AFRICAN MOVIES ALWAYS PORTRAY WOMEN AS WEAK AND SUBMISSIVE

In the latest issue of Variety Lifestyle Magazine, the producer and CEO of Sparrow Productions, Shirley Frimpong Manso was highlighted as the queen of Ghanaian cinema.

Shirley spoke about the way African cinema used to portray women when she was growing up. According to her, comparing the African movies then to the ones from Hollywood, the women were portrayed as less striking than their counterparts.

However, she throws more light on her immediate surroundings and how they contrasted with the image seen on-screen. According to her the women as portrayed in African movies were nothing like the women she saw around her.

“I grew up in a totally different environment,” says the 38-year-old filmmaker, who explains that she was raised in a household run by “strong African women.”

When Frimpong-Manso finally embarked on a career in cinema, she thought about how those portrayals were affecting young Ghanaian viewers, and made herself a promise. “It’s about time we change that image of the (African) woman,” she says.