This week remix was one of our main topics. It made me think of all the remixes I've read and watched. And it surprised me that everything I thought of was made because of a previous invention, idea, book, or movie. The idea stuck with me even when I didn't necessarily want it too. I was watching my favorite movie the other night, The Great Gatsby. And then I thought about the previous Great Gatsby movie from 1974 and The Great Gatsby book from 1925. It was never ending! Then I went on to superhero movies. The Spiderman movies, I don't even know how many there are. Same with Batman, Hulk, Iron Man, and countless others. They all have more than one movie or tv show and comic books about each of them. Even listening to the radio or Pandora I noticed remixes in all their glory. Elvis Presley for one didn't write any of his songs, except for co-writing "Love Me Tender". We also heard about Led Zeppelin and their songs being remixes.
When we first talked about remixing and the whole process, I have to admit, I didn't like the idea of nothing being original. I didn't like that everything I could think of was just a remix of something else. But the more I think about it now, I am most certainly OK with remixes. As I said, the newest Great Gatsby is my favorite movie and it wouldn't have been made had if the 70's version hadn't been created and the 70's version wouldn't be there if the book wasn't written. I love superhero movies and they get better and better with every new addition but they would have nothing to build off of if it weren't for the previous superhero movies. Elvis Presley was all I listened to as a kid and every song he sang (besides the one) was not created by him, just remixed. Led Zeppelin, being my favorite band, is just a big remix group. All of my favorite things are remixes of older things. Not only does this make me appreciate and accept remixing but it has made me go out and trace the 'original' of my favorite movies and songs.
I think that this is a very true statement that once you start thinking about remix you never will be able to stop. I recently watched the Great Gatsby as well and it never even crossed my mind how it was a remake while I was watching it, but once I read this blog post it hit me that it most definitely is a very popular remake. I began to think about all of the other movies that I love and a large majority of them are remixes/remakes. For example Freaky Friday and The Parent Trap are two other very popular remixes. Both of these films along with many others played a large role in Hollywood during the time of the original and the remake.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. Remixes are everywhere now. I do believe everything was created with a single idea but we'll never exactly know if its truly original or not. I think remixes are definitely a good thing. To me, it means that generations are changing and every generation needs modifications. Remixes are the reason we are so up to date with technology and science. That's just my opinion!
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