









































Communication, Society and Media 
ISSN 2576-5388 (Print) ISSN 2576-5396 (Online) 

Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 
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12 
 

Original Paper 

Nollywood: Indigenous Culture, Interculturality, and the 

Transplantation of American Popular Culture onto Postcolonial 

Nigerian Film and Screen 
Samba DIOP1* 

1 Researcher, Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan, Faculty of Humanities, 

University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway 
* Samba DIOP, Researcher, Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan, Faculty of 

Humanities, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway 

 

Received: October 30, 2019   Accepted: November 12, 2019   Online Published: December 12, 2019 

doi:10.22158/csm.v3n1p12                       URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/csm.v3n1p12 

 

Abstract 

Nigeria, the Giant of Africa, has three big tribes: Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa. It was a British colony 

which was amalgamated in 1914. The country became independent in 1962 and was right away 

bedeviled by military coups d’états and a bloody civil war (1967-1970). In 1999, the country 

experienced democratic dispensation. In the 1990s, the Nollywood nascent movie industry—following 

in the footpath of Hollywood and Bollywood—flourished. The movie industry grew thanks to four 

factors: Rapid urbanization; the hand-held video camera; the advent of satellite TV; and, the overseas 

migrations of Nigerians. Local languages are used in these films; however, English is the most 

prominent, along with Nigerian pidgin broken English. Many themes are treated in these films: 

tradition and customs, religion, witchcraft and sorcery, satire, urban and rural lives, wealth acquisition, 

consumerism, etc. I discuss the ways in which American popular culture is adopted in Nigeria and 

recreated on screen. Nigeria and USA share Federalism, the superlative mode, and gigantism (houses, 

cars, people, etc.), and many Nigerians attend American universities. In the final analysis, the 

arguments exposed in this paper highlight the multitude of ways in which Nigerians navigate the 

treacherous waters of modernity and globalization. 

Keywords 

Nollywood, video and film industry, postcolonial Nigeria, indigenous cultures, Igbo culture, American 

popular culture in Africa, gigantism, consumerism, modernity and globalization 

 



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1. Introduction 

Historical Background: “Thou Shall Call Twice” or When Oral Culture Meets the Moving Image 

One of the biggest novelties in entertainment in Africa towards the end of the twentieth century is, 

without a doubt, the birth of Nigerian cinema commonly referred to as Nollywood, following into the 

footsteps of the American giant Hollywood movie industry and the Indian one, namely Bollywood. The 

latest newborn which joined the “Wood” family is Lollywood, the combination of Lahore and 

Hollywood. It is the film industry of Pakistan mainly based in Lahore. 

At once, Nigeria epitomizes, highlights, and condenses all the hopes, impediments, success and failure 

of postcolonial Africa. This is the most populated country of the continent, in addition of it being the 

biggest black country in the world. It is important to stress the fact that this country—like all the other 

African countries—came into existence thanks to the 1885 Berlin Conference where the main 

European imperial powers (France, Great Britain, USA, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, etc.) met and 

partitioned Africa. It was in 1851 that the British forces invaded the, then, small fishing village of 

Lagos; however, it was not until 1861 that Lagos was annexed and Nigeria became a protectorate in 

1901; the North and South colonies were born. In 1914, the Governor Lord Frederick Lugard 

amalgamated the two colonies and Nigeria, as we know it today, was born. The name Nigeria was 

taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 

19th century by British journalist Flora Shaw, who later married Baron Frederick Lugard. 

On October 1, 1960, Nigeria became independent. Needless to say, the birth pang was very painful for 

the country experienced several military coups and the county was run by the military from 1966 to 

1999. Civilians came back firmly to power after that date. Nigeria also experienced a vicious civil war 

(1967-1970) when the Igbos in the East wanted to secede; this was unacceptable because the eastern 

part contained huge deposits of crude oil. The East lost the war, peace prevailed but until today, the 

healing process is incomplete. Three main tribes occupy the front of the stage: Yoruba in the West, 

Hausa/Fulaani in the North, and Igbo in the eastern part of the land. There are myriads of smaller tribes 

and ethnic groups referred to as “minority groups”: Ijaw, Itsekiri, Calabar, Ibibio, Igala, just to name a 

few. The case of Nigeria, as described above, is emblematic of all African countries. It is also worth 

emphasizing that pre-colonial African societies shared many common features and the same culture 

crucible; of course, there were differences and customs among and between them since there were 

customs that were specific to each society. Likewise, both colonial and postcolonial African societies 

and countries do share similar traits. 

The advent of the Nigerian movie industry was rendered possible thanks to the conjugation of four 

factors: Rapid urbanization; the development of the hand-held video camera; the tremendous 

development of satellite TV which brought into Nigerian homes and living rooms films and 

documentaries from all over the world; and last but not least, the exponential migratory trends of 



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Nigerians traveling all over the world. I must add the influence of Mexican and Brazilian telenovelas 

and films as well as the minor role played by Hindu movies (Bollywood). There are many genres and 

sub-genres in Nollywood cinema: satire, caper comedy, romantic comedy, horror, crime, supernatural 

thriller, etc. Political tussles and power play are also featured such as the elections to the Senate, the 

Presidency, the Governorship, etc., in short, all that has to do with the seats of power. Current topics are 

also featured in Nollywood films (cf., The Uber Driver, 2019). 

As emphasized by Elizabeth Lequeret (Le cinéma africain, pp. 76-77), few other factors contributed to 

the expansion of the Nigerian home video industry. In the early 1990s, the military dictatorship was in 

full swing, coupled with a growing insecurity; the sale of video recorders reached explosive records. 

One can add that celluloid cinema gradually died because the directors couldn’t find money to finance 

their films, in addition to the fact that most—if not all—movie theaters closed, a phenomenon that 

affected all African countries, not just Nigeria. Across the continent, movie theaters were transformed 

into churches and warehouses. 

In order to give credit where it is due, the Nigerian movie industry owes a great debt to theater. Patrick 

Ebewo writes: “The current video film industry in Nigeria owes a huge debt to the pioneers of Nigerian 

theatre, particularly practitioners of the Yoruba Traveling Theater, who branched off from mainstream 

theater to experiment with celluloid” (“The Emerging Video Film Industry in Nigeria: Challenges and 

Prospects”, p. 49). Thus, comes to mind the pioneer Hubert Ogunde, actor, playwright, theatre manager, 

and musician; in 1945, he founded the first contemporary professional theatrical company in Nigeria, 

the African Music Research Party. He changed the name to Ogunde Theater Party in 1947 and Ogunde 

Concert Party in 1950. We can add other notable names such as Ola Balogun, Jab Adu, Moses Olayia 

and Eddie Ugboma. 

It is worth noting the transition from celluloid to video by remarking that there is a huge difference 

between the two: firstly, in the former, the emphasis is put on directors whereas in the latter, the actors 

prevail. In early celluloid African cinema, directors were known and celebrated: Ousmane Sembene, 

Souleymane Cissé, Idrissa Ouedraogo, Cheikh Omar Sissoko, Ola Balogun, Oumarou Ganda, 

Moustapha Alassane, etc. Most of these filmmakers belong to Francophone African countries such as 

Senegal, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. These directors depended a lot on French grants in order to 

make films. Additionally, these directors won prizes at film festivals around the world. On the contrary, 

the proponents of the Nigerian video industry taunted these directors and celluloid African cinema by 

deridingly calling them “Embassy cinema”. Needless to say, in the Nigerian movie industry, all the 

producers are private entrepreneurs usually referred to as “marketers”. 

Additionally, actors are more famous and richer than directors (the latter are hardly known); we have 

famous, glamourized movie starts and well-known actors such as: Olu Jacobs, Pete Edochie, Ashley 

Nwosu, Zubby Michael, Ken Erics, Yul Edochie, Kenneth Okonkwo, Nkem Owo, Mike Ezuruonye, 



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John Okafor, Nonso Diobi, Desmond Elliot, Richard Mofe Damijo, Ramsey Nouah, Chinedu Ikedieze, 

Kanayo O. Kanayo, Amaechi Muonagor, Chiwetalu Agu, Sam Loco Efe, Clem Ohameze, Osita Iheme, 

Jim Iyke, etc. Among the female actors, we can cite a few: Patience Ozokwor, Ngozi Ezeonu, Tonto 

Dikeh, Mercy Johnson, Ini Edo, Kate Henshaw, Omotola Ekeinde, Stephanie Okereke, Oge Okoye, 

Rachael Okonkwo, Funke Akindele, Liz Benson, Clarion Chukwuma, Queen Nwokoye, Uche Jombo, 

Rita Dominic, Chika Ike, etc. These actors and actresses own mansions, jet set around the world, are 

crowned, dined and wined at parties and festivals, etc. It is said that video films gross an estimated 200 

million dollars a year and Nigeria has been ranked the world’s third largest film industry after 

Bollywood and Hollywood. Thus, Nigeria’s GDP was recently rebased from about USD 270 billion to 

USD 510 billion for 2013, taking into account the input of the movie industry. 

This section focuses on the Igbo tribe even though Yorubas and Hausas also produce films. In these 

films, an array of languages is used: Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, etc. However, English is the most prominent 

along with Nigerian pidgin English, a form of broken English. Many themes are treated in these films: 

tradition and customs, witchcraft and sorcery, social satire, urban and rural lives, wealth acquisition, 

consumerism, drama, etc. In the same order of things, quite a few other themes will be discussed here: 

religions (including traditional religions also referred to as paganism, Christianity (Catholicism, 

Protestantism, Evangelicals). Among the Igbos, there are very few Muslims, Islam being predominant 

in the north and west of Nigeria. In passing, it is worth noting that Christianity entered into Igbo 

country thanks to British colonialism, mostly in the course of the 19th century. In particular, Irish priests 

were in charge of implanting the Catholic church not only in Igbo country but also across Nigeria and 

the British Empire. It is important to stress the fact that most Africans have a syncretic type of religion 

which blends Islam and African traditional religion, on the one hand, and Christianity with the same 

African traditional religion, on the other hand. In order to truly understand African traditional beliefs, 

one must take into account the remarks made by Ibrahima Sow, who, in his book titled Divination, 

maraboutage, destin; aux sources de l’imaginaire, asserts that ancient Africa had “a fundamentally 

magical worldview” (p. 215). In the same order of things, Sow compares the revealed religions, on the 

one hand, and African traditional religions, on the other; thus, he writes: “In religion, we pray to the 

god, in magic, we give him an order” (p. 191). 

As mentioned above, with the advent of Islam and Christianity, religion itself, as practiced across 

Africa, became a syncretic one because both Islam and Christianity are laced with traditional beliefs 

hailing from the African pre-Islamic and pre-Christian past. However, concerning the concept of 

“gods” in the plural as invoked in film, this can be understood only when put in relationship with the 

real pantheon of deities in precolonial African cosmogony. Contrary to what the first Western/European 

Africanists and anthropologists said and wrote, Africans were not polytheists; there was a single God at 

the top, then followed the lesser gods usually associated with nature: fire, thunder, brimstone, river, sea, 



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mountain, etc. Thus, monotheism existed in pre-colonial Africa. This idea of Africans being polytheists 

had gained so much currency among these early European anthropologists that it was difficult to put it 

in disrepute; however, nowadays the myth has been debunked; things have been put back to their 

proper place and perspective. 

Schooling (European/western education) was important and was intimately tied to the church; thus, the 

first schools in Nigeria were Christian and Catholic ones. A few other themes featured in Nollywood 

films are: Human sacrifice, the supernatural and the pathological, kidnapping for ransom, the occult, 

the magical, ancestor worship, the explanation and understanding of death, the collective unconscious, 

etc. The masquerade is very important in Igbo traditional society; it is performed by secret societies 

which re-enact the spirits of the living-dead and the ancestors.  

The expression “Thou Shall Call Twice” featured in the sub-title above is a cultural marker; the astute 

watcher of Nigerian films notices that when people are calling someone, once is never enough; most of 

the time, the person has to be called twice—sometimes more than twice—before the person answers. 

This marker belongs to the domain of oral culture. More cultural markers will be brought into the fray 

of our discussion further below. For now, it suffices to say that many writers and anthropologists 

consider Igbo society as being a “stateless” one or a non-stratified society, namely an acephalous 

society which is a society which lacks political leaders or hierarchies. Other specialists maintain an 

opposite line of argumentation. When reading about the history and past of Nigeria, one comes across 

general remarks, namely, that, in pre-colonial Igbo society—like in most parts of Africa—people lived 

in villages where the main activities were subsistence farming (yam being the main crop), fishing, and 

hunting. The Igbos had shrines run by priests, also known as kings of the spirits (Ezemo); thus, in the 

absence of chiefs, the priests played that role. However, in most Nollywood Igbo films, there are kings 

(called Igwe) which fact runs counter to the idea that Igbo society was stateless. Is the Nollywood king 

just an invented fictional character?  

What can explain this craving for royalty? Has kingdom arrived into Igbo society much later, after 

European colonization and after the Igbos came into contact, as it were, with the Yoruba, Hausa/Fulani 

or the nearby Benin kingdom? All the aforementioned kingdoms had a more structured type of State 

run by kings and, occasionally, queens. It is a possibility that the Igbos borrowed the concept of 

kingdom but the debate goes on. To come back briefly to the Igwe as featured in film, he usually has a 

Prime Minister who is at the head of his Cabinet; the Igwe chooses himself the Prime Minister. One can 

often see very comical scenes of shouting matches among the Cabinet members and it looks like the 

one who shouts loudest and drowns the voice of his opponent automatically asserts his authority, power, 

and manhood vis-à-vis his enemy or adversary. Boldness is a sure sign of virility. 

At the opposite end of this male virility and, in contradistinction, it is important to consider gender 

issues, most notably the representation and perception of women in Nollywood movies. We have two 



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prototypes of women: The first one is strong, ambitious, opinionated, smart—sometimes stubborn and 

domineering—who knows how to stand her ground against male bullies; she also knows how to use her 

feminine charms and endowments in order to push her way through and obtain what she wants; this 

type of woman is illustrated by the character of Mama G (played by Patience Ozokwor). The second 

female prototype is a submissive, dominated, “traditional” woman. In front of the Igwe or during the 

deliberations of the Council of the Elders, this type of woman must speak only when spoken to; she 

must apologize when she speaks out of turn and is, occasionally, scolded by the male-only august 

assembly. It is obvious that the second type of woman portrays an inferior status of womanhood. 

To come back to the priest, when people committed crimes or were accused of having done so, they 

swore or took an oath in front of the priest. In case of serious crimes (such as murders), the culprit was 

banished to the Evil Forest. The priest was also a healer and a soothsayer for, when people were sick; 

they came to the priest in order to be cured. In Nollywood Igbo films, death is never innocent or natural; 

it is always caused by a foreign agent or an enemy. This conception of death harks back to pre-colonial 

mentality when people were in symbiosis with nature and modern medicine was not known; thus, most 

diseases were not known or diagnosed correctly even though one must acknowledge that 

pharmacopoeia was well known, i.e., that the science of plants, trees, roots, and leaves was recognized 

and traditional medicine relied on natural remedies in order to heal sicknesses. 

Along the same lines, the oracles were of the utmost importance; people consulted the oracles in order 

to know what the future holds for them, whether their wives will give birth to a boy or girl for example; 

fertility issues were very important, etc. Thus, divination was a prime choice for the people; the priest 

(Ezemo) who performs divination usually uses cowry shells; the latter enable him to indicate the 

sacrifices that must be performed by the person who comes for consultation: cows, cocks, goats, tubers 

of yam, cola nuts, hot drink (liquor being choice number one), cloth, etc. 

When it comes to social structures, Igbo society adopted the lineage system which was linked to clans, 

each clan having a family head or a patriarch. This system rested on gerontocracy in which the older 

the person, the wiser he or she was supposed to be. Speaking of old age, I must make a small digression 

by invoking the famous saying assigned to Hampaté Bâ: “In Africa, an old man who dies is like a 

library that burns”; actually, this quote is wrong. Here’s the correct quote: “In Africa, an initiated old 

man who dies is like a library that burns”. It goes without saying that not all old men were initiated. 

What I find amazing is that so many people are wrongly quoting the African writer and oral history 

specialist; better yet, people are quoting him by leaving out the most important word, namely 

“initiated”. 

To come back to the Igbo royal court, the Council of Elders is always invoked in Nollywood films as 

the court where problems are judged and settled. In oral cultures (traditional Igbo society was entirely 

oral); texts are communal properties as argued by I. Okpewho: “Since the texts of the oral tradition had 



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passed from one mouth to another and from one generation to another, we could no longer speak of one 

author or creator for any one of them. We could only see each text as the common property of the 

community and as a product of joint or communal authorship” (African Oral Literature, pp. 5-6). Thus, 

many other cultural markers which belong to Igbo traditional society are featured in films, the most 

pre-eminent ones being proverbs and sayings. These proverbs serve as pedagogical and educational 

tools since there was no formal schooling. Children and various age groups were educated thanks to 

tools such as proverbs which contain enough wisdom and lessons. These proverbs, which belong to 

tradition, are still preserved in the contemporary age and passed on from generation to generation. 

However, as we shall see in the next section, the advent of the European brand of modernity is going to 

upset that tradition; modernity goes to the extent of radically altering the tenets of tradition. In my book 

Oralité africaine, I have amply discussed the dyptich modernity/tradition, in addition to highlighting 

the relation that it has with writing, the new technologies, modern education, so on and so forth. 

To briefly come back to the concept of tradition, the way the latter is treated in Nollywood film 

generally echoes the way it is concretely considered and lived at large in society, namely the usage of 

the concept in order to justify the most backward aspects of the prevailing culture; one often hears in 

the movies a character proclaim: “This is our tradition, this is how we do things, this is how our 

ancestor used to do things, etc.” Obviously, tradition is invoked whenever it is convenient and it is used 

to justify the unjustifiable. This fact is well illustrated by the 16th century French writer Etienne de La 

Boétie who asserts that “the first reason of servility is custom (tradition)” (Discours de la servitude 

volontaire, p. 50). Needless to say, tradition has positive aspects and the latter must be cultivated, 

encouraged, and practiced. 

One last remark: In his book titled Le cinéma africain; des origines à 1973, P. Vieyra makes a slight 

differentiation between French-speaking Africans (Francophones) on the one hand, and 

English-speaking Africans (Anglophones), on the other. Most importantly, the author highlights the 

way in which British and French colonial methods differ when it comes to assimilating their respective 

subjects. He writes: “The so-called English-speaking Africans penetrated very little into the English 

mental chain, while French-speaking Africans penetrated more deeply into the French mental chain. 

What created among the elites of the former less cultural alienation than in the latter” (p. 254). In other 

words, during the colonial period, Anglophone Africans were less assimilated into British culture for 

the simple reason that the English considered that they were the superior race; already, inside the 

British Isles there was—and there are still remnants, to some extent—a racial dichotomy in which the 

Englishman considered himself way above the Scot, the Irish, and the Welsh. How one thinks that the 

Englishman will consider the Black Negro man, the latter being, additionally, the colonially dominated 

subject of the former? In my opinion, the answer is clear and emphatic, meaning that in the 

Englishman’s racial scale, the black man is at the very bottom of the rung. 



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2. In Search of a Viable Model: American Popular Culture and Film 

Actually, all the discussions above and below bearing on Igbo culture, are meant to showcase the 

intrinsic qualities, aspects, and values of that culture; moreover, the same discussions are done in order 

to highlight the contrast between a specific African culture (Igbo) and its counterpart, i.e., American 

culture as featured in film. As I wrote in the preceding section, traditional culture was very strong in 

pre-colonial Igbo society. However, with the encroachment of British/European values, world views, 

and lifestyle, that traditional world vanishes and is being gradually replaced by a modern structure. 

However, it is important to remark that the European encroachment was not deep as mentioned above 

by Vieyra. All in all, the European/Western dominance still prevails as asserted by R. Armes: “Just as 

the continuity of (European/Western) imperial dominance from nineteenth to twentieth century (though 

now with a new dominating power and an added range of victims) is undeniable, so too is the 

Hollywood film’s role as successor to the European novel as purveyor of the kind of narratives we so 

crave” (Postcolonial Images: Studies in North African Film, p. 3). 

Another interesting domain to scrutinize is music, in particular musical scores as featured in 

Nollywood films. To that end, one must take stock of the two-pronged reality of tradition and 

modernity and how the interplay of the two heavily influences the presence of music in film. Thus, in 

order to illustrate the point just raised above, L. Malkmus and R. Armes write: “Common to most 

African musicians is the concern to rework traditional rhythms for electric instruments and the 

recording studio, so that tradition and modernity become inextricably entwined” (Arab & African Film 

Making, pp. 45-46). In Nollywood Igbo films, there is an array of traditional musical instruments that 

are featured such as: Ekwe (slіt-drum), Ogene (gong), Igba (cylinder drum), Oja (flute), Udu (pottery 

drum), Ichaka (for rattling sounds), Okike (made from elephant tusk), Ubo (thumb piano), etc. Thus, 

besides proverbs and sayings, the utmost symbol of Igbo authentic culture, as featured in film, is the 

traditional musical instrument. As for the presence of modern music in Nollywood film, we are spoiled 

for choices with the presence of various Western and European styles: classical music, in addition to 

America-influenced genres: Jazz, Soul, Pop, Rock, gangsta rap, rap music, etc., along with the 

instruments (electric guitar, piano, organ, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, guitar bass, violin, drums, 

etc.), and, of course, voice and soprano. Starting in the 1950s, the synthesis/combination of traditional 

and modern musical styles gave birth to brand-new musical styles such as high life (Ghana) or 

palm-wine music (Liberia and Sierra-Leone). 

When it comes to the search for a viable model in Nigerian film, there are two trends: In the first trend, 

there is an effort to be as close as possible to Igbo culture (cultural difference) thanks, for instance, to 

the usage and adaptation of cultural traits borrowed from the tradition; however, this trend is in the 

minority. The most prevalent trait is the second trend, namely the adaption of Western and American 

popular cultural icons and their avatars (culture contact). Thus, the two trends are pitched and compete 



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against each other: culture difference and culture contact. 

In effect, the Americanization of the world is a verifiable certainty and this is done through Hollywood 

as rightly claimed above by R. Armes. As far back as 1975, P. Vieyra noticed that the Americanization 

process was in full swing: “The world is becoming Americanized and the United States is attracting 

more and more the intellectual elite of other nations of the world thanks to the exceptional material 

conditions that they offer them for the pursuit of their research. We see the process of the cultural 

affirmation of a language (English) by the economic power of the nation that speaks it, without this 

language having more than others a specific richness” (op. cit., pp. 256-257). What attracts our 

attention in the passage above, in addition to being relevant to the topic of this paper, is the language 

question; namely the usage of English.  

English, by extension, means “white” (race). The perception of the white man and his land is 

ever-present in Nollywood movies. The term Oyinbo is a Nigerian word used in Yoruba, Igbo, and 

Nigerian Pidgin to refer to white people (In Senegal and Gambia the Wolof expression “Toubab” is 

used to refer to white people). Added to Oyinbo, is Obodo Oyinbo meaning the land of the white man 

(usually Europe and America), a land of honey and milk, a paradise on earth where one can become 

quickly rich. No wonder so many people—specially the youth—all dream of traveling to the land of the 

white man in order to make it. 

I have already emphasized the idea that, Nigeria being in the past a British colony, the English language 

came to the country thanks to the colonial canal. Since the same language is spoken in the USA—albeit 

with a few dialectal and regional variations—it is not a surprise that American cultural values feature in 

Nollywood films. However, film only reflects reality. Of particular interest is the fact that Nigerians 

went from the British model to the American one. The similarities between Nigeria and the USA are at 

once numerous and striking: both are federations composed of States; both have a President and a 

Vice-President, a Senate, a Congress, etc. However, it is fair to point out that it is the USA which 

inspired Nigeria and, in turn, both countries are inspired by the ancient Roman model of statecraft. The 

US dollar is widely used in Nigeria, concomitantly with the Naira, the national currency. After World 

War II, many Nigerians started enrolling at American universities, the most notable example being that 

of the Igbo Statesman Nnamdi Azikwe (Columbia University, Howard University, and University of 

Pennsylvania). Thus, it is important to consider the intertwining of film (fiction) and culture (reality). 

In order to have a better understanding of the many ways in which Igbo film appropriates American 

culture and icons, one can take into account the remarks made by M. Krings in his book titled African 

Appropriations: Cultural Difference, Mimesis, and Media: “A single cultural product may be 

appropriated that is, interpreted, reworked, and adapted to suit new social contexts, interests, and media 

environments once it has entered transnational media circuits” (author’s emphasis, p. 2). I concur with 

P. Loukides when he writes: “Immense amount of cultural information is to be gained by examining 



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narrative conventions in American popular film” (Beyond the Stars: Studies in American Popular Film, 

p. 2).  

In light of Loukides’ remark above, it is no surprise that many Hollywoodian narrative conventions are 

adapted onto the Nollywood screen. Here is a good example as provided by the film “Show Bobo” 

(subtitled “the American boys”) and, as explained by N. Tsika in his book titled Nollywood Stars: 

Media and Migration in West Africa and the Diaspora (pp. 251-252). Here’s a short summary of the 

author’s passage: In the film “Show Bobo”, Ikedieze and Iheme play two twelve-year old boys who, 

born in America to Nigerian parents, fly to Lagos for a month “vacation”. Staying with their aunt, the 

boys grow bored almost immediately upon arriving in Nigeria; their sense of cultural estrangement is 

inseparable from a general disgust with the activities of daily life, which here include eating a soup 

whose name (egusi) they cannot pronounce and whose taste they reject as “shitty” meant for goats and 

not for human beings. The boys’ allegiance goes to American brands, from Converse to Kellog’s and 

the boys themselves consistently call attention to the American style that they far prefer to whatever 

Nigerian cultural traditions they witness.  

After reading this passage, one asks the question whether we are in presence of alienation or 

assimilation, or both. In the passage above, Igbo cuisine is hardly mentioned for it is considered by the 

two boys as sub-standard when compared to America’s. Yet, Igbo cuisine and food are culturally 

significant; for example, the palm kernel is held in high esteem for it produces palm oil. A drink closely 

associated with the palm tree is, of course, palm wine, which drink has a huge cultural meaning for it is 

served at weddings and parties, in addition to being highly appreciated in bars and homes. To come 

back to Igbo cuisine, soup is a main staple, served with yam. There is a whole array of soups: Oha, 

Onugbu, Ogbono, Egwusi, Nsala, etc. These soups usually contain leaves. All in all, what is highlighted 

in the passage concerning the two returnee kids from the USA, as described in Tsika’s book, is the 

culinary transition and transformation that many urban African societies are currently experiencing 

whereby fast food and junk food (American?) are gradually replacing the healthier traditional diet like 

the soups described above. The new diet, i.e., junk food, is full of food coloring, fat, salt, and sugar and 

is conducive to the advent of modern diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure, strokes, diabetes, 

etc. 

When we compare Hollywood to Nollywood, the former dwarfs the latter in terms of technical and 

financial means. Needless to say, Hollywood has a long history and has it all: scriptwriters, famous 

directors and producers, world-famous actors and actresses, in addition to massive logistics such as 

modern movie theaters across America. At the opposite end, Nollywood is young, about 30 years old 

and adopted Hollywood as a model that must be copied. However, it is fair to say that Nollywood has 

gotten better and has made huge technical/technological progress and strides since the 1990s. Witness 

the recent well-made sub-genre films bearing on social commentary such as Lionheart (Director: 



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Genevieve Nnaji, 2018), The Bling Lagosians (Director: Bolanle Austen-Peters, 2019). Quite a few 

films are shot in the Igbo language (as well as in Yoruba and Hausa) but these films are for local 

consumption and for Nigerians abroad who understand the language. Otherwise, most of the 

Nollywood film production is shot in English in order to reach a wider world audience. 

The two movies cited above (and many more) are featured on international pay-per-view satellite TV 

channels such as NETFLIX and Canal+ (rights are bought from Nigerian movie channels such as Nolly 

TV and IROKO TV), with excellent actors, usually highlighting the successful Nigerian entrepreneurs, 

business people, and a savvy, sophisticated, highly educated local bourgeoisie. At this juncture, one 

notices an overarching message, namely that, it is possible to succeed in Nigeria (and Africa); many 

people do succeed at home; thus, one does not always have to go abroad (usually Europe or America) 

in order to be successful, wealthy, and rich. In Nigeria the name that usually comes to mind and which 

is oft quoted, the poster boy, so to speak, is the billionaire, self-made man Aliko Dangote. There is a 

good skewer of millionaires and billionaires in Nigeria. However, there is the other side of the coin, 

namely, in the same breath, these films showcase the corrupt and decadent lifestyle of the urban 

bourgeoisie and coastal aristocracy of Lagos which speak queen’s English, goes on vacation to London, 

Bahamas, Spain and send their children to study at Oxford, London, and Cambridge. 

In order to understand the rise of the Americanization of Nigeria as seen through the lenses of film, we 

must revisit the past 100 or so years of Nigeria’s history. Two important periods must be taken into 

account: After World War I up to the 1970s and from the 1970s to the present. From the 1920s to the 

1970s, the country was divided into three main economic and political zones, each having a staple crop 

which served as engine driver for the economy, in addition to enabling low-scale industrialization and 

the creation of factories. The North had groundnuts, thus producing oil and soap. The West had cocoa 

whose revenues enabled the lawyer, politician, and statesman Obafemi Awolowo to set up free primary 

education and free health care, in addition to creating the first television channel in sub-Saharan Africa 

in 1959. The East had palm oil in abundance. Other economic activities existed besides the ones listed 

above; for instance the North had livestock which provided meat and dairy products to the rest of the 

country whereas both the West and East had subsistence farming with a staple crop such as yam, in 

addition to fishing in the numerous inland ponds and rivers. Thus, on the eve of independence, Nigeria 

was on a hopeful bright path with such a balanced geographical economic layout. 

All of that changed in the early 1970s and the country itself changed course for the worse at a 380 

degree turn with the discovery of crude oil in the Niger River delta region, in the East. The exploitation 

of crude oil caused the Civil War (1967-1970) when the East wanted to secede and proclaimed the 

creation of a new country called Biafra. Thus, oil became a double curse: it created a war and destroyed 

the environment. Agriculture was abandoned and, instead, Nigeria started importing foodstuffs in great 

quantity. Corruption became rampant; the political and military elites, who were running the country, 



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stole the huge money proceeds obtained from oil exploitation and placed them in foreign bank accounts 

(here comes to mind the famous dictator president Sani Abacha who stashed away billions of dollars in 

Swiss bank accounts). Environmental catastrophe ensued, a tragedy which caused the pollution of 

waterways, ponds, and rivers, in addition to destroying the local fisheries and mangroves. One must 

add that the eastern part of Nigeria has lush and green forests, a canopy that covers the whole region, 

extending to Cameroon and, beyond, to the Congo Equatorial forest. We may recall the execution of the 

Nigerian Ogoni writer and activist Ken Sarowiwa by the Abacha regime of tyranny. Sarowiwa was 

executed for protesting the exploitation and pollution caused by oil companies such as SHELL and 

others. 

All in all, the local communities did not benefit from the oil manna; they were short-changed and 

became poorer; their traditional way of life was destroyed. In those poor communities, people see the 

toys of modernity (cars, TV sets, telephones, etc.) but cannot fully benefit from them, much less have 

access to them. In the 1990s, there was a new development, namely the birth of piracy in the Gulf of 

Guinea. Many disenfranchised youths started enrolling in communities of pirates hiding in the 

mangroves and creeks, attacking the ships in the high seas, off the coast; the area that these pirates 

assail covers the whole region of the Bight of Benin. Many Nollywood films celebrate pirates’ and 

ghetto life; the pirates’ actions, which are akin—and assimilated—to Robin hood types of wealth 

redistribution (taking from the rich and giving to the poor), are featured in films such as Once upon a 

time in Niger Delta (2017) and Delta Blood (2019). 

If we come back to the Americanization process of Nigeria, another turning point is the early 1980s 

with the screening on TV of the American series Dallas, a saga that pitches oil-rich families and their 

characters: J. R. Ewing, Bobby Ewing, Sue Ellen Ewing, Miss Ellie Ewing, Cliff Barnes, etc. Thanks to 

Dallas, many Nigerians discovered Texas (Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, El Paso, Austin, Galveston, 

etc.). The state of Texas has the largest Nigerian population of all states in the USA. The organic link 

between oil in Texas and oil in the Niger delta is quickly established. One can also cite the example of 

Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon, formerly a Nigerian-American professional basketball player. From 1984 to 

2002, he played the center position in the National Basketball Association for the Houston Rockets. 

Without a shred of a doubt, Hakeem has greatly contributed in putting Nigeria on the Texan and 

American map. 

Likewise, this new phase of the Americanization process was made into a movie. In 2014, the film 30 

Days in Atlanta (Director: Robert Peters) came out. The plot is a simple one: Akposa, the main 

character, won a 30 days holiday for two to Atlanta, Georgia in the USA and decided to take his cousin 

Richard with him on vacation. Akposa experiences a culture shock, in addition to sampling the many 

facets of American culture. Along the same lines, the concept of gigantism was born in Nigeria: houses, 

cars, Chiefs, people, etc. Everything is considered in the superlative mode. The expression Oga which 



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means “Senior” or “Boss” is a well-known expression and is very much in vogue in Nigerian parlance. 

Of course, at parties, funerals, and weddings the Oga is expected to shower people with gifts and 

money in order to show off and live up to his “Oga-ness”. 

Linked to gigantism is the concept of wealth acquisition. In turn, the two are closely associated with the 

dichotomy Rural vs. Urban. In many films, the city is described as a place of opportunity (but can also 

be a fleeting mirage) where villagers go in search of greener pastures. Many characters who go to the 

city originate from villages and the countryside where there is no opportunity. Thus, the exile to the city 

is a prevailing theme in Nollywood. Igbos are known as famous traders; however, when watching the 

films, one has the impression that trade is the only profession that exists, in particular the importation 

of goods from Europe and USA: containers of clothing, electronics, furniture, cars, etc. What happened 

to the celebration of knowledge and intellect? Where are the great writers: Chinua Achebe, Ben Okri, 

Wole Soyinka, Buchi Emecheta, Cyprian Ekwensi, and others?  

Thus, the local products are undervalued if not shone aside, a sure form of alienation. A corollary to the 

theme of wealth acquisition is the feud and competition that this race to wealth creates. The youths’ 

own parents shame them by telling them how the son of so and so had left the village just a few years 

ago; now he is back with luxury cars and money and is even building mansions. In the meanwhile, you 

(my son) are here in the village being useless and idle. Without a doubt, there is a willful 

encouragement towards get-quick-rich schemes by parents and the community at large. Pressure is put 

on the youth to migrate. Often, people do not enquire about the source of the wealth of an individual, 

except in the case of mysterious deaths; for instance when a husband is accused of sacrificing his wife 

in order to be rich and, conversely, when a wife stands accused of having sacrificed her husband or 

brother, etc. 

Besides human sacrifices, there is the trade of illicit drugs which is a major theme in Nollywood 

movies. At this juncture, it is important to mark a pause and reflect a little on other aspects of wealth 

acquisition and how these aspects are featured on screen. We have the characters of sugar daddies and 

sugar mammies (rich, single, or divorced or widowed men and women giving money to a young 

woman or man for sexual satisfaction). The sugar daddy is usually an older, rich man who exploits poor 

young girls and this borders on pedophilia. Along the same lines, there are forced marriages when 

parents pressure their daughter to marry a rich man without even checking on the origin of his wealth. 

Another common character is a man or woman who becomes rich overnight thanks to occultic means 

or human sacrifices; usually, at the end of the film, there are two choices: he either dies or redeems 

himself. When the second choice is made, the man loses all his ill-gotten wealth, and is saved by a 

Catholic priest or an Evangelical pastor; after that, our saved man becomes a preacher, talking to people 

in the streets and at marketplaces, Bible in hand, enjoining them to leave their crooked ways and come 

back to God’s way, back to Christ. Thus, the theme of redemption is an important one and is highly 



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cherished by Nollywood filmmakers. Redemption and forgiveness are usually associated with being 

given a second chance in life. 

 

3. Conclusion 

In a final conclusion, I concur with P. Ebewo when he writes: “With the global world united under the 

sway of visual culture, the emergence of the video film in Nigeria is timely and crucial as it serves as 

the voice of its people and responds to the drudgery of a social and economic existence characterized 

by high unemployment and dwindling opportunities” (op. cit., p. ix). 

The sharp watcher of Nollywood movies will notice a device that is often used by the scriptwriters and 

directors, namely the concept of verisimilitude, which consists in projecting the appearance of an event 

or fact as being true or real. In other words, when fiction imitates reality, plus the dramatization of real 

events. All things considered, what is being highlighted in these movies is a dialectics predicated on 

pairings: positive and negative, light and dark, beautiful and ugly, good and bad, etc. In fact, a universal 

norm; just like all human societies, Igbo society is not an exception. 

In my closing argument, an important question must be asked and is the following: How long will the 

USA serve as a model for Nigerians and Nollywood? How long is it possible to sustain the outward 

gaze toward the USA? It is hard to provide a straight answer. However, if we consider that the US 

model is being challenged by others (here comes to mind the Chinese/Asian model for instance), in 

addition to the fact that America is increasingly being hostile to dark-skinned immigrants (the rate of 

deportations has never be higher than under the Presidency of Donald Trump), then, one can 

contemplate the US model running out of steam. It is usually acknowledged that the 20th century was 

an American century; however, the 21st century is not projected as being a continuation of the 20th. We 

are increasingly witnessing the birth of a multipolar world and the rise of other economic powers such 

as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). In the meantime, Europe is aging and is 

experiencing a drastic deindustrialization process, in addition to becoming hostile to immigration 

(mostly of color), xenophobic, nationalist, populist, scared of tomorrow (withdrawal syndrome). As for 

Africa, it has (for now) a demographic dividend, namely a young population; however, the youths must 

be educated, trained, and jobs provided to them. Needless to say, that is an enormous challenge. 

Can an endogenous, native, authentic, original, and sui generis model be conceived? In other words, 

will Nigerians and Africans create their own models instead of always looking far away and copy 

others, such as the borrowing of an American model as amply demonstrated above? Nigerians and 

Africans are invited to have their own dreams, worship their own heroes, and show self-confidence in 

order to build a prosper society and a developed continent. 

 

 



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