“Oya: The Goddess Of Gods” Animation Short Film Review: A Flip Through Traditional Yoruba Identity

Lawrence Dieyi’s Oya: the goddess of gods is an animation short film inspired by an ancient tale of the Oyo Empire. It follows the story of Oya, a young devoted woman born with powers that puts her in charge of the elements as she navigates two worlds. Her flawed personality, however, sets her at loggerheads with her husband, Sango, whom she is forced into a battle with. 

Set in the fictional Yoruba kingdom of Lalupon, the film begins with a prologue where the unseen narrator, armed with traditional wisdom, acknowledges the mysteriousness and mysticism of human existence: the paradox of life and death; spirituality among humans; the existence of forces in charge of the classical elements—water, air, fire and earth; and the bestowment on certain humans the ability to control these elements.

As the voice of the narrator prevails, there are scenes of childbirth and dedication. The girl is named Oya, dedicated to the deities of the land and blessed with special powers to manipulate nature’s elements. Accompanying Oya’s birth is the symbolic clapping of thunder. We also see, in these fleeting moments of Oya’s birth, how Yoruba religion strongly recognizes the concept of fate and its importance to the ethereal existence of a person. From time immemorial, in the autochthonous  Yoruba society, after a child is born, the oracle is consulted to unravel the akosejaye (destiny) of the child, which could be positive or negative. This belief comes to play in Ola Rotimi’s famous tragedy, The gods Are Not To Blame, where a baby boy, upon birth, is investigated and proclaimed ill-fated—that he will commit patricide and incest.

The film re-imagines the identity politics of the Oyo Empire with Yoruba legends like Sango and Oya. Historically, Sango is a former Alaafin of Oyo Empire, one of the earliest, who is remembered for his ferocious temper and deified as the Yoruba god of thunder. Oya is recorded as one of Sango’s three wives, now revered as a powerful water-goddess who controls winds, lightning and violent storms. Till date, both Sango and Oya are considered orishas—symbols of authority in Yoruba religion, with their worshippers scattered across different Yoruba-speaking communities in Nigeria. In the film, Sango’s leadership over Lalupon and Oya’s riverside dedication are experiences of a familiar breath of myth and history. 

Yoruba spirituality is also navigated in the film through the use of incantations, ritual and the communication between the living and the dead.. There is, for instance, a scene where Oya mouths incantations to conjure the spirit of Ajala.  We also see, in the seemingly awe-inspiring character of Arinurode, the babalawo in a typical Yoruba society: a spiritually fortified figure and a messenger of the gods, who has the ability to foretell the future.

Beyond its basic purpose of communication among humans, language is used as a vehicle for expression of cultural identity. In the olden days, adults from many African societies were known to use proverbial language to engage in serious conversations on weighty matters.  This comes to play in the film when Adekani strikes a conversation with Sango, beginning his report on the mysterious disappearance with a Yoruba proverb. 

Dieyi’s Oya: the goddess of gods is an artful exploration of Yoruba culture with the use of computer generated images. It is an attempt by the filmmaker to straddle two worlds: tradition, which is symbolized by the culture-rooted content and thematic thrust; and modernity, which is evident in the filmmaker’s reliance on 3D animation technology as form for telling the story.