Remember those Nollywood films from the 90s to the early 2010s? The ones where there was a clear distinction between “good” women and “bad” women, and the message was clear? Be a good woman and you’ll have a happy ending. Be a bad woman and you’ll have a bad one.
The nice women were submissive, soft-spoken, obedient, simple. The bad women were loud, wore bold makeup and flashy or revealing clothes. They swore, chewed gum loudly, joined secret societies, were promiscuous, workaholics, or liars.
Here’s a common trope. A man goes to the village to find a wife. He doesn’t want a city girl because she is everything he doesn’t want in a woman: too loud, too worldly. In a nutshell, spoiled goods. So he finds a village girl who is sweet and in awe of him, this sophisticated man from the city who knows so much.
He takes her to the city and all is well in their little married-couple world because she’s the perfect wife. Except it doesn’t last long, because she soon meets a woman who is wise in the ways of the world. Perhaps her husband warns her against this woman because he doesn’t want her to be negatively influenced. But she doesn’t want to discontinue the friendship because this woman is exciting and opens her eyes to all kinds of things.
Then the inevitable happens. Through this friendship, she changes. All of a sudden she’s dressing differently, talking back, going out. The sweet girl he married has been replaced by a stranger. And how does the story end? She gets in way over her head with her “bad” friend, loses her marriage, and attempts to repent—except it’s too late.
There were countless tropes like this, where women who behaved in ways considered bad, whether by moral or social standards, were punished.The career woman working hard at her job? She neglected her man so much he ended up cheating with her more available best friend or even the maid. The spoiled rich girl or the abroad returnee who couldn’t keep a home, or couldn’t find a man in the first place.
Sometimes these women deserved it, like in the case of the secret society ladies plotting evil. Other times they didn’t, like the career woman who didn’t deserve to be cheated on. Regardless, the takeaway was the same. These women deserved what happened to them because how dare they not behave the way society wanted?
As a child I watched those movies and thought the same. I actively rooted for their downfall, as did many others. But today, that attitude is largely gone. Today, everyone loves a baddie.
Think about all the antiheroic female characters from Nollywood in the last few years. Eniola Salami from King of Boys? A crime boss loved by countless viewers. Murder, scheming, political thuggery. Check, check, and check. Yet people still love her to bits.
Kemi and Sarah from Blood Sisters are another well-loved female antiheroic duo. Murder, lies, and coverups drive their story. Susie, Sola, and Bola Sugar from Sugar Rush? Theft, scams, greed. Shalewa from Shanty Town might be a sex worker, but viewers rooted for her success and survival.
These are just a few examples. It helps that these women aren’t written as one-note villains. Their stories invite empathy, not judgment. They’re bad, but they’re also sympathetic.
I did my Master’s dissertation on the online reception of female antiheroes in Nollywood, and what I found was that it’s overwhelmingly positive. Of course, social media users do not represent the entire Nollywood audience, but it’s a large part of it, and it got me thinking about how much we love “bad” female Nollywood characters today.
The conversations I saw were of people saying these female antiheroes only did what they had to do, and expressing their love and admiration for these characters. The general sentiment is that although people know they’re bad, they want them to succeed and are glad when they do.
This shift matters because it shows how society has become more forgiving of women. They can be complicated, selfish, ambitious, or cruel, and still be deserving of empathy or admiration. It’s interesting to think that if the movies in which these characters appear had been made before the mid-2010s, the same characters would probably have been framed to make us hate them and pray for their downfall.
This shift matters because it shows how society has become more forgiving of women. They can be complicated, selfish, ambitious, or cruel, and still deserve empathy or admiration. It’s interesting to think that if the movies in which these characters appear had been made before the mid-2010s, the same characters would probably have been framed to make us hate them and pray for their downfall.
And maybe that’s the point. Society itself has grown a little more lenient. Can’t cook? That’s fine. Like to dress like a Y2K baddie? We love to see it. Want to focus on your career? Secure that bag, sis. Where once we cheered for their failure, we now revel in their success.
These female baddies of Nollywood want power, money, or revenge, and we’re glad to watch them get it.
The post We didn’t always root for Nollywood’s female baddies, but we do now appeared first on Nigerian Entertainment Today.
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