Inside Nollywood: The Brand Nollywood

Sell Nollywood to me!

Sell her! What does she stand for? Why does she exist? Why is she relevant? Why should I watch her over Bollywood or Hollywood? For Pete’s sake, what on earth is Nollywood.

Earlier this year, an article was published on NR titled “What is Nollywood” and in that article we explored the qualifications and criteria for calling a movie a Nollywood movie and settled on a definition of Nollywood movies which was: “commercial Nigerian cinema, by Africans, for Africans and recognized by most Africans“. Agree or disagree, that was for that post, but think of this as a follow up to that.

The question here is what is the Nollywood Brand and what differentiates her from her contemporaries?

We’ve read articles upon articles delineating all the faults of the industries: our poor production qualities, our endlessly repetitive storylines, our unlearned directors, our fame-hungry actors. The fact is that we know what is wrong with us but what is right with us? So…

What makes us so different?

Think about it, every movie industry that’s thriving has something unique to it that if you try to take out of that context of the said industry and apply it in another industry, it might work, but it would look rather lousy.

Take for instance the first Indian action movies. Now, movies like ‘Don’, ‘Dhoom’ and ‘Race’ are accepted but at first it seemed completely outrageous and to some it still does. Indians shooting each other? Jumping off of running trains? Walking in slow motion away from an exploding building? It seemed outrageous. (Bollywood to Hollywood)

Imagine Americans breaking out into dance every few minutes in uber-colorful costumes, it’s outrageous. (Hollywood to Bollywood)

Now imagine Americans going to a voodoo doctor for juju to hook their lover, what do they call it here? A love potion?

The difference is Nollywood has juju, Bollywood has jadoo, and Hollywood has potions. If by mistake Nollywood started having potions, Bollywood juju, and Hollywood jadoo there would be a problem.

Essentially, all three are the same thing. Essentially, it’s still the same love potion. The intent is the same, the means are nearly the same, the ends will probably be about the same but the entire concept is different.

Why Nollywood?

Because it’s a different culture. If you read ‘Goodbye Hollywood‘ then you’re probably getting sick and tired of the word by now, but the fact is Nollywood appeals to different sensibilities. It has a whole other appeal and because it can tap into that it will always have a market.

Permit me to allude to a Venn Diagram here. If Nollywood is green, Hollywood is Blue and Bollywood is Red, the fact is there are only so many stories that fit into the white area.

In the white area are stories that apply to all cultures, like the conventional ‘love lost’ storyline. Bollywood can do it, Hollywood can do it, Nollywood can do it and yet create three completely different appeals for the same exact story (remember the Jadoo-Potion-Juju).

Then there are the yellow and turquoise regions. For instance, in the yellow region is the rape story in < a title=”IJE the Journey” href=”https://nollywoodreinvented.com/2012/12/ije-journey.html”>IJE (if you’ve not seen the movie, sorry for ruining it).

The Problem…

However, it is unfortunate that most Nollywood film makers in an appeal to seem globalized pay zero to no attention to the actual green area that is originally Nollywood, not the sky blue and not the yellow.

In Nollywood today, unfortunately, the stories that are ours and apply to us alone are hardly ever explored. We’ve explored the white area so much that it has turned black and yet we still keep exploring it with the endless bouts of royal movies.

I think ‘The Brand Nollywood’ is what we can give to the world that the world doesn’t already have. Stories that are indigenous to us! Stories that are truly ours and not some recycled version or failed attempt at a Steven Spielberg film. Because we are not Steven Spielberg’s or Quentin Tarantino’s – in case you haven’t noticed lol – we are Mealdred Okwos, we are Izu Ojukwus, we are Kunle Afolayans. We are our own people, with our own stories, telling them in our own ways but this time not just to our own people but to the world. 

 INSIDE NOLLYWOOD
This is the third in the inside nollywood series, up next – Censored!