Remakes: Are They Worth the Rebirth of a Story or the Destruction of it?

As one can learn with going through a film class of any sort that analyzes differences among the decades of films, you are bound to find remakes or rebelling of similar stories. Such stories with the theme of the U.S. being invaded by foreigners by force to the modernization or revamping of fairy tales such as the Grimm stories have been by Disney. Depending on whether you saw the previous version of the story when the film came out before the most resent, you are bound to like the original more. However, if you saw the more present one first, then you are going to analyze the original film’s storyline by the more present film’s standards.
One movie that came to mind the other night when I was stuck on remakes was Red Dawn (2012 & 1984). The first encounter of this movie for myself was during sophomore year at Wartburg. The first version I saw was the 2012 version. This version was filed with action scenes and an ever evolving storyline. In this plot, the people who invaded some part of the United States was the North Korean’s with the help of a Russian military aid. However, with the Cold War in 1984, the invaders of the U.S.A. was the Soviet Union.
When it comes to comparing the two films you could tell that the biggest difference of the two movies was the simplicity of the storyline and action scenes of the 1984 film compared to the 2012 version of the film with the same title. One example, which a film spoiler, is when in the 2012 film the director elected for the ambush of the Korean military personal in an alley of a modern small size city, where the Koreans were killed. For the 1984 version, the ambush occurred in an open film with the kids hiding in a foxhole covered by sheets of plywood.
The final difference in the two films was the ending. In the 1984, ending there was a plaque that commemorated the main characters of the film for being kids who fought as small resistance force that fought in what would become WWIII in the movie plot. For the 2012 version, as is typical with today’s films theme of keep on fighting for freedom, we have what’s left of the main characters continuing to recruit and fight against the invaders from the North Korea. The one great thing about the Red Dawn (2012) version is that it leaves room for a sequel if any film company wants to write and produce a follow up story line.

Here are some leaving questions for all who read this blog.
1) From the information given above, why do you think these two versions of the film are so similar, and yet different in the aspect of what influences the nature of the film and its storyline?

2) What other films can you think of where there are remake of films, and the movies has a slightly tweaked storyline? Is there a reason for the difference when it comes to the time period the film was made or the culture of the day?

3) What are your best and worst remake films?

Final Post

After finishing this class, I have now began to realize that there are many more ways to perceive history then the way that I would perceive it. For instances, the way that I could have taken the history of King Henry II life could have been shown way different then the way the director in The Lion in Winter saw it. I also could have been trying to push my own agenda into my film and change things for dramatic effect. I did not know this before this class, however one of the biggest instances of this is in Braveheart. I have realized that directors are going to show the movie exactly how they want to show it to get the biggest box office results. I feel that directors have also made the medieval time period look very dark. In most of the movies that we watch there was not too many happy things that were happen to the characters. Now I can imagine that it was a very dark and tough life to live if you were a peasant or someone that didn’t have any money. I can imagine that life would be hard because it is still hard to be poor in today’s world. However, I was expecting the kings and queens to be dressed more royally in films. I would think that many people in the public would expect royals to be dressed in royal clothing and not be dressed the same way that just regular people would dress in that time. Overall, in this class I would say that I have learned a lot about films and why films are made the way they are. I have also learned that not all films are that historically accurate, even if they look like they are historically authentic.

Wrapping up Hollywood History

Generally I consider myself to be a movie buff so I tend to watch a wide variety of movies including movies of the historical genre.  Before this course, I felt that I could fairly determine which films were historically accurate. Like for example, I knew that in the Battle of Thermopylae (as portrayed by 300) there more than likely were not giant demonic looking creatures fighting the Spartans.

After completing this course I now have a slightly different view on watching history movies. As we watched films in class, I often found myself quickly looking up facts of historical figures, like say Henry V, just to get a better idea on the authenticity of the film. Also I would see what happened to them after the film’s focus was off them, because sometimes the films would not wrap things up with enough information. I feel like I may carry on this tradition as I leave Wartburg in the next few days. I have also developed a new respect for the time and effort put in by the actors, filmmakers, and the crew. They do their very best during a film’s production in order to get the authenticity just right for the setting of the movie.

In regards to how medieval history is presented to the public. I feel like many people often take the information dramatized before them as facts, often not bringing in enough knowledge to discern between fact and fiction. Also I feel like many filmmakers will take an easier route to produce a film, often cutting out the authenticity or the proper historical framing in order to make a quick profit. Although it could also be that filmmakers will take the historical sources they have and decide to ‘doll it up’ like the inaccuracies of William Wallace in Braveheart.

Final Post

When I came into this class I did not think I would be watching films on the middle ages.  I thought we would maybe be watching the greatest films of all-time or something like that.  I had not previously seen very many middle ages movies before coming to this class.  Now that I have seen quite a few medieval movies I think about not only medieval films differently, but every film I see differently.

There are three main things that I think about differently now when I watch films.  The first one is authenticity.  I think about how real I believe a film is and if it actually might have happened in real life.  This could be anywhere from how the actors talk or how the costumes look.  The second one is technology.  I don’t think about it much with recent films, but when I watch old films I realize how the technology that was used was new and different.  The third one has to do with figuring out the message the director or writing is trying to send to the audience through the film.

I think the way medieval films portray the middle ages has changed drastically over the years.  The first medieval films we watched or that were made focused primarily on depicting the history of the event filmed accurately.  This had changed and now the current films primary focus is on entertainment and making money.  This is evident in the films we watched in class.  I think the majority of the class would agree the first few films we watched were much more authentic than the newer movies we recently watched.  This may also be due to technology and that films can just do more and expand on the story more.  When a film can expand on the story it tends to stretch the actual accurate story.

Final Post- History and Film

One of my biggest takeaways from this class is that I feel like I have a stronger or healthier disconnect between history and Hollywood when it comes to authenticity.  This means that I understand that there is so little correct when watching most films, especially American films, that you can not tell yourself you are smarter after watching it, rather you were more entertained.

With that being said, I still believe that there is a place for film in the classroom and as a future educator I am excited to utilize this method.  An example of this would be the opening scene from Pearl Harbor.  Some historians have said that there has never been a more accurate depiction of the storming of the beaches.  However, there is also a right way and a wrong way to utilize film and that is really the most important part.

A teacher should use clips if they work better than a whole movie.  Questions that allow for students to follow along better are always a good idea.  Learning about a topic before watching a film allows students to have ideas on authenticity before starting to believe the things that a film shows them.  And finally, having a debrief with students after the film is over may be the most important part.  This debrief may come after the entire film, but I believe it is better utilized at the end of each day so that critical thinking skills are continuously utilized.  Only when a debrief is done, can students begin to use proper educational psychology techniques to elicit critical thinking, dialogue through group work and discussion, and even classroom open conversation where the entire class can hear input from other and express their opinions back.

I have always been a huge fan of movies and their benefits to visual learners when presented in the right way!

Final Blog Post

Almost everything I have ever learned about films and the medieval time period was learned in the last month. I have been watching films without a critical eye or thought and generally liking anything that I had watched. Through the selections of film that were chosen I realized how unexpanded my personal film choices have been. I still probably will not be watching Joan of Arc or anything similar in my spare time but I definitely feel as if I have the necessary critical thinking skills to chose movies out of my comfort zone. After this class I am definitely more wary to believe movies that are “based on a true events” and cause me to dig deeper on the true accuracy of the film. It is clear that for cinematic reasons the medieval time period has been portrayed slightly inaccurately to some extent in every film. The lesson I take from that is to take everything with a grain of salt. After seeing the lack of authenticity in some films it makes me wonder how the 21st century will be portrayed years down the road by people who did not live in it.

Final Blog Post

 

As it comes to the end…

This class has given me the opportunity to learn a lot about medieval history and how history is presented through film. Prior to this class I had no idea what types of films we would be watching. In the past I took a history film class and we watched classic Hollywood films that covered a range of time periods. However, this class provided films that allowed us to learn more about medieval times.

This class gave me the chance to see that everything that happens within a film has a purpose. Things such as camera angles. An example of this is seen in the first film we watched, La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc / The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). This film used very close up shots to express the feelings that need to be portrayed. In many films we saw the fuzzy, lightened lighting around women.  Lighting and Camera angles are used to help portray the director’s message without using words.

I also learned that in film making the directors often have a great deal of freedom in the way that they decide to portray the story.  With this freedom they attempt to appeal to a much larger audience. For example in the film Braveheart the story was clearly changed to fit to a much more modern day appeal.  This is just one example, but the majority of the films that we were able to watch in this class was changed to appeal to a much larger audiences.

I am grateful for the opportunity to take this class for my final May Term. I learned so much about film and how films are produced. I believe this class will help me continue to have a much greater understanding and appreciation of film.

One Last College Assignment

Before taking this class, I had never really understood that there were such a wide variety of medieval films. In this class we have watched medieval films from all the way back to the very beginning of film and have led up to the more modern day films about the Middle Ages. Experiencing these films from the beginning to now has really taught me a lot about how far the film industry has come and also how the understanding or the portrayal of medieval films have come. The first films we watched were black and white because color in film had not yet been discovered. Even sound had not been discovered in the first film we watched, which made the movie kind of hard to watch, but it was cool to see where filming first began.

From black and white and no speech in The Passion of Joan of Arc, to the addition of Technicolor in Adventures of Robin hood, all the way to more modern movies like Braveheart with real life sets and natural backgrounds. This class has really helped me appreciate and understand just how far the film industry has come. In terms of how far medieval films have come, I think the medieval films have changed drastically. I think that the films that we watched in the beginning of the term tried to be more historically accurate and authentic. I know Robin Hood is a tale, but I still thought the film had some authenticity in it with the equipment and settings that were used. Once we got into the modern films, it seemed that filmmakers stopped focusing on the historical accuracy of films, and started to focus more on making the film the best possible movie for the viewers. The goal was not to be accurate, but instead to entertain the audience. My interpretation may not be accurate and it maybe can be more attributed to the films we watched instead of the way films were being made in that time period, but based on the films we watched, and the order we watched them in, this is how I view the evolution of medieval films.

My Outlook on Medieval Films

Coming into this class, I really had no previous knowledge of history/medieval films. My knowledge on some medieval aspects were essentially just standard knights, castles, armor, and large groups of people battling. I figured that most of the movies that we would watch would depict the Middle Ages in a relatively similar way. After completing this course, my definition of medieval and thoughts on other aspects of medieval films have changed.

I have realized that the Middle Ages can be portrayed in many different ways. I liked how we were able to see different styles of movies all depicting times during the Middle Ages. Some of these styles being comedy, mystery, drama, and romance. Many of these movies, although they did not record the same stories, I thought that they all had some similar elements of medievalism. Most of the movies we watched had all similar attire to what I would expect for the Middle Ages. Most of the movies we watched also had knights riding on horses that sometimes resulted in battles with large groups of people. This all contributed to my assumptions of what medievalism is.

I have expanded my knowledge on different aspects of the Middle Ages as well as the history of this time. When I thought of the Middle Ages, I solely thought about big battles and knights in armor. However, watching some of these movies has really opened my eyes to different aspects of this time such as royal families, conflicts between countries, and the different people involved in many of these stories such as monks, peasants and others.

I would say that I could better explain what medievalism is now from when I first came to class. I liked how just about each film we watched had a different theme that tied into the Middle Ages. Each of these different themes helped me to get a better grasp of what went on during this time and what times were like back then.

A New Outlook- Final Post

When I had first started this class, I never would have imagined that it would have turned out the way that it has. Not only has watching the different genres of movies from the beginning of cinema changed how I view all movies, but it also has helped me see movies in a different sense as well. This class has taught me to not only view the movie as a whole, but to also look at the different elements of what each film has to offer such as lighting, sounds, outfits, and other little things. I think the different history films that we have watched all differ in the medieval elements that they have that deal. Dr. Lindgren constantly asks us after every film, “Does this fit your medieval checklist?” She is asking us to think about what is our own definitions of medieval elements in each film and if they fit out list rather then anyone else’s list.

In this class, I have watched a lot of movies that I never would have thought I would watch. Movies like Henry V, The Crusades, the 1938 version of Robin Hood, The Passion of Joan of Arc, and so on. I can honestly say that I actually would have never watched these movies or even known that half of them existed if I hadn’t have taken this class. Some I may have known the titles to if I had heard them, but I would have never watched them whatsoever.

The way that medieval history has been presented to the public through film is amazing, now that I know what to look for with the medieval aspects of every film and so do many others. I think the way medieval history is portrayed through films to the public is through the way the actors speak, act, dress, and where they are located. The way that they dress, speak, and act towards each other say that they are medieval because when we read about people from medieval times, we think of them to be from Eastern Europe, with a type of almost British accent, and dressing either in armor because they are a knight or work for the king, or dress in cloak kind of overcoats with some sort of pants or tights underneath. The location also matters because if we see these kind of people in say a castle, we might think of that as medieval.

This class has taught me many things about history throughout movies. It has taught me to view the movie in different parts instead of just a whole. But it has also taught me to look at the little details of each film to see what makes it stand out from each film.