coda 267copies are much closer to local social reality and thus would be more likely
to serve as templates for imitations by audiences, as they provide images
closer to home. However, except for the occasional nickname and clothing
accessory, and the rare invention of new performance forms (e.g., Hausa
youths imitating the famous song-and-dance sequences of Hausa videos
live on stage by dancing and miming to playback tunes), not much has
actually left the screen and become manifest in public life. This suggests
that the critics’ contentions should be understood as expressions of their
fea r of soc ia l cha nge rat her t ha n obser vat ions of a ny rea l cha nges i n soc ia l
life induced by popular media. Instead of setting the ambivalent forces of
alterity free, media such as Kany wood videos serve to fix and bind them.
SIMULATION, MIMICRY, AND DECEPTIONGebauer and Wulf (1995: 36) mention “simulation” as one of the many
meanings of mimesis to be found in Plato’s Book III of The Republic: “Some-
thing is represented of which it is known that it does not correspond to the
truth because it is in some sense advantageous to do so” (36). Imitators
may thus use an imitation to deceive audiences, tricking them into believ-
ing that they are facing something genuine, when they actually are not.
Today, this notion of mimesis is expressed through the term mimicry. As
such it corresponds to the deceptive nature of the 419 letters, which simu-
late genuine business proposals and can lead to the many fake documents
that mimic bureaucratic business procedures. Other instances of mimesis
as simulation are to be found in The Master, the Nolly wood film that looks
behind the scenes of 419 scams. To trick his European victim into believing
that he has the power to authorize a contract to refurbish the Kaduna oil
refinery, Denis mimes the “King of Nigeria.” This invention, which is per-
fec t ly i n t u ne w it h t he Eu ropea n concept ion of A f r ica, ser ves to a ssuage a ny
fears the victim may have and Denis eventually succeeds in turning him
into a mugu—a “fool” blinded by his own greed and the mimetic talent of
the fraudster, willing to pay fictitious fees for fake documents.
Mimesis as deception is also a trope in African critical discourses
about popular media, in which doubts about the genuineness of certain
representations in terms of their cultural authenticity are quite common.