IJELE: ART EJOURNAL OF THE AFRICAN WORLD ISSN: 1525-447X Issue 5 (2002)

Candace Johnson-Phipps

Born Again. Director, Gabriel Moses, Amaco Productions, Nigeria 2001; and Submission: (Beware of Adicers[sic]). Director, Christian Onu, Valseco Productions, 2001.

The three principal characters are Blessing, a born-again Christian con-artist; Loretta the dutiful stay-at-home wife, and her gullible husband, Edward. Blessing uses Christianity to camouflage her husband-hunting goals.

-- Born Again

Childbirth is a thing of joy, but Lebechi’s visit to take care of her daughter becomes a nightmare for Azuka (her daughter), and her husband Patrick. Onmugwo (the maternal care given to new mothers by their own mother) is a celebration of the joys of motherhood, but it becomes a harvest of woes. Submission provides the only solution.

-- Submission: (Beware of Adicers[sic])

Men have always defined the roles of women, so these Nigerian videos try to assert. Born Again and Submission emphasize the dependency of wives on husbands. All the women in the videos including the three educated women—Loretta, Azuka and her older married sister—are stay-at-home wives while their husbands are the sole breadwinners. Not surprisingly, a variety of conflicts arises within these households over what wives could say and do and what resources they can utilize. The film does not really examine the reasons why these wives stayed at home. However, they convey the impression that they did so because their husbands are financially well off and can afford to keep them at home. In the case of Loretta, her husband, Edward, requested that she stay home to read the bible and pray for a child. Even though Loretta and Azuka are both capable of working, they did not to do so out of love and respect for their husbands. It seemed more important to them to be dutiful wives. There is no question that these films are portraying the lives of wives through the eyes of husbands rather than through the wives’ perspectives. They place them in stereotypical domestic positions and portrays them as completely content with serving their husbands. It is no wonder that conflicts arise in these marriages.

In Born Again, Loretta lives her life through the wishes of her husband, Edward. She attempts to do everything she can to make him happy. Edward wants his wife to stay home, read the Bible, and have his children. The fact that after seven years of marriage they still have no children puts a strain on their marriage. Loretta seems to have a good head on her shoulders and she acts as if she can accomplish anything that she sets her mind so her role as housewife is something she does to keep her husband happy. While her husband attempts to suppress her and keep her in a role of domesticity, her family sees her potential to do much more than cook, clean and take care of her husband. Loretta’s love for Edward helps to keep her in that subordinate role and she makes an effort to do whatever she can to please him even though she may have other plans in mind. She has to ask his permission before she can allow Blessing to come stay with them and he tries to make sure he knows what she is up to at all times. After she and Edward separate, she goes back home to her father and brother who both encourage her to go back to school to earn a degree so she can make something out of her life. Prior to her marriage, Loretta has been interested in getting her education.

In Submission, some of the same ideas on the domestic roles of women are repeated. The marriage of Azuka and Patrick exemplifies the role of the husband as the provider and the role of the wife as someone who cooks, cleans, takes care of the children and caters to her husband’s every need. In the beginning, Azuka and Patrick seem to have a happy life where they both attempt to do whatever they can for the other. Patrick sees his marriage in terms of a male dominant –female subordinate relationship that will not work unless both individuals accurately play their part. Azuka is so in love with her husband that she willingly does anything he asks to make him happy. Although Azuka is capable of doing other things in her life, she is content with just being a housewife and having to ask her husband for whatever she needs. Patrick goes out, makes the money, and appears to have no problem sharing it with his wife and her family when necessary. Azuka sees no problems in their relationship until her mother points them out to her. Her mother encourages her to be more independent and to manipulate her husband into giving her things. She also encourages Azuka to be less docile and to stop pandering to her husband. Taking the advice of her mother, Azuka stops cooking, cleaning and doing the laundry. This is when major conflicts erupt in the household.

In these films, the couples’ marriages seem to be going well until a third party becomes involved. In Loretta and Edward’s case, Blessing led to their downfall and in Azuka and Patrick’s case, it was Azuka’s mother. The views of other individuals as to the roles of wives brought about huge changes in the dynamics of both of these relationships. It is interesting that these modern, educated women seem so willing to give up a piece of their identity to become better wives. They are given subordinate roles in their marriages and their husbands take charge as the strong figure head of the home who has control of whatever goes on inside. When the tables are slightly turned and the women gain a little power negative things automatically begin to happen in these households.

These films were set in Nigeria, as is the writing of some of the authors that will be used to critique them. These articles tie together some of the issue that will be used to critique some of the ideas portrayed in the films. According to Titi Ufomata, Nigerian women play a huge role in the development of their societies. There is a “strong belief that the success of society depends on the two sexes and that one cannot do without the active support of the other.” (Ufomata, 4) Therefore in order to have a better society and strengthen its bonds both men and women must be unified and willing to work together to create a better life. Historically, women were included in all aspects of decision making because the men in their societies recognize the importance of their presence. Nigerian women played an important role in developing their society but it was through colonialism and its enforcement of the patriarchal society that women began to lose their prominent places. Men were given more power and women were put in positions where they were expected to have to look to their men for guidance and become the subordinates of these men. However, Ufomata challenges the idea of housewives in Nigerian society. “In Africa the idea of a full-time housewife is alien.” (Ufomata, 5) It is not realistic given the current economic conditions! Women accomplish much more with what they have, this includes going out into the workforce or just being involved with “petty trading in the market or from her home.” (Ufomata, 5) Women do what they feel is necessary to take care of their children and they help to bring food into the home, they fetch water, cook, clean and if she is also needed to work outside of the home, she does. From Ufomata’s analysis, we can surmise that Nigerian women are not always as willing to take on these subordinate roles as are the wives in these videos.

John Oriji gives a historical description of how Igbo women in Nigeria came together to organize revolts against the colonial government during colonialism. The fact that women were able to organized for things that they did not agree with caused the colonial government to modify some of its policies. Women are capable of doing more than maintain the house, they have voices that need to be heard and they do what is necessary to make sure that they are. The women that emerged as leaders of the women’s movements and revolts in Nigeria achieved more than others thought they would be able to. This is true despite the fact that people attempted to label these women as irrational by labeling their revolts as riots to make them seem unorganized and untamed. The struggles for equality that these women engaged in created new possibilities for future generations of women in their society. Women are more involved in what is going on in their governments and hold positions of power in their societies today.

The videos provide a contrary view of wives that is at odds with their histories of women’s empowerment in Nigeria. It has taken hard work and dedication for women to revise those roles and make them into something positive. Women were not allowed to hold certain jobs; they are expected to look a certain way and in many cases were expected to have to answer to their male counterparts. Religion has been used as a means to keep women in positions of inferiority in respect to men. In some places it as become socially acceptable to disrespect and discriminate against women. Nkiru Nzegwu, discusses in her article, “Islam and its Bigots: The Case of Safiyatu Huseini Tugur Tudu,” how some of these religious beliefs have led to enforcements of the laws that have negative effects on women. In some areas of Nigeria, “the legal enforcement of women’s inferiority is systematically carried out in numerous ways. It includes making them the object of blame, discounting their statements in court, and trivializing whatever egregious acts may have been done to them at home and in public.” (Nzegwu, 3) The fact that women have to fight to have men in their societies believe them while men have to make no efforts to redeem themselves when they are accused of wrongdoing shows how biased some sections of Nigerian society can be. Women are the nurturers, the mothers, the daughters, and essentially the backbone of all societies yet women are still given the “short end of the stick” when it comes to many aspects in their social lives. The reason for this is still not as clear cut as some would like to believe but either way women are still forced to stand up for themselves because time has shown that many men are not willing to do so for them.

In Born Again, the idea of educating women was brought up after Loretta and Edward separated. Her father and brother encouraged her to go back to school and continue her studies so that she would be able to support herself rather than having to depend on a husband. The dynamics shifts when a woman is with her family. Her strength and autonomy are underscored and validated. This dramatically changes when she marries and becomes a wife. Although her article is about the Gold Coast, present-day Ghana, Audrey Gadzekpo’s essay, “Gender Discourses and Representational Practices in Gold Coast Newspapers,” provides a clue as to why and how this subjugation of wives developed. According to her in the nineteenth to early twentieth century especially, newspaper columnists “advocated that education be directed at preparing girls towards a cultured companionate marriage that would make them good intelligent mothers and wives that could benefit the nation.” (Gadzekpo, 4) This idea emphasized what was seen as a woman’s role in relation to her husband. She was to be educated enough to be able to have conversations with her husband and to keep him interested in staying at home. She was not to become too educated, she was expected to know just enough so that her children would perceive her as intelligent but in relation to her husband, she was not supposed to have thoughts and opinions of her own. This type of education discussed in this article was more geared toward domesticity, teaching young women how to be better housewives and mothers. The article encourages the education of women in whatever ways possible.

Colonization brought a variety of ideas into Africa. Some ideas were taken on by the people and have been incorporated into society more throughout the years. While for years, men have made an effort to define the roles of women and keep women as their subordinates, women have had other things in mind. But as Ufomata shows women in Nigeria had a range of roles and identities extending from wife and mother to prominent members of the workforce. The latter half of the twentieth century brought about more formal employment opportunities for women who were willing to step outside of the roles set up for them and move towards creating new roles. These videos which were obviously written and directed by men only provide one perspective of the roles of wives Nigerian society. Patrick, Azuka’s husband, resents the presence of his mother-in-law in his household due to the hold that she has on his wife. He sees that Azuka would rather listen to her mother than to him and he seems threatened. He makes every effort to get her out of his house so as to mitigate the power of her mother’s influence. He sees the negative effect her presence is having on his dominant hold in his relationship with his wife. Prior to his mother-in-law’s visit he and his wife were enjoying an extremely happy and peaceful coexistence on his own terms.

Both wives should be given the opportunity to accomplish what she feels she can. Loretta’s family recognizes her intellectual capabilities and so should her husband. If she feels that going back to school would help in bettering herself, then she should. Edward’s insistence that she “stay home and read the bible” is counterproductive and does not benefit the society. She could go out and share some of what she has learned with others and help to build a better community. The husbands in these films seem to be selfish with their wives. Both Edward and Patrick seem like they do not want to share their wives with anyone else, especially someone who may be capable of persuading them to change any of their views.

The first step in transforming these relationships would be for both the husband and wife to discuss what they would like out of their relationship and work toward achieving that. In both cases these wives allow others to tell them what they should want and need rather than allowing them to make their own decisions. There are people in both situations that are trying to destroy the lives of both couples and as you notice, these individuals are both women. The next step would be for the husbands to loosen their grip on their wives and give them some space to be their own individuals. Women are not sources of evil and negativity and that should be recognized in the videos portrayal of all the women involved.

References

Gadzekpo, Audrey. “Gender Discourses and Representational Practices in Gold Coast Newspapers,” Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies, vol. 1, no. 2 (2001), <http://www.jendajournal.com/jenda/vol1.2/gadzekpo.html>.

Nzegwu, Nkiru. “Islam and its Bigots: The Case of Safiyatu Huseini Tugur Tudu,” Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies, vol. 1, no. 2 (2001), <http://www.jendajournal.com/jenda/vol1.2/nzegwu2.html>.

Oriji, John N. “Igbo Women From 1929-1960,” West Africa Review, vol. 2, no. 1 (2000),
<http://www.westafricareview.com/war/vol2.1/oriji.html>.

Ufomata, Titi. “Women in Africa: Their Socio-Political and Economic Roles,” West Africa Review, vol. 2, no. 1 (2000),
<http://www.westafricareview.com/war/vol2.1/ufomata.html>.

Citation Format:

Candace Johnson-Phipps. “Review of Nigerian Videos: Born Again and Submission,” IJELE: Art eJournal of the African World: Issue 5, 2002.

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