Cynical copyright-maintaining or quick-buck-making remakes are obviously not great. We can all agree on that. I’m talking about remakes/reboots done by people who are passionate about the project and who want to do the best they can with the material. I think, in a perfect world, we’d have a new Godfather II or Goodfellas every few years, made by directors and writers and actors who bring their own interpretation to the material. I want to see Quentin Tarantino’s version of The Exorcist. I want to see Martin Scorsese’s version of The Godfather. I want to see Ari Aster’s version of Spaceballs. I want to watch Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman playing Grumpy Old Men.

Shakespeare’s plays are done all over the world all the fucking time. You can’t get away from the cunt. His work is remade and remolded into different forms, like West Side Story or The Lion King. The themes and story beats are stolen and remixed and given different spins by pretty much everyone. No one says “no, I only like the FIRST recorded version of his plays, anything after that is shit by default” or “why are they re-recording Macbeth in 2025 when we already have the 1889 Talkie version??”

Recorded media should not be treated as a final, authoritative version of anything. It should exist and be respected and all that jazz, but Taxi Driver isn’t going anywhere just because they make a Muppets version in 2032 (god willing). Being sold as a commodity doesn’t bestow a story with finality and immutable perfection.

I love films and I love having them on Blu-ray. I would be even happier if I had 10 other interpretations of my favourite films made by film-makers I respect that I could also enjoy. I want people to treat recorded media the way they treat plays; that is, they are never “done”. Storytelling is an organic and squishy affair. I believe recorded media, for all the good it brings, also brings a weird sense that once something is printed on a DVD or played in a cinema, that the process of storytelling is completed and that’s that, forever. It’s really, really weird to me.

Most people are tolerant of, and in fact get very excited by, the idea of cover versions of songs they already love. Many of us have cover versions of songs we like better than the originals. Most of us take cover versions to be tributes to the original artists inasmuch as they’re unique interpretations. Why can’t we have the same attitude toward movies or TV shows? No cover version is “needed”. No cover version is expected to either surpass the original or die on the vine. But when a film remake is announced, the comments are always “what’s wrong with the OG?” or “the OG is only 10 years old!” or “this isn’t needed, I wish Hollywood would have original ideas for a change” etc.

Let’s lighten up a bit and be happy that we’re blessed with remakes at all. A world without the concept of remade movies would be a very bereft one, in my [unpopular] opinion.

  • MimicJar@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    5 months ago

    Generally speaking I agree with you, especially when it comes to the cynicism. However, while I like the spirit of the musical cover example, I don’t think it quite works in this argument. Artistically it fits , but not practically.

    Creating a (good) song cover does require musical talent, but generally speaking anyone can create a song cover. The acoustic cover is a popular genre and the Internet is full of them.

    However creating a “cover” of a television program or film, that’s a complex task no one person can do it. You need actors, many of them unless one-man shows are more popular than I think. You need sets, directors, editors, etc. No matter how you slice it it’s a complicated process.

    So when people say, “I wish Hollywood would have original ideas”, if I’m generous with that interpretation, it’s because people are concerned that if only reboots/remakes exist, it takes away from original idea projects that could exist.

    Of course we are living in the era of “content”. We have more films and television shows now than we’ve ever had. Not to mention alternatives like YouTube, Twitch, etc. although those don’t typically compete in reboot/remake category, they do share a similar entertainment bucket.