Reel Thoughts: Stealing from the Past to Make the Future (Good or Bad)

July 4, 2013 by Karen Jensen, MLS Leave a Comment

There’s a host of sayings going around that there are no original ideas; everything has been done before, it’s just the spin. Hollywood and the movie industry definitely takes this view- a ton of movies that come through are taken from idea that have already come from either television or older movies that they feel the current target audience (18-35) wouldn’t be familiar with. However, that doesn’t mean that they work with teens. The ones below are covered under Movie Licensing USA and have been taken from sources originated in the 80’s. Do you use them in your programming? Share in the comments!

THE GOOD

Was the REAL American hero and KNOWING was half the battle, especially with a PSA after each episode. However, the newer movies have more explosions and rewrote all the love interests…

GI Joe: Rise of Cobra came out in 2009

while GI Joe Retaliation came out in 2013 (DVD due to be released at the end of July)

and my teens seem to love both.

Another huge 80’s cartoon making a comeback has been Transformers… from epic cartoon battles…

to live action and CGI, it has killed at the box office. I geek over the fact that they’ve gotten a lot of the original voice actors for the Transformers, even if I have real issues with the way women are portrayed in the films. And a fourth one is on the books for June 2014, with Mark Walhberg as the lead (you go, Marky Mark).

JURY’S OUT

But not all of the 80’s remakes have been cartoons. Take for example:

RED DAWN. Made in 1984, The Wolverines took on Russia when they invaded and saved the good old USA. (Didn’t remember that Baby and Johnny Castle had a movie BEFORE Dirty Dancing, didja?) Now, in 2012, movie makers traded Russia for China and we got

RED DAWN. With Peeta. And a very shorn Thor. I haven’t seen this one, but my teens are clamoring for it, so I bet it’ll be on our fall rotation.

I am excited to see CARRIE.

I love the original with Sissy Spacek, and have high hopes for the new one with Chloe Moretz.

THE UGLY

These we can just look at the pictures and not talk about.

TOTAL RECALL

FOOTLOOSE

FAME

AND THERE’S MORE COMING…..

And there are more remakes coming. According to IMDB.com, there are remakes coming for The Highlander (which may be delayed since Ryan Reynolds just dropped out of the title role), Scarface, Dirty Dancing (not just the bad sequels),Escape from New York, and others. These can be good, bad or inbetween, but sometimes I really just want something that I don’t need to compare it to.

Filed under: carrie, Fame, Footloose, GI Joe, Movies, Red Dawn, The 1980s, Total Recall, Transformers

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About Karen Jensen, MLS

Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

April 2013