ABSTRACT
Chapter 3: The Nostalgic Remake explores the integral role of looking backwards in contemporary media (re)production, whereby popular culture provides audiences an opportunity to go home again through a new incarnation of a tale they’re already familiar with. Disney’s commitment to remaking its animation back catalogue, for example, is heavily motivated by the studio’s understanding of audience fervor for consuming media that references their youth, and the keen awareness that money can be made from facilitating this. More broadly, the repeated filming of fairy tales, classic literature and classic film and television productions illustrates the widespread appreciation of well-told stories, even if such stories have appeared on screen in different forms for decades. An investigation is conducted into why audiences keep paying to see remakes (often in spite of vocal complaints about them), and the range of pleasures proffered by new spins on old stories is scoped. Also examined are the mixed blessings of nostalgia: while the pleasures for audiences may be obvious, the reproduction of a beloved film or television series can also prompt unfavorable comparisons, and instead of being perceived as a better production, can motivate audiences to recall how much more they enjoyed the predecessor. The notions of permanent nostalgia, revisionist (and sanitized) history and the half-lives of productions are also investigated. The chapter ends with a brief discussion of remakes that eschew nostalgia in favor of making a film that is intended to be consumed as an entirely new production.
