A LIONESS IN CHAINS: THE COMPROMISED FEMINISM OF GENEVIEVE NNAJI'S LIONHEART
A LIONESS IN CHAINS: THE COMPROMISED FEMINISM OF GENEVIEVE NNAJI'S LIONHEART Introduction When I watched Lionheart, I saw Adaeze Obiag u; " king’s daughter with a lion’s heart "— battle stereotypes and corruption to save her father’s company. But what struck me most was how the film exposes Nigeria’s painful contradiction: celebrating tradition while resisting real change for women. Ada proves herself a fierce leader, diffusing violence and outsmarting rivals, yet her hard-won victory feels hollow. Why? Because her rise to leadership depends on a merger engineered by her uncle. To me, this screamed a brutal truth: a brilliant woman still needs a man’s help to succeed here. This review dissects Lionheart through four critical frameworks: Formal Media Analysis, Oppositional Gaze, Marxist Critique, and Male Gaze. Together, they reveal how Nnaji's film masterfully diagnoses patriarchal oppression while ultimately replicating its stru...