Dead Ringers
The Remake in Theory and Practice
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Addresses the important role of remakes in film culture, from early cinema to contemporary Hollywood.
Description
While the popular press has criticized movie remakes as signs of Hollywood's collective lack of imagination, the essays in Dead Ringers reveal the centrality and staying power of remakes as a formative genre in filmmaking. The contributors show that the practice of remaking films dates back to the origins of cinema and the evolution of film markets. In fact, remakes were never so prevalent as during the Classic Hollywood period, when filmmaking had achieved its greatest degree of industrialization, and they continue to play a crucial role in the development of film genres generally. Offering a variety of historical, commercial, theoretical, and cultural perspectives on the remake, Dead Ringers is a valuable resource for students of film history and theory, as well as those interested in the cultural politics of the late twentieth century.
Jennifer Forrest is Associate Professor of French at Southwest Texas State University. Leonard R. Koos is Associate Professor of French at Mary Washington College.
Reviews
"Readers will find meaningful and thoughtful discussions of both historical and aesthetic perspectives. " — CHOICE
"Dead Ringers demonstrates that the remake is not just a lowly Hollywood form geared cynically to a debased market, but rather a formative genre in the development of international film culture. Contributors trace remakes from early cinema to contemporary Hollywood, and illuminate key issues of authorship, national cinematic styles, and historical contexts of production along the way, with particular emphasis on French/American cross-cultural transactions. In its theoretical range and practical research, the book is very useful. " — James Morrison, author of Passport to Hollywood: Hollywood Films, European Directors