Dystopian futures, children with special powers, a group of friends who rule the school, a misunderstood character who wants to take over the world. These are just some of the many tropes that are repeated over and over again in countless books and movies, yet they never fail to pique the interest of at least a hundred people. If there’s anything I learned from my creative writing class, it’s that there are a thousand ways to tell the same story. So, when movie directors try to do just that, I don’t mind. In class my teacher told us to sit in silence and look around the room for two minutes and then write a page about what was happening in the room. No one story was the same. The same can be said of movie remakes. True creativity doesn’t have to be defined by what has already been done.
No story really ever ends, or have you not seen “The Never Ending Story?” So movie writers could take the same characters or the same universe and just write an endless series of adventures. Authors do it without much ridicule. Why can’t film makers? Sequels and remakes can be helpful in correcting mistakes, or answering questions that arose from successors. The recent “Beauty and the Beast” remake was actually helpful since it fixed plot holes from the original move, such as the beast’s age, the details of the curse and how little Belle got the beast up on her horse all by herself. And remakes of movies also allow for younger kids to enjoy the same movies we did when we were younger, but in a modern way that is more accessible and recognizable. According to a video by REACT, most children under the age of 10 don’t often recognize movies older than “The Jungle Book.”
There are many movies and books that get repeated and remade, but still make a lot of money. There seems to be a remake of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” every couple years, but no one throws much of a fit about that. “The Fast and Furious” is still doing well even after 10 movies. And I don’t think many people would be upset if we continued to get more Harry Potter movies. I will admit, though, that for TV shows, anything after ten seasons is just beating a dead horse (looking at you, Supernatural). And when it comes to classic horror films, the original film is always better. But those are the exceptions.
It’s not as if there’s a lack of original movies going on right now. Disney just made “Moana,” and speaking of Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson, he was in a hilarious and original movie called “Central Intelligence” which I highly recommend. In 2016 alone there was “Hidden Figures”, “Passengers”, “Deadpool”, “Sing”, “Moonlight”, “Zootopia”, and many other original movies. And this year we’re getting a Wonder Woman movie for the very first time. A lot of remakes and sequels doesn’t mean there isn’t anything else happening to account for originality.
I think that sequels and remakes are a popular thing right now because of nostalgia, and the idea that everything can get better. No two remakes are exactly the same, and I personally hate it when things end. When Pirates of the Caribbean ends, I’m going to be devastated. I honestly don’t think I would ever get sick of Jack Sparrow’s adventures. The point is that if something is loved and making enough money to carry on, there’s no reason it should necessarily end. And everyone deserves a chance to tell a story, and even see if they can tell it better.