Every year
our senses are overloaded with a brand new line of blockbusters and indie
undervalued films. An overwhelming portion of these films seem to be rehashes
and remakes of films we’ve already seen, sometimes not even that long ago. The
reboot has come to symbolize everything wrong with Hollywood or the lack of
imagination flowing through the entertainment industry, but are reboots really
destroying the industry or providing audiences with more of what they want?
Reboots
have been around for a long time. When we argue about the necessity of another
comic book origin story we often disregard other genres and lock ourselves in
the comforting vacuum of the comic-verse. From Disney films to classics of
American cinema the reboot has held an important place in the film industry,
but it is here in the mold that worked so well before we find how horribly it
can go wrong.
One of the
biggest problems Hollywood faces is disregarding the time in between reboots
that older movies seemed to follow. When we we’re reintroduce to Hallie Parker
and Allie James of The Parent Trap,
thirty-seven years had passed before Lindsey Lohan took over the role from
Hayley Mills. Jack Lemmon’s turn to fill the shoes of Henry Fonda as Juror #8
in 12 Angry Men arrived forty years
after the original. Now, it seems, there is no delay in rebooted franchises.
Leaving audiences tired of seeing the same thing over and over again. Everyone
knows Spider-Man’s origin story. We’ve seen it repeated twice in movies between a ten year period and countless other times in television and comics.
Hollywood
executives, producers, even writers need to think past the introductions of
characters we’ve already been introduced to recently. Tell us a story.
Something that further builds the characters without rehashing old tactics or
convoluted story lines. Audiences aren’t as dumb as these people seem to think.
Sure, we love our unadulterated sex and violence, but we also want to be
challenged, to see something new.
All of this
isn’t to say that the reboot is completely unnecessary. I would still love to
see the reboot of The Crow finally make it production– I know, I know, nothing
beats the original– but personally I’m ready to see the next take on one of my
favorites. I’m all in favor of reboots that make sense. We don’t need to see
Batman lose his parents repeatedly for us to know who the character is. We
don’t need to be terrorized by an oversized lizard stolen from Japanese cinema.
We definitely don’t need another Punisher with the feels. What we need are
stories that build on the characters we love. Show us a new angle on why they
do what they do without retelling us the same plot from the last movie we
watched.
So the
moral here is that if you work in Hollywood or have aspirations of writing the
next big blockbuster surrounding your favorite characters, REBOOT WITH CAUTION
or come up with something original for a change.
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