Here’s a medium take, most of human culture across its history has consisted of the same stories told anew. The only problem now is that the gatekeepers of our culture are moneyed interests, and the influence of shareholder interests and oligarchs means we end up watching the colour and life fade from our culture in realtime as capitalism declines.
Slightly hotter take - this one may be the consumer’s fault. They keep making them because 1. copyright expiration, and 2. people keep fucking watching it! This is such an easy thing to use your wallet as a vote on.
Last year, an amazing movie called Juror #2 came in the cinemas. Not a remake (to my knowledge) or sequel of any kind. I watched in the first week of release in my country. I had to go to a less-well known cinema because the main ones did not even show it in that city. And once there, we were in a small watching room that wasn’t even full. One week into release. Meanwhile, Gladiator 2 down the hall was in a nearly sold-out, much larger room.
I love shitting on big corporations like many lemmings here, but in this specific instance, I think the consumers are at fault. Movies are not a necessity. Pirate them if you really want to watch a remake/sequel, and pay for original stuff. Companies keep making nostalgia slop because people keep paying them for it. It really is that simple.
Read “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell. Myths repeat through cultures and influence every story that follows. We’re constantly recycling
Campbell’s work is valuable and interesting, but I like it better as a lens for modern media rather than as some grand unified theory of human culture.
Here’s a medium take, most of human culture across its history has consisted of the same stories told anew. The only problem now is that the gatekeepers of our culture are moneyed interests, and the influence of shareholder interests and oligarchs means we end up watching the colour and life fade from our culture in realtime as capitalism declines.
Slightly hotter take - this one may be the consumer’s fault. They keep making them because 1. copyright expiration, and 2. people keep fucking watching it! This is such an easy thing to use your wallet as a vote on.
Last year, an amazing movie called Juror #2 came in the cinemas. Not a remake (to my knowledge) or sequel of any kind. I watched in the first week of release in my country. I had to go to a less-well known cinema because the main ones did not even show it in that city. And once there, we were in a small watching room that wasn’t even full. One week into release. Meanwhile, Gladiator 2 down the hall was in a nearly sold-out, much larger room.
I love shitting on big corporations like many lemmings here, but in this specific instance, I think the consumers are at fault. Movies are not a necessity. Pirate them if you really want to watch a remake/sequel, and pay for original stuff. Companies keep making nostalgia slop because people keep paying them for it. It really is that simple.
It takes two to tango. If you feed people like babies, they will shit in diapers.
Read “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell. Myths repeat through cultures and influence every story that follows. We’re constantly recycling
Campbell’s work is valuable and interesting, but I like it better as a lens for modern media rather than as some grand unified theory of human culture.
They do reboots just so they don’t lose the trademark.
Reboots happen every 10 years because that’s how long trademark registration lasts.
https://tmep.uspto.gov/RDMS/TFSR/current#/current/TFSR-15USCd1e1.html (section 8)
Yeah that’s part of it. That’s one specific mechanism by which our culture is in the hands of people with perverse incentives.
Sane take IMO, you have selected the medium podium well
Sorry, I’m usually funnier