ABSTRACT
Living in Bondage was the first major box office success in the cinema industry known as Nollywood. More than twenty years after its release, it is yet to be accorded its rightful place in the world of African film scholarship, and Nollywood, which is undoubtedly Africa's cinema of stories, still without any real critical locus in the discipline of African film studies. The popularity of this film form is not in any way dependent on the innovation of its film style. The success and popularity of Nollywood are intricately tied to the release of Living in Bondage, a film that defined the form and content of the Nollywood film. With the possible exception of the comic film, the 'classic' Nollywood film, since the release of Living in Bondage, tackles themes such as the source of wealth in the city, the 'lottery existence' of those who live within the 'occult economy', and the changing role of women in contemporary Nigeria.
