A Gendered Perspective on Free Will in Kunle Afolayan’s Aníkúlápó

Abstract

This article interrogates the philosophical and gendered dimensions of free will as represented in Kunle Afolayan’s Aníkúlápó. Using qualitative content analysis, we examine how the choices of the film’s principal characters are shaped by patriarchal structures, social conditioning, and introspective agency. The analysis is situated within libertarian and compatibilist accounts of agency, as well as broader debates on determinism and moral responsibility, with specific attention to how gender norms inflect the possibilities available to Saro and Arolake. While Saro’s narrative foregrounds deliberation and the conscious authorship of action, Arolake’s trajectory exposes gendered constraints that narrow the frame of “choice,” thereby complicating standard attributions of responsibility. We argue that agency must be theorized within a sociocultural matrix in which norms, expectations, and institutions pre-structure options and sanction outcomes. The article contributes to African screen studies and moral philosophy by showing how a contemporary Nigerian film stages tensions between freedom and constraint, and by proposing that interpretations of free will and moral responsibility in gendered contexts require attention to structural coercion as well as individual intention. We conclude by outlining implications for cultural criticism and suggesting legal-institutional reforms that mitigate gender bias and expand the horizon of choice.