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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