88 african appropriations
Unlike Cameron’s Titanic, in which “the (historical) ship is itself the
main character” while the story about Rose and Jack is “only a fiction-
alised entry point for the audience to enter into the larger story of the
ship” (Wolf 2004: 216), the Nigerian remake shines the spotlight on the
love story. Hausa videos have a predilection for love stories. Often such
plots develop against the backdrop of arranged or even forced marriages,
a social practice still upheld by some parents in northern Nigeria, despite
its considerable potential for conflict. In such video films, girl meets boy
and they fall in love, only to discover that her parents intend to marry
her off to another man. Cameron’s Titanic with its love triangle of Rose,
Jack, and Cal serves as the perfect template for a remake targeting as it
does a local and largely female audience that expects a plot of similar
constellations with almost every new release. The similarity of the main
romantic story in Cameron’s Titanic to local plot constellations, as well
as its resonance with contemporary social reality, must have played into
Ashu-Brown’s decision to remake the multimillion-dollar Holly wood
production under very different local conditions. Remaking, though, is
a common practice in Kany wood. However, the films that serve as tem-
plates are usually popular Indian movies whose plots are almost invari-
ably based on love triangles. They are used to articulate the conflicting
experiences of individuals trapped between the forces of tradition and
the liberating promises of modernity in a rapidly changing society. Hausa
videos, in fact, can be said to have developed out of a long-standing appre-
ciation for Indian films among Hausa audiences, an appreciation largely
owed to these films’ stark difference from Western productions, which do
not echo Nigerian everyday life (Larkin 1997). In this respect, Cameron’s
Titanic is different. On account of a historical setting, Cameron is able
to build the story of Rose and Jack around the tension of an arranged
marriage—a story that would not have worked for Western audiences if
it had been set in the present day. Hausa audiences, however, can relate
to a girl like Rose who feels imprisoned by social norms that force her
to unquestioningly obey her parents and to marry someone against her
will. Her situation reflects contemporary social reality among the Hausa.
Stories abound in northern Nigeria about girls who commit suicide by
jumping into wells to escape forced marriages, just as Rose attempts
to kill herself. Despite such general resonance, however, Ashu-Brown