Gendered Representation and Audience Perception: A Study of Women’s Portrayal in Nollywood’s Epic Film Anikulapo

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the gendered nature of Nigeria media terrain, and attendant scholarly arguments on gender stereotypes, this present study examined “Audience Perception of Women in Nollywood Epic Film Anikulakpo. The quantitative research design was pursued to achieve the driving objectives of the study. For the purpose of data collection, quantitative data was collected through the administration of copies of questionnaire and analyzed from 350 respondents made up of Unizik undergraduates. Situated within the context of Framing Theory and Social Constructionist Theory, the study discovered that respondents are very much knowledgeable of the negative perception of women in Epic movies and they agreed that women are perceived as objectified, dependent, economically less valuable and totally subjugated in the society. Respondents are of the view that portrayal of women in Nigeria epic movies will have effects on their leadership aspirations, on their placement in the societal hierarchy and job roles of women, as the movie Anikulapo depicted that, women are interpreted as dependent, subjugated, of lesser societal and economic importance and totally objectified and dominantly women were portrayed as objectified images and undervalued in the society. The study recommended among others that filmmakers should prioritize creating strong and empowered female characters that also help in national development, while also engaging in more audience research to avoid stereotypes in order to ensure that their portrayals of women in Nollywood films are accurately perceived and properly interpreted by their audience.