4 shot-for-shot remakes and the phenomenon of self-cannibalization
There's proof all around that films undergo mutations over time. The idea, once impossible to argue, that the changes come with a certain authorial control is now trivial – not all films are tied to their authors, many of them have proclaimed their independence. Remakes appear as a business initiative, after all, as an occasional solution when American film studios hit a dry spell – the remake/double would be a version that doesn't necessarily make justice to the original, usually a foreign-language film; while, narratively speaking, things can remain just about the same, the only changes that might occur are related to acting and the spoken language. Thus, the film would invariably benefit from the success of its predecessor, would feed on it like a leech, turning it into a decent, albeit modest, hook for spectators. Over time, remakes have become a common practice, which can easily defy the stereotype that the original is better anyway, that there is no comparing between the two. First of all, the remake points out the modern technical possibilities (no matter how outrageous, transnational Ghost in the Shell, 2017 – the live-action version of Mamoru Oshii's anime from 1995 – is, it succeeds in reproducing in CGI the cyberpunk from the original material), sets two authorial visions side by side (Luca Guadagnino's take on Suspiria is totally different from Dario Argento's giallo) and takes the narrative into a completely meteoric sphere to the original (like turning an otherwise serious film into pornography; or trying to recreate Shrek into a parody by leaving 200 authors to edit, amateur-style, the film's moments, frame by frame). In general, the films that have undergone the greatest number of remakes are themselves adaptations from the literature (Dracula, for example, is primarily Bram Stoker's legacy). Going through so many versions, altering the original more and more, it becomes like a game of “broken telephone” over time, and by the end of the loop, you are left with nothing of the original message.
Journalist and film critic, with a master's degree in film critics. Collaborates with Scena9, Acoperișul de Sticlă, FILM and FILM Menu magazines. For Films in Frame, she brings the monthly top of films and writes the monthly editorial Panorama, published on a Thursday. In her spare time, she retires in the woods where she pictures other possible lives and flying foxes.
