Discursive Constructions and Ideological Representations of Women in Nollywood Films: A Study of Lionheart and A Tribe Called Judah
Abstract
This study was motivated by the recognition that despite widespread critical celebration of both productions as progressive representations of Nigerian womanhood, no systematic discourse analytical investigation had been conducted into the specific linguistic and discursive mechanisms through which their female protagonists were constructed and communicated to audiences. Two objectives guided the study to: examine the discursive construction of female identity and agency; identify dominant ideological representations of women embedded in the language and discourse of the selected films. The study was anchored on Feminist Film Theory and Cognitive Theory. A qualitative critical discourse analysis design was adopted, drawing principally on Fairclough's three-dimensional analytical model. A purposive sample of twenty scenes, ten from each production, was selected and subjected to systematic discourse analysis. The study found that female agency in both productions is constructed as a contested claim requiring constant reaffirmation rather than as an unconditionally recognised social attribute; that dominant patriarchal ideological representations operate primarily through subtle discursive strategies of naturalisation and concealment in the language of male characters. The study concludes that the streaming era of Nollywood represents a genuine but incomplete advance in the discursive representation of women in Nigerian popular cinema.