Navigating tradition and modernity in'Seven Doors', a Netflix's 2024 Nigerian series: exploring religious syncretism and cultural identity

Abstract

This paper examines the portrayal of religious syncretism in Netflix's 2024 Nigerian series Seven Doors, analyzing how the narrative represents the intersection between traditional Nigerian religious practices and modern faith systems. Through a qualitative content analysis of the six-episode series, this study explores the fictional representation of traditional religious elements, particularly the Ifa divination system and ancestral worship, as they interact with contemporary religious perspectives in modern Nigerian Yoruba storytelling. While acknowledging the limitations of using creative media as primary evidence for theoretical frameworks, the analysis investigates how the series employs religious syncretism as a narrative device that reflects broader cultural discourses in contemporary Nigeria. The study contextualizes the series' fictional portrayal within existing scholarship on religious syncretism, positioning Seven Doors as a cultural text that offers insights into popular perceptions and representations of religious coexistence in Nigeria. By examining this media representation alongside established theoretical and empirical research on Nigerian religious practices, this paper contributes to the growing body of literature on religious representation in African media and explores how streaming platforms participate in cultural conversations about traditional African religious practices in modern contexts.