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6 Reasons That Remakes, Reboots And Sequels Are Totally OK

You may have seen the infographic above posted in a number of places some time last year, lamenting the fact that high-grossing movies in today’s cinematic landscape tend to be attached to stories already in the public consciousness—that there is less quality, original filmmaking coming out for audiences to consume. The only way that may be true is of course if we eliminate the entire independent film system which thrives on the original screenplay and low budget production of original and often off-the-wall material. By that metric, there are more original stories being told on film than ever. The movies making the most money, however, are the tentpole pictures usually tied to a successful introductory film like Iron Man or Pirates of the Caribbean. Building on the success of a hit is obvious less work for a bigger payoff, aka the American Dream.
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[h2]1) Everything is a remake[/h2]

The Matrix

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Kirby Ferguson’s compelling video series entitled “Everything is a Remix” provides a terrifically detailed analysis on the question of whether, to be a tad banal, there really can be anything new under the sun. One of the tenets of postmodernism is that the notion of originality is largely a fallacy. Even movies that seem wholly original, like Inception or The Matrix draw heavily in their storytelling from cinema that has come before them. Many filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino will create original stories but make no effort whatsoever to hide whose ideas they’re stealing from—people call it pastiche filmmaking.

So instead of taking great pains to avoid the impression that they’re stealing or borrowing from or being inspired by art that they themselves have consumed—deluding themselves into thinking their own work is absolutely novel and repeats nothing—many films are keen to cite giants upon whose shoulders they stand. And this doesn’t make them less original than a completely new story, because there’s really no such thing. What’s more, new ideas can come in many forms. The rhythm of the dialogue in The Matrix felt very different while the story and style of action borrowed from classical philosophy and Japanese cinema. And so it goes. So it’s not terribly convincing to me that telling the story of Spider-Man again is less legitimate or interesting than re-telling Plato’s story of The Cave.

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