Recently there is a new trend about the remakes of beloved 80s franchises. Like the recently announced Footloose and Karate Kid
Clearly everyone from our generation is going to see these remakes as a bad idea and are universally hating the idea. Oh they will scream “Why are they ruining my childhood” and think this is a personal attack against anyone who dared to have a personal emotional attachment to these films.
They are not making these films for me/you.
Yup. They hired the High School Musical guy to do a Footloose remake KNOWING that it wouldn’t appeal to 30 somethings that had that film engraved on their very souls. They don’t care if you want it to happen. They don’t care that you have already decided its a bad idea.
Will Smith is going to remake Karate Kid with his offspring KNOWING that people who learned Karate could be learned by doing yard chores and waxing on could care less about it.
This is pure business, and I understand it.
They are attempting to bring these heartfelt franchises to a new generation. Sure we might look upon them as cheap imitations but remember that 20 years from now my kids and other current preteens are going to talk about how cheesy High School Musical was, and how weird that metrosexual pretty boy was but remember how cool they always thought they were.
Don’t believe me? Go watch Footloose. The dancing is hokey, try that today and you might be in an alternative lifestyle club. The music is poppy and prozak happy, and that love interest that you thought was so hot in those red cowboy boots just isn’t appealing anymore. She’s not all that pretty.
But the movie WAS full of hot girls, and WAS full of super cool music and hot dancing and hip fashions. Honestly they were. I dressed like Ren McCormack all through highschool. And my parents couldn’t comprehend me liking that music and dancing like a fool and wearing a hot pink skinny tie to my grade eight grad.
Our youngest generation who will be exposed to these films will remember this generations most inspiring films, but to us they may not seem inspiring. Footloose was a big part of my teenage years, as was Karate Kid, Star Wars and Indiana Jones. They all played their part in my evolution to who I am, just like my friends and family. The pop culture of my time will always have its special place.
Hollywood can’t try to create those moments. No one made Footloose and said, “I hope this movie MEANS SOMETHING to someone out there” They just wanted to make a movie about fun, and dancing.
Everything can change someone even if it is just a tiny bit. For me the movies, music and books I read were important, but at the time they had no idea that it would be.
So like it or not, these remakes are not for you. They are hoping to bring these stories to a new generation. Will they impact them the same way? Maybe they will.
I know my kids will remember that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie with the same fondness I recall watching Willy Wonka as a kid. And I know my kids are completely obsessed with the Star Wars prequels and the heaps of Clone Wars era stuff, which will likely stick with them for a long time too.
