{"id":243,"date":"2004-12-07T04:10:01","date_gmt":"2004-12-07T09:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinemacrazed.wordpress.com\/?p=243"},"modified":"2004-12-07T04:10:01","modified_gmt":"2004-12-07T09:10:01","slug":"the-remake-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2004\/12\/07\/the-remake-game\/","title":{"rendered":"The Remake Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it a remake?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. Studios won\u2019t admit it\u2019s a remake anymore. It\u2019s a re-telling, a re-imagining, a re-visioning, a re-tread, a modernization, an interpretation, a redux, it\u2019s the same story but set in a contemporary setting, it\u2019s not a direct remake because it will be my interpretation (I\u2019m talking to you Jonathan Demme!), it\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n

Studio execs will tell you, no it didn\u2019t go out of style, there\u2019s just a lack of creativity in Hollywood, well why isn\u2019t it being-addressed? Obviously there is a lack of creativity, a disturbing and shocking lack of creativity, especially when studios won\u2019t admit that their movie is a remake, yet make up pompous terms to hide what it really is. It\u2019s a remake. And most of the time, it\u2019s not a good one, and almost always is unnecessary.<\/p>\n

COLLAPSE OF ORIGINAL POP CULTURE<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019re probably saying, \u201cYou didn\u2019t discover gold, everyone knows remakes suck a lot, remakes have been around for decades\u201d, but they weren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cdiscount\u201d 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\u2019re probably saying \u201cWho wants to think all the time, its fun!\u201d Yeah, well, art is dying and with it culture and eventually the thought process.<\/p>\n

Scripted television shows are not surviving anymore either. We\u2019re 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 \u201cCSI\u201d spin-offs coming; we have four \u201cLaw & Order\u201d spin-offs. That\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

BASED ON A CONCEPT BY\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2019re 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\u2019s not even in the top ten list, they\u2019ll make a movie out of it. Take a look at the movie line-up for the last two years and you\u2019ll see the increasing amount of remakes of films that shouldn\u2019t have even been remade because it\u2019s a sure thing.<\/p>\n

No one is going to remake \u201cKillers from Space\u201d, because it\u2019s a risk, so they remake classics that shouldn\u2019t even be touched. Masterpieces like \u201cDawn of the Dead\u201d, \u201cThe Ring\u201d, and \u201cThe Manchurian Candidate\u201d, movies that are hallowed ground because it\u2019s the sure thing. What a shame. And what\u2019s even worse, the original geniuses behind these movies aren\u2019t even being credited. These real artists aren\u2019t 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 \u201cNight of the Living Dead\u201d, one featuring new footage, and one even being colorized, his masterpiece \u201cDawn of the Dead\u201d was remade without his opinion, he wasn\u2019t given a producer credit, he was credited briefly and then it was remade.<\/p>\n

Romero, creator of \u201cDawn of the Dead\u201d 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 \u201cScooby-Doo\u201d, 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 \u201cDawn of the Dead\u201d being ignored instead of encouraged by Hollywood, yet they\u2019re more than willing to chuck nearly thirty mill on a remake? It\u2019s disgusting.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n

HALLOWED GROUND<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2019s. They\u2019re not your works of arts. Film is art, too. Just like Johannes Vermeer\u2019s \u201cGirl with a Pearl Earring\u201d, Renoir\u2019s \u201cOn the Terrace\u201d, and Van Gogh\u2019s \u201cThe Starry Night\u201d, Films are works of art as well. Would you touch \u201cThe Scream\u201d from Munch? Any art enthusiast would say \u201cHell no! You monster!\u201d Then \u201cCasablanca\u201d and \u201cCitizen Kane\u201d shouldn\u2019t be touched, nor should works of art such as \u201cAssault on Precinct 13\u201d, \u201cThe Exorcist\u201d, \u201cCarrie\u201d, \u201cThe Manchurian Candidate\u201d, \u201cThe War of the Worlds\u201d, \u201cSuspiria\u201d, and not even camp classics like \u201cShaft\u201d, \u201cBarbarella\u201d, \u201cReefer Madness\u201d, or \u201cRollerball\u201d. 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.<\/p>\n

REMAKE THE GENRE FILMS AND NO ONE WILL NOTICE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Notice a trend here? Yeah, Hollywood doesn\u2019t have the guts to remake a classic from Fellini, or Scorsese, they just remake genre fare, because it isn\u2019t as revered or respected as say an Oscar-winning drama such as \u201cOrdinary People\u201d. Right, okay, pick on people like me who appreciate horror and don\u2019t want their favorite stories touched. I can\u2019t wait until one day when someone comes out and says \u201cwe\u2019re going to re-paint Van Gogh\u2019s The Starry Night except it will be in a modern more contemporary setting and it will be our own interpretation\u201d. 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 \u201cScream\u201d which is not even ten years old yet.<\/p>\n

REMAKES OR BLATANT WESTERNIZATION?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why did they remake \u201cJu-On\u201d, a perfectly good movie? Because Hollywood is now tapping other countries for creativity and once they drain Asia\u2019s pool, they\u2019re going to the African\u2019s, or the Malaysians. \u201cJu-On\u201d 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\u2019s 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\u2019s to relate to the American audience, sure, sure, then why set it in a foreign land?! It\u2019s all crap.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t that a new idea? Worked with \u201c28 Days Later\u201d, and \u201cShaun of the Dead\u201d, but they look American, not like an Asian, I guess that\u2019s why studios distributed them so quick. We\u2019re 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\u2019s were built on culture and when that deteriorates what is next? Our government? No! It couldn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

REMAKE TRAUMA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hi, my name is Felix and I too have experienced \u201cremake trauma\u201d. It happened around 1997\u2014It-it happened so fast, you know? I didn\u2019t 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\u2026 one day\u2026 it\u2019s remade\u2026 and you think \u201cmaybe if I said something\u201d and then you realize there\u2019s nothing you can do, or could have done, and then you blame yourself like I did. I experienced the trauma when \u201c12 Angry Men\u201d, my favorite movie of all time was remade. And\u2026 worst of all\u2026 it was a TV remake. Dear god, they didn\u2019t even show it respect by putting it in theaters, it just sat there as a TV remake like a cheap whore\u2026 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\u2026 sure it had a good cast of actors, and it was directed by Sidney Lumet\u2026 but you ask yourself, \u201cwhy this movie? Why this movie of all the others? Why couldn\u2019t it have been spared? What did it ever do to you? And it was remade\u2026 like a cheap Britney Spears movie.\u201d If you have been the victim of remake trauma, e-mail us and discuss it and I\u2019ll post it.<\/p>\n

WHERE ARE OUR ARTISTS?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For a country that holds itself as such a bustling community of art and culture and entertainment, why haven\u2019t 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\u2019s sad. Our culture is dying, and what can we do about it? I have no idea. Tell me what we should do, because I\u2019m clueless and I\u2019m tired of our decreasing IQ and increasing acceptance of the dumbing down or our society. It\u2019s not just about remaking movies; it\u2019s about destroying art and not giving the real artists their due. Will George Romero receive royalties for the \u201cDawn of the Dead\u201d 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is it a remake? No. Studios won\u2019t admit it\u2019s a remake anymore. It\u2019s a re-telling, a re-imagining, a re-visioning, a re-tread, a modernization, an interpretation, a redux, it\u2019s the same story but set in a contemporary setting, it\u2019s not a direct remake because it will be my interpretation (I\u2019m talking to you Jonathan Demme!), it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[472,835],"class_list":["post-243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pcthugs","tag-hollywood","tag-remake"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}