A critical analysis of the Nollywood film Osuofia in London

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes Nigeria’s Nollywood film Osuofia in London [Ogoro, K. (Producer & Director). (2003/2004). Kingsley Ogoro Productions] to understand how the film synthesizes African and Western cultural identities via the prisms of hybridity and postcolonial theory. The paper uses a critical approach within the contexts of three tenets (African, Western, and hybrid) to read the film. The analysis resulted in five themes: African/folk belief systems and Christianity; traditional Igbo attire and English garb; African/folk music and Western music; African and Western food and drinks; and African/traditional medicine and modern medicine. The analysis indicates that unequal power relations and the forces of globalization are inescapable. Even though the protagonist, Osuofia, challenges the Western ideology, he reproduces it as well.

KEYWORDS:

• Nollywood
• Osuofia in London
• hybridity
• postcolonial theory
• globalization

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Dr. William Starosta for his invaluable feedback on the initial draft. Also, he expresses special thanks to Daryl Malarry Davidson, Chinasa Nwaeme, Drs. Robert Drago, Chuka Onwumechili, Todd Sandel, and Rona Halualani, and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the National Communication Association (International and Intercultural Communication Division), Orlando in 2012 and at the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA), San Diego in 2013.

Notes on contributor

Uchenna Onuzulike (Ph.D., Howard University, 2014) is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Strategic, Legal, and Management Communication at Howard University and in the School of Media Arts & Design at James Madison University. The author is joining the Communication faculty at Bowie State University as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2017. His research interests revolve around the construction and negotiation of ethnic and transnational identities; critical intercultural communication; Nollywood; and media analysis and criticism.