Constantine Verevis, Introduction: Remaking Films

(In Film Remakes)

I found this book completely by accident, but it's very good. Verevis sets out to establish remakes as a particular form of intertextual repetition - another form of which is franchises, as I am attempting to argue. Other forms include adaptation, quotation, allusion, the star system and so on. He suggests that remakes (and I would add, franchises) are an institutional structure of repetition, which has industrial, textual and discursive aspects. From a commercial standpoint, this sort of repetition is a way of minimizing risk (although this is an incorrect assumption on the part of the industry); the films are constructed is such a way as to recall elements from other texts; and the reception and criticism of these films is highly informed by the network of texts.

The problems faced by all such studies (especially in genre studies) is oversimplified taxonomy and the issue of measuring the remake against what is perceived as the "essential" elements of the original are also addressed, and Verevis emphasizes the importance of intertextuality and context when dealing with these concepts. Citing a variety of earlier work done on remakes, he criticizes the practice, demonstrating how these categories are almost invariably too ambiguous to be useful. I will certainly try to avoid the impulse - although it's difficult to avoid.

The creative impetus behind remakes is something I had not really considered in context of franchises - directors, actors, writers and other creators (often with some measure of auteur status) set out to pay homage to older films through remakes, however, and this can certainly also apply to sequels. Stallone was a driving force behind the most recent Rocky and Rambo films, and Len Wiseman apparently was a huge fan of Die Hard and very much wanted to direct Live Free or Die Hard for that reason.

The word "remake" throughout this chapter could virtually be replaced by "franchise," and Verevis would be making the kinds of points I want to make with my thesis, and so it will prove extremely useful. Treating texts which are concerned with repetition (or intertexts) as part of an elaborate, endless, non-linear web of meanings and signifiers.