The Society for the Advancement of Ecclesiological Theology

December 31, 2010 by Jason Hood

Nollywood: America’s Two Greatest Exports

Update: The Economist has an earlier (2006) article with some eye-popping stats on Nollywood: it produces more movies than India and the US and employs nearly a million people.

The year-end double issue of The Economist has an interesting breakdown of the pan-African success of Nollywood films.  These films represent the Nigerian alternative to the hope-or-holocaust treatments of Africa churned out by Hollywood.  These indigenous films depict the challenges commonly faced by New Africans:  the hope and trauma associated with rural people moving into massive urban area; personal (not political) betrayal and disappointment; the challenges of “ordinary people trying to make sense of a fast-changing, unkind world.”

(In passing, I think anyone considering moving to Africa as a missionary should watch 10-15 of these films as part of their training.)

Theological themes are rampant in Nigerian films.  Witchcraft or occult-related wickedness provide drama and violence:  “Traditional curses are imposed, spirits wander, juju blood flows.”

“[T]ormented characters often find salvation by turning to Christ.  A church scene is de rigeur in a Nollywood film.”   As many “Nigerian ‘owner-operated’ churches preach the gospel” around Africa—virtually always health-and-wealth in nature—the burgeoning Nollywood film industry has become a way to manifest religious success.

“Many Nollywood film stars are born-again Christians.  Film credits usually end with the invocation:  ‘to God be the Glory’.  Helen Ukpabio, who is a leading actress as well as a successful preacher, runs a decidedly religious production company called Liberty Films.  ‘All the movies from our stable are means of spreading the gospel in preparation of rapture,’ she explains.”  These Christians are out in front of the trend, and thus by some measures more successful than Christians in North America, with less of the late-to-the-party derision of Left Behind-style Christian cultural interaction.

The article closes by comparing the growth and success of Nollywood to Hollywood’s own global growth.  But America’s other great export—the health-and-wealth gospel—authors the imprimatur on many of Nollywood’s hits, for spiritual slogans and faith formulae are far more slavishly followed than film industry conventions.

Categories: Culture | General | Global Christianity/Theology | Jason Hood | Popular Theology