Class on Display: A Marxist Critique of Chief Daddy

 

The Nigerian film Chief Daddy, released in 2018 and produced by EbonyLife Films, is full of drama, family fights, and funny scenes. It tells the story of what happens when a very rich man, Chief Beecroft, dies and his large extended family starts arguing over who should inherit his money and properties. At first glance, the film seems like simple entertainment. But when we look at it through Marxist theory, we start to see how the movie hides important truths about money, power, and the people who do the real work behind the scenes. This critique uses Marxist ideas to look at how Chief Daddy shows class, labor, wealth, and inequality in Nigeria.

One thing that kept bugging me was how the movie treated the workers. You know, the domestic workers, the drivers, the cooks, all the people who help those rich families live their fancy lives. They're just kind of there, in the background, with hardly any lines or personalities. They're like props, not real people. They're basically just used to help make the rich characters seem even richer and more important because they justify what they have. This kind of thing, where you make the rich the main focus and turn everyone else into background noise, is a big part of what Marxist theory talks about. It's about how the system makes it seem like it's just natural and normal for some people to be super-rich, while others are stuck doing all the work and not getting any of the credit or attention. It turns rich people into main characters and working people into scenery. It is so weird. So, what's the main message that "Chief Daddy" is sending? It's basically this idea that wealth is glamorous and desirable, even if it's not shared equally. It seems that, in this world, life goal is to get a piece of the pie. That's the underlying ideology of the movie. It says that as long as you can get your hands on some money, you're doing okay. That is not okay.

The movie kind of romanticizes all the fighting and scheming over the inheritance. You've got mistresses, secret children, even the Chief's personal assistant, all demanding their share of the money. This is weird. But instead of saying that maybe wealth shouldn't be hoarded in the first place, the movie just accepts that this is how things are, and it's all about getting your piece of the action, no matter what it takes. This almost seems to legitimize capitalist values. It's like if you're clever enough or charming enough, you deserve to be rich, even if it means stepping on other people to get there. What's really missing is any kind of alternative. The movie doesn't even hint at the idea that there might be other ways to live, other ways to share wealth, or other things to value besides money. It just celebrates the system that creates these huge class divides in the first place. This reinforces bad and old habits and ideas.

The movie does have some moments that make you think, even if it's just for a second. For example, the scene where they're reading the will, and everyone's throwing a fit and acting completely funny It's like the movie is briefly showing you how absurd the whole inheritance thing is, and how it can turn families against each other over money. Thank God it is not this crazy. And characters like the social media influencer, Ireti, with her outfits and her constant need to show off? The movie is making fun of her, but it's also revealing how fake and insecure a lot of that "wealth" and "class" can be. It shows elite identities as unstable. But the thing is, these moments of critique never really lead anywhere. The movie always seems to brush them off, like it's just a few personal problems within a system that's basically working fine. It's like the humor is being used to distract us from the bigger questions, like, "Is it really okay for a few people to have so much money while so many others have so little?" Marxist theory would say that all this humor acts as a pacifier, keeping people happy and quiet so they don't start thinking too hard about whether the whole system is actually fair or not. The movie kind of hints at problems, but never makes a big deal of them. This is where the Marxist stuff gets really interesting. One of the main things Marx talked about was how the ruling classes, the people with all the money and power, stay in power. And "Chief Daddy" actually shows this pretty well, even if it doesn't mean to. The whole movie is about who's going to inherit Chief Beecroft's money after he dies. It's not about how he made the money in the first place, or whether that was fair; it's just about who gets to keep it now.

That shows how important family structures are for keeping wealth in the hands of a few. The Beecroft family isn't just a family; it's like a mini-corporation that's designed to pass down money and power from one generation to the next. The way they control the inheritance, the legal stuff, and all the property makes sure that the wealth stays within their circle, no matter what. From a Marxist perspective, this shows how the system is rigged to favor the rich, regardless of whether they actually deserve it. All that drama about the will is also really telling. The characters aren't just fighting over money; they're fighting over power. The will becomes this super-important document that determines who gets to control all the assets, who gets to have social influence, who gets to be important. It shows how wealth isn't just about having nice things; it's about controlling society.  The fight over Chief Daddy's fortune isn't just a family quarrel; it's like a small-scale version of the bigger class struggles that Marx was talking about. It's about who gets to control the resources and who gets left behind. It’s just the same situation with a new font and paper.

"Chief Daddy" might seem like just a light-hearted family comedy, but it's actually reflecting and even shaping the way people think about class and inequality in Nigeria. A Marxist critique helps us see all the ways the movie is reinforcing the system, even without trying to. It hides the labor that creates wealth, it makes people worship fancy things, it only shows us the lives of the rich, and it brushes off any serious critique with a joke. Gramsci's idea of "consent" is also very relevant . By making wealth and privilege seem so desirable and entertaining, "Chief Daddy" is helping to create consent for the system. People might watch the movie and think, "Wow, it would be so great to be rich," without ever questioning whether that wealth is actually fair or just. The movie makes you watch the news, and not even think about the underlying things, just the action. Most people probably aren't going to leave the movie theater thinking about Marxism, but that doesn't mean the movie isn't having an impact. It's subtly shaping their understanding of wealth, poverty, and social value. By making the elite lifestyle seem so appealing and not showing all the hard work and exploitation that makes it possible, "Chief Daddy" is ultimately serving as a kind of comedic mirror, reflecting Nigeria's deeply unequal class reality.