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And I'm guessing that that article was written in about 2009? So a gestation period of 14 years so far....

 

Am I the only one who wonders why there is an obsession with remakes? Have we actually run out of stories?

 

Andy G

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3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Looks a bit hilly for Lincolnshire...

New Zealand tends not to be very flat.  So great for Lord of the Rings, - terrible for a Lincolnshire airfield. 

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2 hours ago, uax6 said:

Am I the only one who wonders why there is an obsession with remakes? Have we actually run out of stories?

A bit like new productions of Shakespeare plays, or yet another performance of Handel’s Messiah?

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Yeah some of them old masters are cracked and frankly a bit dinggy , someone should have a go at doing them again, or at least giving them a. bit of a tickle with a brushload of Dulux like that Spanish cleaning lady did to that picture of some bloke in her church.images.jpeg.d9b08ffa2faa14e22b6988634f40be71.jpeg

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Admittedly I am not an admirer of much contemporary culture, but I also do not understand this expenditure on 're-making ' films which were indicative and evocative of the times in which they were originally made. How can anyone claim that 'The Italian Job' or 'Get Carter' could be 'improved' ?

Re-interpreted, or revised possibly, but of far less interest.

 

Anyway, on more important subjects for those who live in NE England, may I recommend the current Norman Cornish exhibition at the Bowes Museum. I went yesterday, and will have to visit again before it moves on in January.

 

( I will also have to find some more wall space for pictures.)

 

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3 hours ago, uax6 said:

Am I the only one who wonders why there is an obsession with remakes? Have we actually run out of stories?

 

1 hour ago, Regularity said:

A bit like new productions of Shakespeare plays, or yet another performance of Handel’s Messiah?

 

Remakes of Shakespeare have been going on since the 17th Century, there'll always be a "modern dress", or casting women in parts, or , how can I put this, "non-europeans" as principal characters, along with cutting dialogue and scenes. All for modern political relevance or to massage egos.  Musical works are ego driven too, or reflect research on historical performance practices, or a blinding flash of interperative inspiration. Or because people like performing them!

 

Another factor with productions of Shakespeare and Handel is that the raw materiel is all OUT OF COPYRIGHT.

 

Films are slightly different. While remakes might be ego driven, politically adjusted for current sensibilities or situated in locations far away from their origins, the motivation is to preseve copyright in visual representation of characters and "story". Disney are masters at this.

 

The thing is, we don't have to watch the remakes!

 

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All films, play-productions, musical performances (popular and high-brow) speak as much of the time in which they are produced as of the time which they are intended to evoke, so film re-makes are possibly worth having as cultural artefacts of their time, for the purposes of comparative study (which can also be popular, in the pub, or high-brow, in a thesis).

 

But, Hroth is right, which is a real mercy - I was so upset by what the fairly-modern US film industry did to The Ladykillers that I’m not sure I’ve ever properly recovered from it. 
 

Even Wikipedia says:

 

The Ladykillers received mixed reviews upon release, and several critics consider it one of the Coen brothers' weaker efforts, negatively comparing it to the English classic.

 

 

Edited by Nearholmer
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40 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Another factor with productions of Shakespeare and Handel is that the raw materiel is all OUT OF COPYRIGHT.

 

Also that the raw material is a work of genius, bearing multiple re-interpretations. 

 

 

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The thing about film - and to some extent “popular” music - is that we tend to view the recordings as definitive, rather than captured in aspic. In reality, they are nothing more than a product of their times, just as much as much as a play or any form of art, so open to reinterpretation.

The “entertainment value” might be questionable, however.

But... what is “West Side Story” if not “Romeo and Juliet” superbly translated to mid-20th Century New York?

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Perhaps it's the visual aspect that makes a film definitive and un-remakeable. There is some scope for re-interpreting great paintings - as Francis Bacon did with Velázquez, or as Monet did with himself, endlessly re-interpreting his garden at Giverny. 

 

Romeo and Juliet is an interesting case - given that it is one of the most famous works of one of the greatest, if not the greatest, dramatists of all time, the words turn out to be surprisingly dispensable: operas by Bellini and Gounod, with librettos freely adapted from the play in Italian and French respectively, Berlioz' choral symphony, and Prokofiev's ballet. 

 

And don't overlook Gnomeo and Juliet, set in a very realistically-depicted suburban Stratford-upon-Avon.

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3 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

 

Remakes of Shakespeare have been going on since the 17th Century, there'll always be a "modern dress", or casting women in parts, or , how can I put this, "non-europeans" as principal characters, along with cutting dialogue and scenes. All for modern political relevance or to massage egos.  Musical works are ego driven too, or reflect research on historical performance practices, or a blinding flash of interperative inspiration. Or because people like performing them!

 

Another factor with productions of Shakespeare and Handel is that the raw materiel is all OUT OF COPYRIGHT.

 

Films are slightly different. While remakes might be ego driven, politically adjusted for current sensibilities or situated in locations far away from their origins, the motivation is to preseve copyright in visual representation of characters and "story". Disney are masters at this.

 

The thing is, we don't have to watch the remakes!

 

In any case, some remakes are widely considered to be better than the originals - the 1954 version of A Star is Born, for example.

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2 hours ago, Regularity said:

The thing about film - and to some extent “popular” music - is that we tend to view the recordings as definitive, rather than captured in aspic. In reality, they are nothing more than a product of their times, just as much as much as a play or any form of art, so open to reinterpretation.

The “entertainment value” might be questionable, however.

But... what is “West Side Story” if not “Romeo and Juliet” superbly translated to mid-20th Century New York?

Miss Saigon/Madame Butterfly.

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On 18/07/2020 at 20:56, Compound2632 said:

@Lecorbusier has drawn attention to the general similarity of this "Swiss Chalet" style with the early work of the architect in honour of whom he takes his nom-de-web. There was some discussion of this re. Matlock Bath station, which also branched out into North American wayside station design. Blowed if I can find it.

Matlock Bath - (little Switzerland)......

file-1.jpg.5833b5d8b59b1f016ef18a6851e210cd.jpg

Early Le Corbusier - (The Swiss Jura)......

file.jpg.d0a68c61856516b9b2f9d9c4188a088d.jpg

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10 hours ago, Regularity said:

The thing about film - and to some extent “popular” music - is that we tend to view the recordings as definitive, rather than captured in aspic.

 

Not just "popular" music, as a child I heard my Dad's 1970's vintage recording of Holst's "Planets" by the London Philharmonic, a scratchy 1960's vintage Wagner's "Tannhauser" and Gershwin's "Rhapsody in blue" a million times and they are so etched into my memory that no recording I've heard since sounds "right" to me; the tempo of certain sections are too fast, or too slow, or certain instruments have more, or less emphasis, or too loud, or too quiet; overall they just don't sound as good as I remember...

Edited by TT-Pete
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14 minutes ago, TT-Pete said:

 

Not just "popular" music, as a child I heard my Dad's 1970's vintage recording of Holst's "Planets" by the London Philharmonic, a scratchy 1960's vintage Wagner's "Tannhauser" and Gershwin's "Rhapsody in blue" a million times and they are so etched into my memory that no recording I've heard since sounds "right" to me; the tempo of certain sections are too fast, or too slow, or certain instruments have more, or less emphasis, or too loud, or too quiet; overall they just don't sound as good as I remember...

 

Wonderful discoveries are so often followed by disappointment in the follow-up events.....

 

Julian

 

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Just seen Tony Abbot's comments on Coronavirus (though what connection that has with his trade brief, I don't know). Have we signed a deal with Australia that involves the importation of idiots? Totally unnecessary, we have plenty of our own, thank you. 

Alan 

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1 hour ago, Buhar said:

Just seen Tony Abbot's comments on Coronavirus (though what connection that has with his trade brief, I don't know). Have we signed a deal with Australia that involves the importation of idiots? Totally unnecessary, we have plenty of our own, thank you. 

 

That would be fair dinkum since we sent them our criminals.

 

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

I’m seriously considering signing-up for Mad Musk’s Rocket Trip because I’ve concluded that leaving the planet is the only option left, there being no sane places left on it.

 

Would you really want to be stuck in a rocket to Mars for several years with someone by the name of Musk?

 

I fear that if we colonise Mars we will turn out to have learned nothing from our colonisation of Australia. 

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