james bond

007 Vs 13

“Good artists copy; great artists steal,” Steve Jobs liked to say quoting Picasso, proving that getting inspired or motivated by someone else’s idea is not unethical as long as you take it to your own world and make something different out of it, or even better, something finer.

When it comes to creating movie characters, Egyptian movie creators, like many of their international counterparts, can get stuck and run out of original ideas. We have a tendency to revert to the most common solution which is adopting characters from international films, but not in the blunt copy/paste typical format. We still do it our own unique way and imprint them with our identity until you can’t even recognize the original characters.

Below are a few Western characters and their Egyptianized versions:

1. Agent 007 V.S  Agent 13 

When we say secret service agent, guns and MI6, one character leaps to our minds and its name is Bond… James Bond.

james-bond-o

No fiction character would dare approach 007’s territory because it would be an attempt doomed for failure, no question about it. No one but… another secret agent with 13 as a code number!

Agent 13

Don’t underestimate him; he did catch the bad guys at the end of the day and that’s what really counts. Three cheers for 3amil Rakam 13!

 

2. Marvel’s Superheroes V.S Farafiro

When we say Superheroes, we all know those heroic characters are a creation of American comic books.

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Copy them and you will get smashed while trying, but wait a minute… why copy them? We already have our own superhero.

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The unbeatable Farafiro! After all,  what’s a superhero but a fancy suit and a cool name? And he got both, just sing to him el 3ataba Gazaz and he will show all of those Marvel Superheroes with their lavish suits what he’s really made of.

farafiro

 

3. The Magnificent Seven V.S Shams El Zanaty

Dauntless, lionhearted and familiar with the haze of gun smoke, who but the Magnificent Seven could meet this definition?

the-magnificent-seven

Seven gunslinger faced bandits and their leader, Chris Adams, trying to save the innocent people of a poor village, doesn’t this pack call to your mind another set of champions?

shams el zanaty

Chames El Zanaty and his gang were just as courageous as the Magnificent Seven. While saving Ahl el wa7a, there was even considerable diversity in the type of weapons they used, like Salam’s nebla or Ge3idy’s nabout!! Throw the towel Magnificent seven, we’re way cooler.

 

4. Balboa V.S The Black Tiger 

Going the distance and overcoming life obstacles to turn from an everyday man into the World’s Heavyweight Champion, meet the one and only Rocky Balboa.

Rocky_balboa

This was and still is one of the most famous movie characters of all times. It inspired our film industry to create a movie about professional Egyptian boxer, Mohamed El Masry and his life in Germany in the unforgettable movie, “El Nemr El Eswed”.

The black tiger

Rocky had the grizzled former boxer Mickey as a trainer, well, our champion had Costa, also a grey haired with a gravelly voice, so we’re even.

Mickey VS Costa

“Eye of The Tiger” was the theme song of Rocky. what’s the big deal? Our main character was the tiger itself.

You’ve got to admit it; we Egyptians have our special touch.