ABSTRACT

The equivalent of Eurocentrism in film is Hollywoodcentrism. Historically, the thousands of films from what was once called the Third World rarely circulated beyond their national borders, and sometimes did not even circulate within their own national borders. While the Francophone films were popular with Western festival audiences but rarely seen by Africans; the Nollywood films offered the converse phenomenon; popular among Africans, they were rarely seen at Western festivals. Mafia-themed films and TV series are not concerned with promoting a “positive image” of Italian-American gangsters. Unlike minoritarian films in the US, and elsewhere, the Nollywood films are also not terribly concerned with presenting a “positive image” of Africa and Africans. Hollywood constantly produces negative images of white Americans as prostitutes, drug addicts, freaks, and mass-murderers, without worrying about the damage to the image and psyche of the dominant group.