Remakes

Remakes, Re-boots, Adaptations, Undesired Sequels, whatever you want to call them, they're all taking a form or a story that previously existed and "remaking" it in a new way.  There seems to be a lot of fuss over remakes.  Comments range from, "NO!  The book can't possibly be captured on film!" to "But the original was so good!  Why do they need to remake it?"  I can't disagree with these feelings, but there's no reason we should get so upset about stories being remade into a new form.  Remakes should be seen as brand new works that just happen to have recognized source material.  A movie is not a book and a remake is not the original film.  They're completely different entities that should stand alone.  There's no reason the original should influence your opinion of the remake, and there's no reason the remake should tarnish the experience of the original.

What's Original?

I think this is the first thing that needs to be understood before we talk about remakes.  "What is original?"  An original would be considered a brand new idea that has never been expressed before.  At the very least works that don't blatantly borrow from established works are considered to be original.  Avatar is considered to be very unoriginal because of it's resemblance to stories like FernGully or Pocahontas.  But FernGully nor Pocahontas aren't completely original in their stories.  The basic premise of, "Hero is sent to gain the trust of the opposing group so his side can take over.  The Hero realizes his people are the real bad guys," can be found in many other stories.  Disney borrowed from many Shakespearean stories for their plots.  The Lion King resembles Hamlet, The Little Mermaid is like Romeo and Juliet.  Not only that, but even Shakespeare borrowed from others.   There are (arguably) only Seven Basic Plots that all stories are derived from.  Furthermore, it's been said that "There is nothing new under the sun."  Everything has been done before, and will be done again in some way, shape, or form.

When Inception came out everyone lauded it for being "the most original story in a long time."  However, there was very little that truly was original.  It was exceptionally creative, but it borrowed from so many pre-existing ideas.  The plot is that of a basic heist movie.  The hero must complete one last job before he is free from crime and can return to his family.  The dream machine is very reminiscent of The Matrix (which also borrows from other things).  The idea of entering someone else's dream has been done before, though rarely expressed.  The awesome zero gravity fight sequence in the hall is just a contemporary take on  Fred Astaire's "You're All The World To Me."

Every artist borrows from something they have seen before.  Whether it be literature, cinema, non-fiction, or even their own life, artists borrow.  Every creation is a reinterpretation of something that has come before.  The only true original creator is nature.  Nature is the only thing that can give the world, or the universe, something that has never been seen before by anyone.  Afterall we are creations of nature, even ourselves are unoriginal, but that's not to say we're not unique.

What's a Remake?

A remake is not a clone, yet a new work of art that uses an existing piece as it's source material.  For the sake of this post we will include re-boots, book adaptations, and sequels in the category of remake.  An established work of art in any given form is interpreted into a new form.

Stop Calling Them Remakes

So we know what a remake is, but we also know that nothing is original.  Therefore, everything is a remake!  If everything is a remake, why do we only single out certain remakes?  It's not fair to these so called "remakes" and we're not being fair to ourselves.  To denigrate new works simply because they have an established source material is extremely judgemental and does nothing but take away enjoyment from ourselves and from others.

Nothing's original, everything is a remake, so let's change our understanding.  Let's instead say, everything is new, and nothing is a remake.  Rather, the only things that exist are parody and pastiche.  A parody is an imitation of a work, artist, or period with deliberate exaggeration for comedic effect.  Pastiche is art created in a style of another work, artist, or period.  Homage could also be included which is a work created to show respect to a preexisting work.

The person best known for parody is probably, "Weird Al" Yankovic.  “Weird Al”  re-records popular songs and injects humor by altering the lyrics. He accurately recreates the instrumentation, so familiar listeners can instead focus on his funny lyrical changes.  His work is not considered pastiche because the ultimate effect is comedy, not honor (though sometimes it is hard to tell).

There are examples of parody and pastiche all over popular culture, such as, The Daily Show, a fake news show that mostly mocks mainstream news programs.  Pastiche can also be seen everywhere.  As stated earlier Inception borrows heavily from other forms, The Little Mermaid is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, Quentin Tarantino is known for directly taking elements from other films, and the list goes on.

It would seem you could make the argument that pastiche, parody, and homage are all subcategories of remakes since they are all re-creating an "original" work.  Yet, "Weird Al's" music, The Daily Show, and Inception are not regarded as remakes.  They are known as "originals with borrowed elements."  In pop-culture, remakes are only pieces that intend to be exactly like an original.  But by definition, what is considered to be a remake should be called either pastiche or parody.  It would be impossible to to remake something exactly the same as the original.

Anytime something is remade into a new form, it is being created by a completely different artist (sometimes the same artist but at a new time) who has new ideas and different perspective.  This changes the story and creates something new.  Both parody and pastiche change preexisting works to create new effects.  From comedy to mash-ups they strive to invoke new thoughts.  The source material will always be altered.  The only remakes that truly exist are mechanical or digital "one to one" reproductions of existing objects.  Mass-produced items, prints of artwork, and video replication are examples of the truly remade; those that had an original source "cloned" with the intent of creating an exact replica, A Remake.  If you can accept this new understanding, I hope that you can better enjoy "remakes" and learn to completely separate the new interpretations from the original.  However, the prevalence of remakes as evidence for Hollywood being out of ideas is still up for debate.