By Isabel Bradshaw
Creativity is a crucial part of the film industry, without it, films would cease to exist. But is creativity currently in a state of scarcity?
Over recent years, fresh new ideas and films have been in decline and there has been a significant rise in remakes; Wuthering Heights, Harry Potter, Lilo and Stich, just to name a few. But we’ve all heard these stories before, and each with great success – so why fix something that isn’t broken?
The latest adaptation of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights was directed by Emerald Fennell and it left viewers feeling split. Though it was Wuthering Heights in name, it was not in nature. From romanticising Heathcliffe’s abuse of Isabella Linton, to the absence of Herton and Hindley, this film couldn’t have been further than what Bronte wrote. So, why did Fennell not just write her own twisted romance, rather than twisting this one? Is it because using someone else’s ideas is a safer bet than coming up with your own?
However, this is not to say that all remakes are a result of a lack of courage or imagination. For example, the recent remake of William Golding’s book Lord of the Flies into a four-episode series has been a triumph with it being described as bold and brilliant, its violent and savage nature perfectly captured by a new, fresh cast. A second series of success is that of The Other Bennett Sister, an adaptation of Janice Hallow’s novel. Romantic, gentle, and packed with a cast of famous faces – this is what audiences want.
I spoke to Krystyna Baxter, a second-year solicitor apprentice who has spent a year with a film and TV team at HanWay Films and is an avid movie enthusiast. She described remakes as “a double-edged sword”, and that “some remakes really don’t do any justice to the wonderful, original stories”. Krystyna emphasised that we “need to strike a good balance between having a timeless story and creating something new and exciting off of that” to avoid the “risk of butchering certain storylines”. For example, she went on to talk about the “controversy and discourse over the new Harry Potter series” and how she has “hope that this series will redeem some of the elements that maybe weren’t prevalent in the movies”.
Audio interview on film and tv remakes with solicitor apprentice Krystyna Baxter
Ultimately, when a film is remade with care, intention and respect to the original, new life can be breathed into it. But when it is for the purpose of money, designed with no sense of enjoyment or risk, it can be left feeling dull or unfulfilled. And with studios becoming dependent on household names, smaller artists are finding it ever harder to get their big break.
We all have our favourite stories, our favourite films, our favourite places, but sometimes we need to leave our comfort zones and take the risk, find something new and share it with the world. There are so many stories out there, some that may alter someone’s life, so why dwell on the past when we could be creating that change? The challenge for modern cinema is not to reattempt the classics, but to respect them if they do, and to remember to take a chance and embrace the unknown.
