How ‘The Royal Hibiscus Hotel’ Touches On Societal Pressures Women Face
Following the premiere of their widely successful rom-com, The Wedding Party 2, EbonyLife TV premiered another rom-com, The Royal Hibiscus Hotel, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
The Royal Hibiscus Hotel follows Ope (Zainab Balogun), an aspiring restaurateur, who returns to her home in Lagos to try and refine her family’s hotel, only to find that her mother’s plan is really for her to get married and start her own family. While this movie is lighthearted, they address several societal issues, and one which stood out the most to us was the societal pressures women face.
Apart from Ope’s mother, Rose’s constant attempts to become fit in order to keep her equally unfit husband interested, there is also a lot of pressure on Ope to get married.
In Chimamanda’s We Should All Be Feminists TED talk, the author said:
“Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important.
Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage?”
This is evident in The Royal Hibiscus Hotel, as within the first 10 minutes of the movie, Rose (Rachael Oniga) was already badgering Ope about how she is getting old and still isn’t married.
Rose was only interested in her daughter moving back home in order to find a suitor to marry, never mind that Ope had aspirations for her career in London and even back home — what was most important to Rose was her daughter’s relationship status.
It’s also important to note that Ope’s mother never once stopped to consider whether this was even what Ope wanted for herself, she always made it about herself and her need for grandchildren. She even went as far as to coax Ope’s father to pretend that he was dying, in order to guilt trip her into coming back home to get married.
Speaking to us about this issue, Rachael Oniga said:
“Regardless of her over-bearing character, Rose portrays the true character of a mother who wants her grownup daughter to get married and assume the womanhood status befitting a woman.
She was meticulously guarding her daughter to marry any prospective suitor like a typical African woman.”
If you’re a Nigerian woman above the age of 21, we’re pretty sure you can recognise your parents or aunties in this character, as once you become of age, the only thing you should be thinking about is getting married… *snore*. We can’t really blame them, because this is what they know and have been taught as well, and the pressure is on for them too, as they want to move on to their own ‘next stage’ — being grandmothers.
The main lessons to draw from this for Nigerian women of all ages are that mothers should give their daughters space to choose their path, and daughters should be brave enough to stand their ground. Ope’s refusal to bow to her mother’s pressure will definitely resonate with young ladies who might be facing the same pressures and feel as though they are doing something wrong by not being married.
The Royal Hibiscus Hotel is now available to watch on Amazon prime! So if you missed it in the cinemas, get to it now! Before you do, you can watch the trailer right here:
