dar 2 lagos 157Video Film
(Shot: Husband tastes Mama Nnamdi’s food and grimaces in disgust)
(Shot: Mama Nnamdi and co-wife) Mama Nnamdi: It’s bitter leaf [soup].
(Shot: Husband) Husband: I know, but it’s too bitter.
(Shot: Mama Nnamdi and co-wife) Mama Nnamdi: That’s so that it will
wash your mouth.
Photo Novel
(Panel: Close-up of husband eating) Text 1—Narr ator: The husband
tasted the food of one of the wives! He did not like it, then of an-
other... Text 2—Thoughts of husband: Aaah! She cooks such
a bad food. No, I cannot eat it. I cannot continue eating it, I’ll get a
stomachache!
(Panel: Mama Nnamdi and co-wife) Text 1—Mama Nnamdi: This is
what I have prepared! The one that you love! Text 2—Thoughts of
co-wife: Uh! Look how she is boasting!
W hile the viewer-reader of the photo novel gains some kind of translation
(in fact an interpretation of the Nigerian original by Sultan Tamba) and
a greater chance to transfer the story to his own cultural realm, he also
misses out on a number of the template’s qualities. Unlike the viewer-
listener of the video film, he gets only black-and-white pictures, has to
wait a full week before the story continues, and exchanges static for mov-
ing images and silence for sound. Above all, he must be able to read! Each
medium has its own intrinsic qualities. Remediation not only affects the
content but also changes the ways of accessing it. The remediation of
Omereme alters the form, time, and setting of its consumption: from a
communal viewing and listening experience—in a public video parlor or
with friends and family members in front of a private television screen—to
an individual, silent viewing and reading experience.
Ultimately, Omereme spanned twenty-five issues of Sani before the
photo novel, and remediation of the video film, was complete. According
to Sultan Tamba, the newspaper decided against any further remediation
of Nigerian films due to a low readership (personal interview, March 25,
2006). In 2007, Sani staff informed me that remediation was stopped for