Is it a remake?
No. Studios won’t admit it’s a remake anymore. It’s a re-telling, a re-imagining, a re-visioning, a re-tread, a modernization, an interpretation, a redux, it’s the same story but set in a contemporary setting, it’s not a direct remake because it will be my interpretation (I’m talking to you Jonathan Demme!), it’s the same story but with different characters, and a different plot, and it takes place before the timeline, but after the sequel. What? When the fuck did creativity and originality become out of style? Can someone please give me the answer?
Studio execs will tell you, no it didn’t go out of style, there’s just a lack of creativity in Hollywood, well why isn’t it being-addressed? Obviously there is a lack of creativity, a disturbing and shocking lack of creativity, especially when studios won’t admit that their movie is a remake, yet make up pompous terms to hide what it really is. It’s a remake. And most of the time, it’s not a good one, and almost always is unnecessary.
COLLAPSE OF ORIGINAL POP CULTURE
You’re probably saying, “You didn’t discover gold, everyone knows remakes suck a lot, remakes have been around for decades”, but they weren’t as bad as they are now, okay? These days we have no creative artists, we have money hungry people posing as artists who are sampling old songs, songs no older than three years old sometimes, we have reality shows, remakes of reality shows, old shows remade into reality shows, and so much more.
With these remakes comes the collapse of culture. Once respectable channels like Bravo, PBS, and A&E, once considered channels for people who wanted the arts, theater and thought-provoking programs have become havens for “discount” television, re-airings of cancelled shows, and documentaries that pander to young people. Where is the culture these days? Where can one who wants to hear classical music or have their mind stimulated go? You’re probably saying “Who wants to think all the time, its fun!” Yeah, well, art is dying and with it culture and eventually the thought process.
Scripted television shows are not surviving anymore either. We’re seeing horrible sitcoms, the same medical, law, and cop dramas, and of course, the spin-off. Has it ever been this rampant? We have Three “CSI” spin-offs coming; we have four “Law & Order” spin-offs. That’s disturbing when you drain the pool from a once creative property and refuse to invest in anything even remotely original. It somehow echoes the notion these days to conform.
BASED ON A CONCEPT BY…
All there are these days in films are movies based on books, comic books, video games, old television shows, poems, toys, paintings, and foreign films. They’re making movies out of everything, and more than ever there are sequels and remakes, and most of the time before a book has made it into the top ten list, and sometimes when it’s not even in the top ten list, they’ll make a movie out of it. Take a look at the movie line-up for the last two years and you’ll see the increasing amount of remakes of films that shouldn’t have even been remade because it’s a sure thing.
No one is going to remake “Killers from Space”, because it’s a risk, so they remake classics that shouldn’t even be touched. Masterpieces like “Dawn of the Dead”, “The Ring”, and “The Manchurian Candidate”, movies that are hallowed ground because it’s the sure thing. What a shame. And what’s even worse, the original geniuses behind these movies aren’t even being credited. These real artists aren’t acknowledged or praised. Case in point, George Romero who directed two of the most influential horror films of all time was the pawn of a dozen re-releases of “Night of the Living Dead”, one featuring new footage, and one even being colorized, his masterpiece “Dawn of the Dead” was remade without his opinion, he wasn’t given a producer credit, he was credited briefly and then it was remade.
Romero, creator of “Dawn of the Dead” a timeless horror film which is a satire of consumerism and capitalism had his art remade with a budget of $ 28,000,000 with a director whose credits were a few commercials and a screenplay for “Scooby-Doo”, yes, the flop. Romero was not a creative consultant for the movie and was pushed aside by a studio seeking money, and Romero is now completing his series which he spent years trying to find a distributor for, and is now being given a small budget. My question is, why is the artist who created the original “Dawn of the Dead” being ignored instead of encouraged by Hollywood, yet they’re more than willing to chuck nearly thirty mill on a remake? It’s disgusting.
There’s a shocking lack of creativity, originality, and intelligence in pop culture these days, and people are eating it up with a spoon, and the enlightened few that are resisting the remakes of their beloved movies are pushed aside left to complain without an ear to listen to them. When did we stop influencing creativity, and individuality in our society? When did we influence conformity, and recycling of art?
HALLOWED GROUND
Why, oh why, do these pompous shitty directors remake these classic films and then boast like they came up with the idea in the first place? Fuck you, you studio butt monkey’s. They’re not your works of arts. Film is art, too. Just like Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, Renoir’s “On the Terrace”, and Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night”, Films are works of art as well. Would you touch “The Scream” from Munch? Any art enthusiast would say “Hell no! You monster!” Then “Casablanca” and “Citizen Kane” shouldn’t be touched, nor should works of art such as “Assault on Precinct 13”, “The Exorcist”, “Carrie”, “The Manchurian Candidate”, “The War of the Worlds”, “Suspiria”, and not even camp classics like “Shaft”, “Barbarella”, “Reefer Madness”, or “Rollerball”. These films are the marks of artists who struggled to perfect and make, people who went under-appreciated during their time, people who were revered and suffered to bring their visions on-screen, and for people to pick on their remains and claim it as their own is wrong and fucked.
REMAKE THE GENRE FILMS AND NO ONE WILL NOTICE
Notice a trend here? Yeah, Hollywood doesn’t have the guts to remake a classic from Fellini, or Scorsese, they just remake genre fare, because it isn’t as revered or respected as say an Oscar-winning drama such as “Ordinary People”. Right, okay, pick on people like me who appreciate horror and don’t want their favorite stories touched. I can’t wait until one day when someone comes out and says “we’re going to re-paint Van Gogh’s The Starry Night except it will be in a modern more contemporary setting and it will be our own interpretation”. That is when anarchy will be brought to tear down those morons. There are even studios remaking contemporary films ala Dimension who is talking about remaking “Scream” which is not even ten years old yet.
REMAKES OR BLATANT WESTERNIZATION?
Why did they remake “Ju-On”, a perfectly good movie? Because Hollywood is now tapping other countries for creativity and once they drain Asia’s pool, they’re going to the African’s, or the Malaysians. “Ju-On” is the perfect example of Westernization in this modern age where we have Hollywood who takes a great scary Asian film, decides to remake it and then re-casts it with an all American cast. Its set in Asia, it’s the same director, the same actress Takako Fuji plays the iconic Kayako, (the slithery groaning ghost), and yet, we have an American cast. Oh, but it’s to relate to the American audience, sure, sure, then why set it in a foreign land?! It’s all crap.
If they can remake an Asian movie with all the elements of the original, why not have the same cast? Or, hey, why not distribute the original film in America? Isn’t that a new idea? Worked with “28 Days Later”, and “Shaun of the Dead”, but they look American, not like an Asian, I guess that’s why studios distributed them so quick. We’re at the end of a pop culture, and cultural wasteland and the onslaught of unscripted discount television, remakes, sequels, recycled concepts, and the deterioration of our culture is the deterioration of our society because society’s were built on culture and when that deteriorates what is next? Our government? No! It couldn’t happen.
REMAKE TRAUMA
Hi, my name is Felix and I too have experienced “remake trauma”. It happened around 1997—It-it happened so fast, you know? I didn’t expect it. But you never do. You know, you take your movie for granted, you love it, and never tell it how you feel, and then… one day… it’s remade… and you think “maybe if I said something” and then you realize there’s nothing you can do, or could have done, and then you blame yourself like I did. I experienced the trauma when “12 Angry Men”, my favorite movie of all time was remade. And… worst of all… it was a TV remake. Dear god, they didn’t even show it respect by putting it in theaters, it just sat there as a TV remake like a cheap whore… it happened so fast, you know? When I found out, I was angry, and then in denial for a while, and then I accepted it, you know? I still have nightmares about it… sure it had a good cast of actors, and it was directed by Sidney Lumet… but you ask yourself, “why this movie? Why this movie of all the others? Why couldn’t it have been spared? What did it ever do to you? And it was remade… like a cheap Britney Spears movie.” If you have been the victim of remake trauma, e-mail us and discuss it and I’ll post it.
WHERE ARE OUR ARTISTS?
For a country that holds itself as such a bustling community of art and culture and entertainment, why haven’t we had a real artist in ten years? People that have had the potential as artists have been swallowed into obscurity or have sold out, and those that are true artists have gone unnoticed in all facets of entertainment. People whom I consider true artists like Richard Linklater are barely given publicity, and films, real original artistic and creative films are brushed aside and only given attention if it appeals to people, and that’s sad. Our culture is dying, and what can we do about it? I have no idea. Tell me what we should do, because I’m clueless and I’m tired of our decreasing IQ and increasing acceptance of the dumbing down or our society. It’s not just about remaking movies; it’s about destroying art and not giving the real artists their due. Will George Romero receive royalties for the “Dawn of the Dead” remake? He sure as hell better. Remaking classics hoping to make some money has become rampant in Hollywood these days. Simply, remaking a classic speaks of basic creative impotence; the directors heading remakes, and the studios backing it lack originality, creativity, and just common sense. Perhaps it’s their psychological need to wish they’d made the original, so they remake it trying to make it their own. Whatever it is, they’re not artists, they’re salesman looking to redo an amazing movie just so they can make more money.