The neighborhood kids and I are hooked on Nollywood soapies. My host family has DSTV (lucky for me) and one of the channels, 102 -- known as Africa Magic -- runs Nigerian dramas for most of the day, every day. So many afternoons, after the kids and I are out of school, they will quietly slip into the house and congregate on the floor in front of the television. One of them, usually Phuluso, the oldest (10) will whisper "Sheila, 102!. 102!" And soon we are watching shows like "We Are But Pencil in the Hand of the Creator."
The things that movie snobs would deride in Nigerian films are what I love: overly dramatic scenes with the same, predictable scary music ("dum dum DA!"), goofy romantic scenes with the same Whitney Houston songs or really bad made up love songs ("I just love you, because I just love you") and the episodes about witchcraft where the simplistic special effects are no better than what was used in the Dr. Who series.
Maybe I like Nollywood dramas because they remind me of some of my earliest TV obsessions. I must have been no more than 6 when I hung out with the neighbor kids and their mom in the early afternoon, watching Days of Our Lives and Dark Shadows. But I still recall sitting with them in front of the tv in the master bedroom and anticipating that moment when a serious male voice would intone: "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives" followed by the swell of romantic theme music. And I remember being creeped out by the evil deeds of vampire Barnabas Collins, but being unable to stop watching Dark Shadows.
I wonder if, years from now, Phuluso, Vhuthu, Mishumo and Vonnguali will feel equally nostalgic about the sound of Whitney Houston and bad special effects.