94 african appropriations
of ” track on the same vhs cassette. For local audiences and critics alike,
however, his film—neither Holly wood, nor really Kany wood—was too
much of a difference, and was not a success at all. “Just like the way the
ship went down into the water, I felt the money for which I bought this film
go down the drain” (from the Hausa; my translation), writes Abubakar
I. Abdullahi in his critique posted at Finafinan_Hausa, a Yahoo! group
dedicated to Hausa videos (August 21, 2003). Neither was the video ap-
preciated as a critical response to Cameron’s Titanic, nor as remarkable in
any other way. “It seems that you alone enjoyed your cover version of Cé-
line Dion’s song, which, I must admit, almost caused the loss of my ears”
(August 21, 2003). W hile the film flopped for many reasons, the fact that
it was a remake prompted the most criticism. In 2003, when Masoyiyata
came out, the practice of remaking had already been discussed very criti-
cally with regard to videos that borrowed their plots more or less straight
from Indian movies. Critics usually complained about mixing “Hausa cul-
ture” with “Indian culture” that allegedly blighted local life. W hile these
complaints pertained to Hausa videos in general (see chapter 4), they were
even fiercer if the video in question turned out to be a remake and often
went along with the allegation that the producer’s only motivation was to
make money without any creative effort. Since Masoyiyata—unlike other
Hausa remakes—makes no attempt to hide that it is indeed a remake, the
usual critics of “cross-cultural” copying were particularly harsh on its di-
rector. “Today we have someone who demonstrates to ordinary remakers
that theirs is just a child’s game (wasa), for his is a serious scrambling for
money (wasoso),” says, Abdullahi, launching his critique, which he sub-
stantiates by pointing out that the filmmaker not only “stole” the title and
the story but also pasted “more than 27 sequences” of the original into his
own film. Referring to a Hausa proverb, he calls Ashu-Brown a “magpie
which turns someone else’s offspring into its own” (Hankaka—mai da
‘dan wani naka; August 21, 2003).
A TANZANIAN GRAPHIC NOVELIn Tanzania, Cameron’s Titanic was appropriated by comic artist
Joshua Amandus Mtani, who turned the movie into a graphic novel titled