- Nollywood is a key plank in telling these stories because it has the reach and the influence.
- The turning point of Nollywood from mere entertainment to authoritative tale of influencing culture and inspiring confidence rests in creative fiction
By Sylvester Oluoch
Nollywood productions are not only vigorously watched in African households, but they also influence lifestyles and ways of thinking among Africans. Nollywood movies, thus, do not only take the place of a holy grail, but also place Nollywood in a good standing to be Africa’s linchpin.
Any form of media or literature is a tool of influence. However, anything in our hands has a thin line between being a weapon against us and a tool for us. Knowledge is universal and replicable. Nollywood can look to Hollywood and borrow a leaf as to how the latter holds an unassailable place as the linchpin of American culture and the holy grail of the world.
Brandie Weikle, in CBC Canada radio’s How Hollywood became the unofficial propaganda arm of the U.S Military, August 2020, writes:
“When the United States entered the Second World War, it wasn’t just young men and women who enlisted. Hollywood also signed up, says Tanner Mirrlees, an associate professor of communication and digital media studies at Ontario Tech University”
For Africa to change its image and advance its standing in the world, Africa cannot ignore Nollywood. As we enlist technical skills, manufacturing systems, intracontinental trade and free movement of labor, Nollywood is a key plank in telling these stories because it has the reach and the influence.
Nollywood has been resilient and persistent. Having gained the following of millions and ardent admiration all over Africa, Nollywood can, and should, position itself as the fulcrum of the Africa that has been, the Africa that is and the Africa that could and will be.
Nollywood should take advantage of its platform and take cognizance that movies have a key role in advancing culture when based on true stories and shaping culture when told as fiction.
Port Harcourt Nigeria
The turning point of Nollywood from mere entertainment to authoritative tale of influencing culture and inspiring confidence rests in creative fiction. Africa is better served by a Nollywood where:
- Good triumphs over evil all the time
- Good deeds are rewarded
- Evil or illegal acts are punished
- All abductions end with all players held to account
- Drug dealers lose all their money in the end
- Rebels are rounded up and subdued by armies of superior advantage
- Any African moves to another African nation and makes a great impact in that society and massive progress
- A generation shuns old narratives, and everyone becomes anything he or she chooses to become
- Information revolution stories are solving medical and financial problems
The magic of Nollywood, just like in any film industry, must come alive. This holy grail must transform into a linchpin of growth and development. Let us use our creative power to produce what paints Nigeria right, expands Africa’s opportunities and inspires the young generation to do anything they ever hope to do.
“Cinema is not only about making people dream. It’s about changing things and making people think.” – Nadine Labaki.
