Melissa Giugno – Special to Southern News
Jacqueline Piscitello, senior and Spanish major, said that she was thrilled with the reboot of “Jurassic World.” Piscitello said that the upgraded technology and the action definitely made the movie more enjoyable.
“I enjoyed the reboot because of the action,” said Piscitello. “The technology is better, to be able to show better graphics and get people interested in the film.”
In regards to the general success of reboots, Piscitello added that regardless of money spent on advertising, people are going to see these remakes.
“The perk of remaking the film is that directors know people are going to see it regardless of the hype,” said Piscitello. “It is an easy way to make money.”
Wesley O’Brien Ph.D. agreed with Piscitello, saying that reboots can save filmmakers money.
“Comes down to money, saving money,” said O’Brien. “You [have] got characters who are already developed, the dialogue, in many cases, is already developed. People come to the films often with the preconceived notion of who the characters are, so you save a lot of film space by not having to tell you.”
O’Brien, chairperson of the media studies department, said one of the many obstacles reboots face are the preconceptions people have before seeing the film.
“People familiar with the originals already have in our minds what the characters look like and act like,” said O’Brien. “People love movies. They love to have a relationship with people in movies. They become their friends and when you go see your friend and they are completely different, it is disappointing.”
According André Bazin, acclaimed movie critique, noted for his book, “What is Cinema” in 1951, when a movie is successful enough to be regarded, filmmakers do not redistribute it, they remake it. With the cinematographic techniques age, a reboot can give the classic new life.
Professor Derek Taylor agreed, saying that when filmmakers decide to reboot a film, it is an opportunity to expose a new audience to a classic story.
“When they remake a film you are exposing new audiences to the old film,” said Taylor. “They remade [Psycho] in 1998, it pales in comparison to the original, but it exposed a new generation of people to Hitchcock and to new things and to that original story.”
Taylor, a communications professor who teaches film courses and is noted for his own films, such as his feature documentary “A North Woods Elegy: Incident at Big Moose Lake,” said when a film is remade it allows filmmakers to update the classics.
“The original ‘Halloween’ I show in my film class and students just laugh at it,” said Taylor. “The reboot of ‘Halloween’ [by] Rob Zombie, it was graphic. They seem very tame in the 1970s and 1980s.”
Taylor said that a common misconception when referring to reboots, is that audiences think filmmakers are running out of original ideas.
“You see directors like Scorsese, he is making masterpieces. Classic directors still continue to make good films,” said Taylor. “That was like when ‘Goodfellas’ came out. I thought, ‘it will never be as good as the ‘Godfather,’ but then 20 years down the line it is my favorite movie of all time.”
Taylor added that whether people loved a reboot or hated it, audiences tend to associate strong emotions when it comes to these movies. Taylor said this is because movie reboots are recreations of films people grew up with. Audiences connect the classics with their youth.
“I think they connect it to a different time in their life, a nostalgic thing,” said Taylor. “That is their youth, their childhood.”
Photo Credit: George Kelly
