The Felonious Stereotyping of the Woman in Nollywood Films

Abstract

The woman, an embodiment of character and charisma, undaunted and passionate has been over the years viewed from varied perceptive, and this has permutated for characteristic ambiguity, hence the need for stereotyping. Stereotyping, is an erroneous assumptive conclusion, which inconclusively defines a character subject to probable outcomes and thereto premonitions. Film, an art of representing the reality in sequence which does not alter the reality in itself, has been a very good medium for communicating the happenings in the society and the major contenders (by this I mean the man, the woman, the children and their society). No doubt however, that this representation is a near truth, but has influenced the psychological dispositions (by way of standardization) and views of the people in the society. Therefore, this work examines the extent in which the film, IDEMILI (a film by Earnest Obi) has violated the character called woman, in its guise to representing the persona known as woman. Also, it explores the nature of the woman, by this I mean it reveals an in-depth understanding of the dynamics of the character of the woman, which has now formed the nature and nurture which the woman now embodies, thereby correcting the anomaly created in the process of revealing the nature of the woman, especially as being portrayed by Nollywood. This work also proffers dynamic representation of the female character which will reduce and consequently eradicate the stereotypic view of the woman in Nollywood films.

Keywords: Stereotyping, Gender roles, Idemili, Woman, Violence, Nature, Nurture.