The Rise of Nostalgia Fuckery – Episode 7

May 13, 2016November 18, 2016 bcottington85

This week Brian, John, and Elaine tackle the gigantic rotting elephant in the room; REMAKES! We examine the new trend in the Hollywood remake factory; using nostalgia to attract both old and new audiences and how that quite literally is setup to crash and burn. Buckle up folks! It’s gonna be a bumpy ride!

Movie News!

AMC Theaters and the “Tweet Seat” Backlash
- AMC Theaters dipped their toe into the idea of making a section of theaters open to texting and social media. Public backlash however was fierce as within 24 hours of the announcement, AMC Theaters walks back the idea and rededicated movie theaters as being “cell phone free” zones.

Remakes- Key Points

Hollywood is trying to Kill 2 Birds with 1 Stone
- The current crop of remakes aims at trying to appease die hard fans of the original material while trying to cater to the the 18-24 crowd that has never been exposed to the original source material and ultimately cannot stomach complex plots with character development. They desire explosions with just enough plot to move to the next scene as that is what they are used to.
Wallstreet has Created a Risk Averse Filmmaking Atmosphere
- Due to Hollywood utilizing funding from Wallstreet for a number of films, the atmosphere now relies heavily on utilizing remakes of popular films from the past as well as franchises as opposed to investing in original screenplays where there is a chance that returns will be low. This ultimately breeds a continued lack of originality in studio films.
Some Remakes are Good
- You heard me right.
- Sometimes changing the source material benefits the film. Cinematic original films of books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Hellraiser, and the original Total Recall prove that literary remakes aren’t all that bad.
- Good remakes require a decent gap of time from the original to be success. They also must be original enough to differentiate themselves from the source material but still pay homage to the original.