less on practice and personal experience.

Nollywood might need better education on these spiritualities. This would require moving from the closed mindset of those Christianized orientations that often shape how these spiritualities are perceived in Nigeria, to exploring how they see themselves and how they operate in people's lives beyond such mundanities as money rituals and such horrors as human sacrifice.

Belief in the Supernatural and Magic as a Global Cultural Force

 

The supernatural, of which religion is one expression, and magic another, though they entwine, represents humanity's conviction that the universe consists of more than it's material coordinates, an expansive identity with which the human being may relate and even take advantage of.

Religion may be more passive than magic, relating more to human minisculity within the mystery that is existence, particularly in relation to the Absolute, while magic is more invested in knowledge of this mystery and in harnessing its powers through the will of the magician.

       Magic as a Shaping Force in Western Culture

            Magic, Literature and Film

Forms of orientation towards the supernatural in it's expression as  magic are a feature of perhaps all cultures, including the deeply secularized West, as demonstrated by the unprecedented success of the witchcraft novels and film adaptations of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, one of the more recent in the very rich magical fantasy genre of Western literature and film, from Homer's ancient Greek epics to the iconic Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon and  Ursula Le Guin's  A Wizard of Earthsea and its sequels.

These and other  novels from Europe and North America, in their imaginative reworking of magical philosophy and practice, complement the rich history of Western magic, from early times to the modern flourishings represented by such movements as modern Western witchcraft, perhaps the world's most highly developed magical  culture in terms of innovations in practice and theory, widespread dissemination through publication and in terms of institutionalization through academic study.

      Magic and Science

Ever since the pioneering work of Frances Yates and the  subsequent refinements of her theses by other scholars, the role of magic, represented by such aspects of the Western esoteric tradition as Hermeticism and alchemy and its investigation by Isaac Newton and the relationship between Johannes Kepler's work in  astrology and  his achievements as a pioneer in scientific cosmology, is now recognized by scholars in the history and philosophy of science and related fields in European cultural history as strategic  to the emergence of modern science. This development may be seen as emerging  through a transmutation of magical models and cosmologies in terms of intellectual analysis whose parameters  are open to everyone.   

 

My Nollywood Experience

Favourite Nollywood movies of mine include The Last Believer, about a battle between Christianity and a water spirit. Impressive depiction of psychological and social dynamics at an intersection of dimensions, life under the sea and life on Earth.

 

My exposure to Nollywood so far, admittedly quite limited, shows an overly Christianised culture, in which classical African spiritualities are negatively portrayed, as in the film above.

 

It would be great if the complexities of these spiritualities are better taken advantage of, as seems to be the case in Yoruba movies.

 

In this context, does Nollywood show money rituals as being effective or projects them as acts of gullible people, as is done with the human sacrifice context of the film Rituals?

 

I also enjoyed Rituals, with the powerful performance of Pete Edochie. Impressive cinematography, fine acting, powerful ritual scene. Striking irony.

 

I have watched others, impressively exploring the complexities of relationships and other possibilities within rural life and city life. These include Osoufia in London, the central actor being the unforgettable comic master Nkem Owoh. A memorable comic piece. I have also encountered other memorable characters such as Mr. Ibu ( ''one of Nigeria's most talented and highly paid comic characters. His humorous acting is often characterized by stupidity, hilarious imbecility and a sharp disconnection from reality"-Wikipedia).

I also watched King of Boys. Impressive effort in all aspects of filmmaking, particularly cinematography. The performance of the central character needed more refinement,though, and the whole piece could do with more subtlety.

 

The scope of Nollywood films is broad. It's creativity indisputable.

 

 Between Female Aesthetics and Morality in Nollywood

Researching Nollywood actresses online, I seem to see a range of skin tones, although fair skin seems prominent. As for the morality of Nollywood figures, I don't know anything about that although sexual freedom also marked the lives of Hollywood figures, particularly before the 21st century, such freedom also shaping life in entertainment generally, possibilities emerging from a range of factors, including visibility, accessibility and emphasis on male and female physical aesthetics. 

 

From Nollywood to Nigerian Skits

A fine offspring of Nollywood are Nigerian skits, very short dramatic pieces, as shown on YouTube and TikTok, among the better known of which are those dramatising the characters Mr. Macaroni, Brother Shaggy and Sister Ekwitos ( a muscular man dressed as a ridiculously holy Christian woman). Beautifully comic. 

 

I also think the expressive range of these could be better developed, coming from my enjoyment of the skits  of Big Jahh and his classical The Lesbian Homie and Tiberius the Hoodhitman, of TroyinLa, as in his painfully  comic My Wife Don't Respect My Job and Ten Year Entanglement, along with the work of ElhadjTV who introduced me to the world of African-American skits, to which all these  belong.

Nollywood in the Hierarchy of Nigerian Achievement on the Global Stage

 

Nollywood is Nigeria's most significant achievement of global impact. After Nollywood comes it's music, with Wizkid, Burna Boy, Goya Menor and others, then literature, with Soyinka, Achebe, Nnedi Okoroafor, Chimmamanda Ngozi Adichie and others, then the visual arts with El Anatsui, Victor Ekpuk, Bruce Onabrakpeya and others. 

 

After these perhaps, the impact of such figures in global finance as Ngozi Okonjo Iweala.

 

Thanks

 

Toyin

 

 

 

 

 

A flash of lightning illuminating a landscape of possibilities hidden in darkness. That image adapted from Susanne Wenger's account in Ulli Beier's The Return of the Gods on the effects of Yoruba ritual on the mind of the participant  sums up the significance of Nollywood in the history of film.  

 

I once aspired to be a filmmaker when Nigeria had no film industry beyond Hubert  Ogunde and a few other pioneers. ''There is no point,'' was one response. ''Nigeria is not economically mature enough for a significant  film industry.''

 

Could film thrive in an environment in which people had not risen above basic needs, a prerequisite for cinematic growth as I understand is suggested by W.W. Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth?

 

The advent of Nollywood put paid to such orientations, decisively expanding the relationship between economics, art and audience in the global film ecosystem, doing this in a way perhaps unprecedented in film history, making the presence of Black people, specifically Africans, their physical environments and cultural expressions, however those cultural environments are filtered,  a  decisive visual force in world film for the first time ever. 

 

I actually don't go out of my way to watch Nollywood because of what I see as the need to develop it's production values but I recognize their range, their resilience and creativity.

Jibrin references the presence of  "superstition and black magic" in Nollywood films. I see with him, although one might need to contextualise this.

Nollywood's use of magic may  suggest an inadequate understanding of classical African spiritualities, focusing on its negative aspects. If they wanted to know more, how would they do it? 

This is a largely oral spirituality. Even its visual aesthetics, from which many have been alienated through colonisation, might not be appreciated without education.

What would one need to read to appreciate this cultural form? How accessible is such literature, particularly in Nigeria? A lot of what is readily available on African regions looks theoretical to me, with much less on practice and personal experience.

 Nollywood might need better education on these spiritualities. This would require moving from the closed mindset of those Christianised orientations that often shape how these spiritualities are perceived, to exploring how they see themselves and how they operate in people's lives beyond sucg mundanities as money rituals and such horrors as human sacrifice.

 

The supernatural, of which religion is one expression, and magic another, though they entwine, represents humanity's conviction that the universe consists of more than it's material coordinates, an expansive identity with which the human being may relate and even take advantage of.

Religion may be more passive than magic, relating more to human minisculity within the mystery that is existence, particularly in relation to the Absolute, while magic is more invested in knowledge of this mystery and in harnessing its powers through the will of the magician.

Ever since the pioneering work of Frances Yates and the  subsequent refinements of her theses by other scholars, the role of magic, represented by such aspects of the Western esoteric tradition as alchemy and its investigation by Isaac Newton and the relationship between Johannes Kepler's work in  astrology and  his achievements as a pioneer in scientific cosmology, is now recognized by scholars in the history and philosophy of science and related fields in European cultural history as strategic  to the emergence of modern science. This development may be seen as emerging  through a transmutation of magical models and cosmologies in terms of intellectual analysis whose parameters  are open to everyone.  

Forms of orientation towards the supernatural in it's expression as  magic are a feature of perhaps all cultures, including the deeply secularised West, as demonstrated by the unprecedented success of the witchcraft novels and film adaptations of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, one of the more recent in the very rich magical fantasy genre of Western literature and film, from Homer's ancient Greek epics to the iconic Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon and  Ursula Le Guin's  A Wizard of Earthsea and its sequels.

These and other  novels from Europe and North America, in their imaginative reworking of magical philosophy and practice, complement the rich history of Western magic, from early times to the modern flourishings represented by such movements as modern Western witchcraft, perhaps the world's most highly developed magical  culture in terms of innovations in practice and theory, widespread dissemination through publication and in terms of institutionalisation through academic study.

 

Favourite Nollywood movies of mine include The Last Believer, about a battle between Christianity and a water spirit. Impressive depiction of psychological and social dynamics at an intersection of dimensions, life under the sea and life on Earth.

 

My exposure to Nollywood so far, admittedly quite limited, shows an overly Christianised culture, in which classical African spiritualities are negatively portrayed, as in the film above.

 

It would be great if the complexities of these spiritualities are better taken advantage of, as seems to be the case in Yoruba movies.

 

In this context, does Nollywood show money rituals as being effective or projects them as acts of gullible people, as is done with the human sacrifice context of the film Rituals?

 

I also enjoyed Rituals, with the powerful performance of Pete Edochie. Impressive cinematography, fine acting, powerful ritual scene. Striking irony.

 

I have watched others, impressively exploring the complexities of relationships and other possibilities within evoking rural life and city life. These include Osoufia in London, the central actor being the unforgettable comic master Nkem Owoh. A memorable comic piece. I have also encountered other memorable characters such as Mr. Ibu ( ''one of Nigeria's most talented and highly paid comic characters. His humorous acting is often characterized by stupidity, hilarious imbecility and a sharp disconnection from reality"-Wikipedia)

I also watched King of Boys. Impressive effort in all aspects of filmmaking, particularly cinematography. The performance of the central character needed more refinement, though, and the whole piece could do with more subtlety.

 

The scope of Nollywood films is broad. It's creativity is indisputable.

 

Researching Nollywood actresses online, I seem to see a range of skin tones, although fair skin seems prominent. As for the morality of Nollywood figures, I don't know anything about that although sexual freedom also marked the lives of Hollywood figures, particularly before the 21st century, such freedom also shaping life in entertainment generally, possiblities emerging from a range of factors, including visibility, accessibility and emphasis on male and female physical aesthetics. 

 

A fine offspring of Nollywood are Nigerian skits, very short dramatic pieces, as shown on YouTube, among the better known of which are those dramatising the characters Mr. Macaroni, Brother Shaggy and Sister Ekwitos ( a muscular man dressed as a ridiculously holy Christian woman). Beautifully comic. 

 

I also think the expressive range of these could be better developed, coming from my enjoyment of the skits  of Big Jahh and his classical The Lesbian Homie and Tiberius the Hoodhitman, of TroyinLa, as in his painfully  comic My Wife Don't Respect My Job and Ten Year Entanglement, along with the work of ElhadjTV who introduced me to the world of African-American skits to which all these  belong.

 

Nollywood is Nigeria's most significant achievement of global impact. After Nollywood comes it's music, with Wizkid, Burna Boy, Goya Menor and others, then literature, with Soyinka, Achebe, Nnedi Okoroafor, Chimmamanda Ngozi Adichie and others, then the visual arts with El Anatsui, Victor Ekpuk, Bruce Onabrakpeya and others. 

 

After these perhaps, the impact of such figures in global finance as Ngozi Okonjo Iweala.

 

Thanks

 

Toyin

 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAGCbkjpxx%2B7QZHX4P1mTP9TJUN4CnNMhD33S8vpv8oNZFRD_VA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Researching Nollywood actresses online, I seem to see a range of skin tones, although fair skin seems prominent. As for the morality of Nollywood figures, I don't know anything about that although sexual freedom also marked the lives of Hollywood figures, particularly before the 21st century, such freedom also shaping life in entertainment generally, possibilities emerging from a range of factors, including visibility, accessibility and emphasis on male and female physical aesthetics. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAGCbkjpxx%2B7QZHX4P1mTP9TJUN4CnNMhD33S8vpv8oNZFRD_VA%40mail.gmail.com.