Auteuring Nollywood: Critical Perspectives on The Figurine 9780698280, 9789780698287, 9789780698294, 9789789400690

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AUTEURING NOLLYWOOD Critical Perspectives on the Figurine

edited by

Adeshina Afolayan

AUTEURING NOLLYWOOD

Critical Perspectives on THE FIGURINE

AUTEURING NOLLYWOOD

Critical Perspectives on THE FIGURINE

edited by Adeshina Afolayan

UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC IBADAN 2014

University Press PLC IBADAN ABA ABEOKUTA ABUJA AJEGUNLE AKURE BENIN CALABAR IKEJA IKORODU ILORIN JOS KADUNA KANO MAIDUGURI MAKURDI MINNA ONITSHA OSOGBO OWERRI PORT HARCOURT WARRI YABA ZARIA

© Adeshina Afolayan 2014

First Published 2014

All rights reserved

ISBN 978 978 069 828 7 ISBN 978 978 069 829 4

(Limp) (Cased)

Published by University Press PLC Three Crowns Building, Jericho, P.M.B. 5095, Ibadan, Nigeria E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.universitypressplc.com

For Funmilayo Afolayan: Scholarship is incomplete without that soft touch to a fevered brain…

FOREWORD

:LWK KLV ÀUVW WZR ÀOPV Irapada (Redemption) and Araromire (The Figurine), Kunle Afolayan has already established himself as a PDMRU IRUFH LQ 1LJHULDQ ÀOPPDNLQJ +LV WDOHQWV DUH REYLRXV KLV success has been all the more spectacular for being so immediate, DQGWKHIDFWWKDWKHVWDUVLQKLVRZQÀOPVJLYHVDQXQXVXDOSHUVRQDO character to his sudden prominence as a director. At the present moment, as Nollywood struggles through its latest crisis, his success LV SDUWLFXODUO\ ZHOFRPH DQG H[HPSOLÀHV DQ LPSRUWDQW WUHQG WKH HPHUJHQFHRI DKLJKHQGVHJPHQWRI WKHLQGXVWU\WKDWZRUNVZLWK bigger budgets and includes as part of its basic strategies theatrical VFUHHQLQJV IRUHLJQ DQG GLDVSRULF DXGLHQFHV DQG IRUHLJQ ÀOP IHVWLYDOV0DQ\REVHUYHUVRI WKH1LJHULDQYLGHRÀOPLQGXVWU\KDYH EHHQZDLWLQJIRUDORQJWLPHIRUWKLVNLQGRI ÀOPPDNLQJZKLFKFDQ WDNHLWVSODFHLQWKHLQWHUQDWLRQDODUHQDSURXGO\DQGRQHTXDOWHUPV UDWKHUWKDQEHLQJH[KLELWHGRQWKHPDUJLQVRI ÀOPIHVWLYDOVDVD specimen of an exotic phenomenon of African popular culture. 2I  FRXUVH WKLV NLQG RI  ÀOPPDNLQJ LV QRW HQWLUHO\ QHZ ² LW is what Tunde Kelani has always done. There is an obvious UHODWLRQVKLSEHWZHHQWKHVHWZRÀOPPDNHUVDQGQRWRQO\EHFDXVH Afolayan got his start as an actor playing the young prince in Kelani’s Saworoide and Agogo Eewo. (Of course, Afolayan was born DSULQFHRI WKH1LJHULDQÀOPWUDGLWLRQDVWKHVRQRI WKHGD]]OLQJO\ FKDULVPDWLF DFWRU DQG GLUHFWRU $GH /RYH  $IROD\DQ OLNH .HODQL

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KDVFRQVSLFXRXVSURIHVVLRQDOWUDLQLQJDQGWHFKQLFDOSURÀFLHQF\DQ uncommon level of artistry and a slow, deliberate, careful approach WRKLVZRUN%RWKKDYHDWDQJHQWLDOUHODWLRQVKLSZLWK1ROO\ZRRG ,I  1ROO\ZRRG LV LQ WKH ÀUVW SODFH D PDUNHWLQJ DQG GLVWULEXWLRQ V\VWHP DQG D PRGH RI  ÀOPPDNLQJ JHDUHG WR LW ERWK PHQ KDYH deliberately stayed out of it. Both also distinguish themselves by the wide ambit of Nigerian FXOWXUHWKH\SXWRQGLVSOD\7KH\PDNHUHVRQDQWFDVWLQJGHFLVLRQV as Kelani has always drawn on actors from several traditions not only for their individual talents but also to suggest a blending, a broad cultural alliance; in The Figurine Afolayan casts stars with EDFNJURXQGVDQGSHUVRQDHDVGLIIHUHQWDV5DPVH\1RXDKDQG-LGH .RVRNRKHKDVWKHPXVLFLDQ/DJEDMDSURYLGHYRLFHRYHUQDUUDWLRQ and gives the painter and performing artist Muraina Oyelami, who LV D ZDONLQJ V\QHFGRFKH IRU WKH PRGHUQ DUWV LQ 1LJHULD D VPDOO EXW LFRQLF UROH OLNH WKRVH .HODQL OLNHV WR JLYH $NLQZXPL ,VKROD and Adebayo Faleti. Oyelami’s paintings and posters are a crucial YLVXDOSUHVHQFHLQWKHÀOPDQGWKH2EDIHPL$ZRORZR8QLYHUVLW\ museum of archaeology and modern art is a recurrent point of reference. Afolayan expresses his own generation’s urban culture in the edgy fashion designs, interior decoration, architecture, and VRXQGWUDFNPXVLFLQThe Figurine7KHÀOPVHWVLWVHOI RXWVLGHDQG EH\RQG WKH JOLW]\ VHOIFRQWDLQHG FXOWXUH RI  1ROO\ZRRG ZKLFK habitually showcases what money can buy but often without PXFK WDVWH RU VRSKLVWLFDWLRQ 3HUKDSV WKLV ÀOP FDQ EH VHHQ DV D UHWXUQWRWKHWUDGLWLRQRI FHOOXORLGÀOPVOLNH%DED6DOD·VMosebolatan (directed by Ade Love and shot by Tunde Kelani) and Orun Mooru (directed by Ola Balogun) which featured a performance by King 6XQQ\ $GH DQG 6X]DQQH :HQJHU·V VFXOSWXUHV LQ WKH *URYH RI  2VXQ LQ 2VKRJER /DUJH EXGJHWV DUH UHTXLUHG IRU WKLV NLQG RI 

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cultural ambition, of course, but so is an ambitious imagination. 1ROO\ZRRG LV QRZ XQTXHVWLRQDEO\ WKH VWURQJHVW H[SUHVVLRQ RI  Nigeria’s cultural energies; one could contemplate this with more joy if Nollywood engaged more fully with the wider Nigerian artistic heritage instead of merely superseding it. $IROD\DQ·V ÀOPV UDGLDWH WKH ZDUPWK KXPDQLVP EURDG mindedness and moralism that are so characteristic of Yoruba culture. Irapada KDV D :D]RELDQ SROLWLFV WKDW LV LQWHJUDO WR LWV structure rather than something preached about: the strongest, DSSDUHQWO\XQEUHDNDEOHOHDVWWKUHDWHQHGUHODWLRQVKLSVLQWKHÀOP are the friendships across ethnic lines; code-switching is constant, though there are also a couple of scenes that play around strong linguistic barriers, as if to draw attention to the problem that is QRUPDOO\RYHUFRPHZLWKRXWDSSDUHQWHIIRUWWKHVFHQHVKLIWVEDFN DQG IRUWK IURP VRXWKZHVWHUQ 1LJHULD WR .DGXQD ORRNLQJ ORYHO\ and green after the rains, with little or no hint of the communal YLROHQFHWKDWKDGWRUQLWDSDUWVKRUWO\EHIRUHWKHÀOPZDVPDGH (Perhaps the Hausa businessman’s treachery and violence towards D