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Does Every Nollywood Movie Need a Moral Lesson?
For decades, Nollywood movies and the moral lesson have felt almost inseparable. Ask any longtime fan what makes a Nigerian film “complete,” and there’s a good chance they’ll mention the ending: the cheating husband gets his comeuppance, the greedy in-law loses everything, the disobedient child learns to respect their elders. It’s a formula so familiar that many viewers now expect it, and some filmmakers build entire plots around delivering it. But as the industry matures and pushes into international markets, a fair question is worth asking: does every Nollywood movie need a moral lesson to succeed, or has that expectation started to hold the industry back? Where the Tradition Comes…
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Nollywood Needs Critics, Not Applause, to Reach Its Next Level
Every industry that has ever grown from a local business into a global powerhouse owes part of that growth to the people who refused to clap for mediocrity. This is exactly why Nollywood needs critics more than it needs another round of unquestioning applause. For decades, Nigeria’s film industry has thrived on volume, releasing thousands of titles every year, but volume alone has never been the true test for artistic maturity. If Nollywood truly wants to sit at the same table as Hollywood, Bollywood, and the best of world cinema, it has to embrace honest, rigorous criticism instead of treating every release as a cause for celebration. The Applause Culture…
