Fear, Cultural Anxiety, and Transformation: Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy Films RemadeScott A. Lukas, John Marmysz Lexington Books, 2010 M06 22 - 310 pages This collection was inspired by the observation that film remakes offer us the opportunity to revisit important issues, stories, themes, and topics in a manner that is especially relevant and meaningful to contemporary audiences. Like mythic stories that are told again and again in differing ways, film remakes present us with updated perspectives on timeless ideas. While some remakes succeed and others fail aesthetically, they always say something about the culture in which_and for which_they are produced. Contributors explore the ways in which the fears of death, loss of self, and bodily violence have been expressed and then reinterpreted in such films and remakes as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Night of the Living Dead, and Dawn of the Dead. Films such as Rollerball, The Ring, The Grudge, The Great Yokai Wars, and Insomnia are discussed as well because of their ability to give voice to collective anxieties concerning cultural change, nihilism, and globalization. While opening on a note that emphasizes the compulsion of filmmakers to revisit issues concerning fear and anxiety, this collection ends by using films like Solaris, King Kong, Star Trek, Doom, and Van Helsing to suggest that repeated confrontation with these issues allows the opportunity for creative and positive transformation. |
Common terms and phrases
alien American animated anxiety Asian audience Barbara become body snatcher films Body Snatchers characters Chris cinema classic contemporary corporate create critics cultural depicts director Doom edited existential fan films fantasy fear Film Adaptation film industry film noir film remakes film's filmic filmmakers Gegegeno Kitaro genre global Gothic Grudge Harry Helsing Hollywood Hollywood remake horror films human images individual Insomnia intertextual Invasion issues Jackson Japan Japanese horror Jonathan Cross Ju-on King Kong Living Dead manga Mizuki monsters Moonpie movie narrative nihilism novel original film parodies play plot pods popular postmodern production protagonist remade repetition Resident Evil Rheya Roddenberry role rollerball Romero scene science fiction Screen shot Silent Hill social Soderbergh's Solaris space Star Trek Star Trek fan Star Wreck story Takashi Shimizu Tarkovsky television theaters tion transformation transnational University Press Van Helsing Verevis video game viewer yƓkai Yokai Wars York zombie