Towards genre classification in anglophone West Africa video films: the case of Scorned as a woman’s film

This paper explores the woman’s film within the context of Africa and African cinematography by examining the Ghanaian video film Scorned (2008), written and directed by Shirley Frimpong-Manso. It examines the themes, narrative structure, and cinematic style employed in the Ghanaian video film Scorned (2008), comparing it to the key elements of the 1930s – 1950s woman’s film genre of Hollywood. We argue that Scorned follows the traditional genre of the woman’s Hollywood movie while simultaneously subverting some of the ingrained conventions and expectations of that genre. The film merges and renegotiates the generic elements of the woman’s film as represented in the Hollywood woman’s film genre and melodrama by focusing on the underpinning ideologies, plot, and aesthetics in making visible the Ghanaian woman’s experience and constructing a female consciousness. Such engagements can contribute to teasing out some of the generic elements, which could constitute the African woman’s film.