NOLLYWOOD: A NAME AND AN INDUSTRY

There has been a lot of contention about the term “Nollywood”. A lot of Nigeria’s first generation and second generation filmmakers refuse to be associated with the name that has been christened the Nigerian video-film industry for reasons that are obvious, they do not want to be identified with videography which is the bane of the industry and the mediocrity that is pervading the industry. Amidst this controversy a number of renowned film critics both within and outside the country have expressed their opinions on the issue, notable amongst them are Jonathan Haynes; a Fulbright Visiting Lecturer in the Departments of English and Theatre Arts, University of Ibadan and author of many books on the Nigerian video/film industry who said that “it appears that the term “Nollywood” has come to stay” (Haynes, 2003); and Hon. Tunde Oladunjoye. The term is used in many quarters by journalists, filmmakers and even consumers of the Nigerian video/film industry. According to Tunde Oladunjoye, the term covers the totality of Nigerian films: celluloid, home video, short films, documentaries, film literatures, training projects, equipment and capacity building of the industry and its highly secretive professionals not just the home video alone (Oladunjoye,2004). Likewise, it tends to cover the diversity of Nigerian video film production in the same way that “Bollywood” covers the production of Indian films in Tamil, Bengali, Telegu and other languages besides Hindi in other parts of that huge country. “Nollywood” covers Nigerian films in Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa and English, although it is speculated that the Hausa filmmakers are trying to separate themselves by adopting the terms “Kanywood” and “Kallywood”.

There are however many objections to the term “Nollywood” which Jonathan Haynes isolated in an article titled “Nollywood: What is in a Name?" published in the Guardian Newspaper of Sunday 3rd July, 2005”. One of such reactions states that the term implies that Nollywood is an imitation of Hollywood and Bollywood rather than something in itself, something original and uniquely African. Many are opposed to the appellation because, according to them, it is a form of neo-colonialisation, another Western propaganda. They wonder why the only film culture that has built itself by itself must be labelled after Hollywood. A bulk of those who share this view are in the Yoruba filmmakers.

The term is refused by many in the filmmakers as a general name for the Nigerian motion picture/ video film industry. It is claimed that the name is developed along tribal lines, “the Nollywood” as the industry is called amongst its opponents is dominated by Igbos, so it is a case of “let them bask in the euphoria of their “wood” why we will stay the way we are: Yoruba film makers, English film makers and so on.” To this Haynes asserts that, rather than refusing the term as a valid name for the Nigerian motion picture/ video film industry, the critics of the term should observe that we live in a multipolar world, where the old patterns of cultural imperialism have changed and viewers have a much greater choice of the media they consume, especially as the customers of the Nigerian video film industry have embraced the name.

He further identifies the other antagonism to the term “Nollywood” as the claim that it was invented by a foreigner. However, the inventor of the name is uncertain though it is claimed that Matt Steinglass in the New York Times first used it in 2002 to describe the growing Nigerian industry. But Haynes was quick to counter this objection by calling the attention of the critics to the coining of the name “ Nigeria” by Lord Lugard’s girlfriend and the naming of America after Amerigo Vespucci, a fifteenth –century Italian of no particular importance (Haynes,2003). As a matter of fact the origin of the nomenclature is a source of argument amongst scholars. While some believe it was Matt Steinglass who invented the name, others maintain that it was Nick Moran, a BBC Reporter, who was in Nigeria to do a documentary on the “get rich –quick-video” that came up with it.

I believe that the argument should not be about the name but about how well the industry has fared, rising up from the demise and troubles of the first era of cinema in Nigeria. Although nothing seems wrong with and in the term “Nollywood”. It looks like an effective branding for the Nigerian video/film industry, which is taking it toll after America’s Hollywood and India’s Bollywood. The name captures the essence of the industry and places it in perspective in terms of its competition and contemporariness with Hollywood and Bollywood even though there is still much to be done. Nonetheless it is not yet time to bring the issue to a close because the debate has just begun.

In spite of the controversies surrounding its name the Nigerian film industry is a force to be reckoned with because it neatly expresses powerful aspirations by people in the video film industry and by their fans to have a big, glamorous entertainment industry that can take its place on the world scene and appeal to international audiences.