Film Remakes

The practice of Dutch-Flemish film remaking that came into existence in the new millennium quickly appeared to be of great importance in the film industries of Flanders and The Netherlands – and consequently of Europe. Inspired by methods used in television (format) studies, this article conducts a systematic comparative film analysis of nine Dutch-Flemish remakes together with their nine source films. Considering the remake as a prism that aids in dissecting different formal, transtextual, and cultural codes, and subsequently embedding the practice in its specific socio-cultural and industrial context, we found several similarities and differences between the Dutch and Flemish film versions and showed how these can be made sense of. More generally, we distilled two encompassing principles that administer the remake practice: even though a great deal of the remake process can be explained through the concept of localization – or, more precisely, through the concepts of ‘manufacturing proximity’ and ‘banal aboutness’ – we found that it should certainly not be limited to these processes – as both (trans)textual, such as the mechanism of ‘filling in the gaps’, and contextual elements were found.

When films are being remade, they undergo several transformations, including changes related to (the representation of) national, disability, and gender identities. By drawing on the case of the Flemish film Hasta La Vista and its Dutch remake Adios Amigos, this article critically investigates the (dis)similarities on these levels through the prism of the film remake. Both films are popular road trip movies dealing with the adventure of three friends with disabilities who overcome boundaries in multiple ways not only by figuratively (and almost literally) escaping their parents and their disabilities but also through traveling, exploring sexuality, and eventually by dying. Although the films deal with almost exactly the same themes, their interpretation and contextualization differ considerably. Our findings show that as a consequence of the localizing processes embedded in film remakes, subtexts which were ‘originally’ ingrained in the source text were ignored or even withheld in the newer version. As the involved filmmakers built on particular stereotypical visions and myths about these specific cultures and national identities, often with the purpose of recreating a socio-cultural context, such narrowed perceptions were occasionally subverted but also reconsolidated. Finally, we argue that, through the remake process, some ableist and patronizing representations of, respectively, disability and gender identities were subverted, while others were kept or even reinforced. Our results show that such transformations point toward specific socio-culturally defined disability and gender identities but also toward a shared and almost universally shaped disability and gender culture.

As the two billion YouTube views for “Gangnam Style” would indicate, South Korean popular culture has begun to enjoy new prominence on the global stage. Yet, as this timely new study reveals, the nation’s film industry has long been a hub for transnational exchange, producing movies that put a unique spin on familiar genres, while influencing world cinema from Hollywood to Bollywood.

Movie Migrations is not only an introduction to one of the world’s most vibrant national cinemas, but also a provocative call to reimagine the very concepts of “national cinemas” and “film genre.” Challenging traditional critical assumptions that place Hollywood at the center of genre production, Hye Seung Chung and David Scott Diffrient bring South Korean cinema to the forefront of recent and ongoing debates about globalization and transnationalism. In each chapter they track a different way that South Korean filmmakers have adapted material from foreign sources, resulting in everything from the Manchurian Western to The Host’s reinvention of the Godzilla mythos.

Spanning a wide range of genres, the book introduces readers to classics from the 1950s and 1960s Golden Age of South Korean cinema, while offering fresh perspectives on recent favorites like Oldboy and Thirst. Perfect not only for fans of Korean film, but for anyone curious about media in an era of globalization, Movie Migrations will give readers a new appreciation for the creative act of cross-cultural adaptation.

"This book provides a dynamic investigation of processes of cultural reproduction – remaking and remodelling – in film, television and new media. Drawing on a wide variety of Hollywood and other examples, this impressive group of contributors considers a wide range of film adaptations, remakes and fan productions from various industrial, textual and critical perspectives. Their case studies discuss new versions of popular texts such as The Manchurian Candidate, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Stepford Wives. They provide new perspectives on the unlimited cultural production of classics like The Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and they analyze the groundbreaking work of fan appropriations, including Batman and Spiderman fanvids, and fanfic trailer revisions for The Shining and television's The Adventures of Merlin.

Reviews:

“Covering a wide range of examples, this is essential reading for anyone interested in film cultures and fan practices. Loock and Verevis have brought together a great mix of chapters. Contributors might be exploring recycling and remaking, but there’s nothing retro about their scholarship. Quite simply, Remake | Remodel is a model of excellence.”
-- Matt Hills, University of Cardiff, UK

“This exhilarating collection is guaranteed to make you think twice about the boundaries between adaptations and remakes, beginnings and endings, fiction and history, academics and fans, and especially reading and writing. Whether the contributors are discussing the endless generations of Sherlock Holmes or the land of Oz or the brave new world of fan videos and trailers, they're constantly removing the Do Not Disturb signs earlier theorists posted all over the textual landscape, and incidentally expanding our idea of what constitutes a text in wonderfully invigorating ways.”
-- Thomas Leitch, University of Delaware, USA

“Disproving the assumption that adaptations and remakes are simply uninteresting commercial ploys, this excellent collection of international scholars amply demonstrates the creative power and cultural work of such serial forms as created by both industries and fans, impressively spanning media, historical eras, and modes of production.”
-- Jason Mittell, Middlebury College, USA"

In this article, we explicitly take distance from what we would call the ‘anti-remake debates’, or a normative standpoint towards remakes. We instead aim for a more nuanced reading of the remake practice. Our argument is based upon an examination of Dutch-Flemish remakes, which from an international viewpoint entail a unique practice that concerns temporally immediate and geographically adjoining remakes that make use of the same Dutch language. This case of monolingual remakes proves to be an original contribution to the field of remake studies, as well as an excellent exemplar in the context of the deconstruction and reframing of discourses about the global remake practice. As a first step, we claim that the non-commercial aura of the European remake should be revisited because the Dutch-Flemish monolingual remakes clearly disclose a similar incentive to the one that often inspires Hollywood remakes: financial gains. Furthermore, our case underlines the need for a more nuanced understanding of intercultural media practices, including the proximity theory. Lastly, we reveal a remarkable discrepancy between the essentialist conception of cultural identity—that is put forward by remake directors—and the constructionist conception, which is dominant in scholarly discussions.

Against the theoretical background of the concept ‘karaoke-Americanism’, this article compares the Belgian, Dutch and American version of the film Loft. Several (dis)similarities in the representation of sexuality, female characters, and ethnicity, as well as some formal changes, are observed. By combining these results with self-conducted, in-depth and press interviews with the filmmakers of these films, it is ascertained that, although the three versions share a similar use of specific Hollywood conventions, the changes in representation were motivated by perceived cultural differences. Building on known cultural stereotypes and clichés, filmmakers reinforce specific cultural (and national) identities, with the aim of enhancing the recognizability for their local audiences. In conclusion, the Dutch and Belgian filmmakers, in an attempt of localizing the universal, realized a hyperreal version of their own or another culture.

Focussend op de Belgische, Nederlandse en Amerikaanse filmversies van Loft bestudeert dit artikel de relaties tussen interculturele mediapraktijken en de (re)producties van culturele identiteiten. Een vergelijkende tekstuele en contextuele filmanalyse van representaties van vrouwelijke personages, seksualiteit en etniciteit illustreert dat de verschillende versies van eenzelfde filmverhaal gerelateerd zijn aan hun specifieke socio-culturele contexten en aan het concept van karaoke-Amerikanisme.