Okay, help me out here. I don't understand.
So, I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this burgeoning Hollywood trend of we-can-do-it-better-than-you-did, where producers take a foreign movie that is not all that old, and basically copy it exactly; only THIS one has American actors and Hollywood-grade special effect tweaks.
::twirls finger:: Woohoo.
Not to be confused with remakes of movies that are becoming outdated where the seed of the old plot is there but it has all new material that is updated to match the mindset of the new demographic, for example: Dude, Where's My Car? became The Hangover (ie. Dude, where's our bridegroom?) ::snort::
No.
I mean where it's the same damn movie with the same damn scenes, a very similar damn script, and possibly even a same damn actor or two.
WHY?!
I've noticed it before, but the major irritation first began to bud with One Missed Call. That one got stuck in my craw a little because the original Japanese version was one of my favorite scary movies for a while, but I managed to get it down by keeping in mind that Japanese and American superstitions often do not coincide and Mr. Average Joe American who is not steeped in Japanese horror culture like me maybe needs a bit of translating. Translating and corny graphics. Whatever.
But irritation bloomed into outright annoyance with the American release of Death at a Funeral. I was mildly insulted on behalf of both black people and the British. It's like the producers sat down and decided 'Well, we want a movie that will appeal to the black demographic since most of the comedies released recently have been targeting white people, but we're too lazy to think up a new story so we're just going to rip off a good British film. And use black actors. But the same dwarf because there are apparently no readily available black actors with achrondroplasia.'
And the sad part is it worked! I died a little inside a couple days ago when I was talking to the husband of a good friend of my mom (mine as well) and he mentioned how much he loved the new movie Death at a Funeral. You can't really tell them, "Well then you should see the original! It's SO much better, being the original and all. Oh, sorry, there's no one with your color skin in it though." God, is there a bigger way to sound like an ass for simply saying that you appreciate the source material?
And now they've done it again with Let Me In, which is basically the Sweedish film Let the Right One In. They went to extremes to make everything the same, only Americanized, right down the very stupid haircut they gave the poor lead boy. Why not just go out and see the real version, if you're going to be that close?
Personally, I love watching foreign films, in their own language, of course. There's just something special that is lost in translation with a dub or a remake. You can learn a lot about a different culture from watching how they choose to present the characters, what choices those characters make, how they speak, etc. Even the filming technique, which may be sub-par according to American standards, tells you something. Because when you get involved in the plot, you sort of just forget to be American for a while. Then, suddenly, things that would never show up in a big-budget Hollywood film, such as the constant sound of breathing from a microphone situated very close, become a story-enhancing technique.
Americans. ::shakes head:: We're so obsessed with how big our movie penis is, we're starting to loose track of where it may be inappropriate to whip it out and admire it.
I wish America wasn't so afraid of subbing. I feel like we're cheating ourselves out of something here.
God, if they remake Amelie, I may just have to go take some famous Hollywood producer hostage and kill him. Or, better yet, force him to watch repeated showings of Escape From LA.
Edit: Dammit. Now I have that song "Anything You Can Do" from Annie Get Your Gun stuck in my head. ^_^;;
::twirls finger:: Woohoo.
Not to be confused with remakes of movies that are becoming outdated where the seed of the old plot is there but it has all new material that is updated to match the mindset of the new demographic, for example: Dude, Where's My Car? became The Hangover (ie. Dude, where's our bridegroom?) ::snort::
No.
I mean where it's the same damn movie with the same damn scenes, a very similar damn script, and possibly even a same damn actor or two.
WHY?!
I've noticed it before, but the major irritation first began to bud with One Missed Call. That one got stuck in my craw a little because the original Japanese version was one of my favorite scary movies for a while, but I managed to get it down by keeping in mind that Japanese and American superstitions often do not coincide and Mr. Average Joe American who is not steeped in Japanese horror culture like me maybe needs a bit of translating. Translating and corny graphics. Whatever.
But irritation bloomed into outright annoyance with the American release of Death at a Funeral. I was mildly insulted on behalf of both black people and the British. It's like the producers sat down and decided 'Well, we want a movie that will appeal to the black demographic since most of the comedies released recently have been targeting white people, but we're too lazy to think up a new story so we're just going to rip off a good British film. And use black actors. But the same dwarf because there are apparently no readily available black actors with achrondroplasia.'
And the sad part is it worked! I died a little inside a couple days ago when I was talking to the husband of a good friend of my mom (mine as well) and he mentioned how much he loved the new movie Death at a Funeral. You can't really tell them, "Well then you should see the original! It's SO much better, being the original and all. Oh, sorry, there's no one with your color skin in it though." God, is there a bigger way to sound like an ass for simply saying that you appreciate the source material?
And now they've done it again with Let Me In, which is basically the Sweedish film Let the Right One In. They went to extremes to make everything the same, only Americanized, right down the very stupid haircut they gave the poor lead boy. Why not just go out and see the real version, if you're going to be that close?
Personally, I love watching foreign films, in their own language, of course. There's just something special that is lost in translation with a dub or a remake. You can learn a lot about a different culture from watching how they choose to present the characters, what choices those characters make, how they speak, etc. Even the filming technique, which may be sub-par according to American standards, tells you something. Because when you get involved in the plot, you sort of just forget to be American for a while. Then, suddenly, things that would never show up in a big-budget Hollywood film, such as the constant sound of breathing from a microphone situated very close, become a story-enhancing technique.
Americans. ::shakes head:: We're so obsessed with how big our movie penis is, we're starting to loose track of where it may be inappropriate to whip it out and admire it.
I wish America wasn't so afraid of subbing. I feel like we're cheating ourselves out of something here.
God, if they remake Amelie, I may just have to go take some famous Hollywood producer hostage and kill him. Or, better yet, force him to watch repeated showings of Escape From LA.
Edit: Dammit. Now I have that song "Anything You Can Do" from Annie Get Your Gun stuck in my head. ^_^;;