Screen Serialities - Böcker

Considers the remake from a variety of critical and theoretical perspectives and positions it alongside other serialized cultural formsExamines the historical significance of the remake in revitalizing local industries and breathing life into established film genres (e.g., action-adventure, crime drama, romantic comedy, the Western, etc.)Draws attention to previously overlooked motion pictures produced in East Asia and acknowledges the significant contributions of several prolific yet neglected filmmakersRe-evaluates canonical texts and offers fresh assessments of legendary auteurs such as Ozu Yasujiro, Yu Hyun-mok, Miike Takashi, Johnnie To, and Stephen ChowShowcases the role of remakes in forging cross-cultural alliances both within and beyond the East Asian region while pointing toward prospects of increased transnational coproductions in the coming yearsThis wide-ranging, historically grounded exploration of motion picture remakes produced in East Asia brings together original contributions from experts in Chinese, Hong Kong, Japanese, South Korean, and Taiwanese cinemas and puts forth new ways of thinking about the remaking process as both a critically underappreciated form of artistic expression and an economically motivated industrial practice. Exploring everything from ethnic Korean filmmaker Lee Sang-il's Unforgiven (2013), a Japanese remake of Clint Eastwood's Western of the same title, to Stephen Chow's The Mermaid (2016), a Chinese slapstick reimagining of Walt Disney's The Little Mermaid (1989) and Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 fairy tale, East Asian Film Remakes contributes to a better understanding of cinematic remaking across the region and offers vital alternatives to the Eurocentric and Hollywood-focused approaches that have thus far dominated the field.

This wide-ranging, historically grounded exploration of motion picture remakes produced in East Asia brings together original contributions from experts in Chinese, Hong Kong, Japanese, South Korean, and Taiwanese cinemas and puts forth new ways of thinking about the remaking process as both a critically underappreciated form of artistic expression and an economically motivated industrial practice. Exploring everything from ethnic Korean filmmaker Lee Sang-il's Unforgiven (2013), a Japanese remake of Clint Eastwood's Western of the same title, to Stephen Chow's The Mermaid (2016), a Chinese slapstick reimagining of Walt Disney's The Little Mermaid (1989) and Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 fairy tale, East Asian Film Remakes contributes to a better understanding of cinematic remaking across the region and offers vital alternatives to the Eurocentric and Hollywood-focused approaches that have thus far dominated the field.

Action TV Reboots and Visibility Politics: Rebooting Middlebrow Culture deals with the network TV reboots of Hawaii Five-0, MacGyver, Magnum, P.I., Lethal Weapon and The Equalizer to explore the cultural politics at work in contemporary middlebrow culture. The book focusses specifically on the representational politics of contemporary middlebrow TV. The book analyses action TV reboots via the framework of middlebrow television, and the political meanings of the category. It explores the category of middlebrow TV, the role of nostalgia of middlebrow reboots. This leads into a critique of the representational norms of middlebrow TV, which includes a variety of visual representations of 'otherness' but fails to narrativize marginalisation. Instead, visual 'difference' is reduced to visual signifier of an inclusive society. What emerges is the idea of visibility politics and its dominance in American network TV.

Action TV Reboots and Visibility Politics: Rebooting Middlebrow Culture deals with the network TV reboots of Hawaii Five-0, MacGyver, Magnum, P.I., Lethal Weapon and The Equalizer to explore the cultural politics at work in contemporary middlebrow culture. The book focusses specifically on the representational politics of contemporary middlebrow TV. The book analyses action TV reboots via the framework of middlebrow television, and the political meanings of the category. It explores the category of middlebrow TV, the role of nostalgia of middlebrow reboots. This leads into a critique of the representational norms of middlebrow TV, which includes a variety of visual representations of ‘otherness’ but fails to narrativize marginalisation. Instead, visual ‘difference’ is reduced to visual signifier of an inclusive society. What emerges is the idea of visibility politics and its dominance in American network TV.

Reanimated offers a new perspective on twenty-first century American horror film remakes. Counter to the critical dismissal of genre remakes as derivative rip-offs, Mee approaches the films as intertextual adaptations which have both drawn from and helped to shape horror since 2000. Covering films from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) to Candyman (2021), and identifying distinct cycles, production strategies and patterns of reception, this book illustrates the importance of the remake to contemporary horror cinema and addresses key cultural, industry and reception contexts. Rather than representing the death of horror, Reanimated argues that remaking instead demonstrates the genre's capacity for creative recycling, adaptation and evolution.

Reanimated offers a new perspective on twenty-first century American horror film remakes. Counter to the critical dismissal of genre remakes as derivative rip-offs, Mee approaches the films as intertextual adaptations which have both drawn from and helped to shape horror since 2000. Covering films from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) to Candyman (2021), and identifying distinct cycles, production strategies and patterns of reception, this book illustrates the importance of the remake to contemporary horror cinema and addresses key cultural, industry and reception contexts. Rather than representing the death of horror, Reanimated argues that remaking instead demonstrates the genre's capacity for creative recycling, adaptation and evolution.

Hollywood Remakes of Iconic British Films: Class, Gender and Stardom investigates film remaking from the unique perspective of cross-cultural exchange between two countries who share a common language and history in film cooperation. Each chapter discusses classic British films connected by the same star, genre and theme to trace the change from 1960s optimism to the despondency of the 1970s. Rasmus scrutinizes millennial remakes to show how they transform the representation of class, gender and stardom to comply with industrial trends and appeal to a twenty-first century global audience. Case studies include Alfie (1966; 2004), Bedazzled (1967; 2000), The Italian Job (1969; 2003), Get Carter (1971; 2000), Sleuth (1972; 2007), The Wicker Man (1973; 2006) as well as The Limey (1999).

This is the first book-length study to address film remaking from a unique perspective of a cross-cultural exchange between two countries which not only share a language but also a history of film cooperation. It examines a selection of cult and classic British titles made at the time of Hollywood's active involvement in the domestic film production, with case studies from a number of genres. The book investigates the ways in which these '60s and early '70s films are remade by Hollywood in the new millennium by focusing in particular on how class and gender representations are updated to accommodate for cultural, societal and technological transformations. It shows a tendency for remakes to revise old power dynamics by means of gender reversal and to replace class conflicts with sex wars. Since all the British originals feature iconic British actors, analysing their Hollywood alter-egos becomes another important indicator of adaptation strategies where casting American or British actors determines the remake's gender politics and genre markers.

Bringing together the latest developments in the study of serial formatting practices – remakes, sequels, series – Film Reboots is the first edited collection to specifically focus on the new millennial phenomenon of rebooting. Through a set of vibrant case studies, this collection investigates rebooting as a practice that seeks to remake an entire film series or franchise, with ambitions that are at once respectful and revisionary. Examining such notable examples as Batman, Ghostbusters, and Star Trek, among others, this collection contends with some of the most important features of contemporary film and media culture today.

'Daniel Herbert and Constantine Verevis' Film Reboots is dedicated to a fundamental question of the form, namely why do reboots exist and what do they do? An impressive array of scholars engage with the contemporary reboot as an industrial practice, narrative strategy, political text, and fan object, using both expected (Batman, Star Wars) and unexpected (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Twin Peaks) franchises as case studies. This collection is an important addition to and intervention in the growing body of scholarship on screen serialities.'Amanda Ann Klein, East Carolina University'Twenty-first century media culture is perpetually haunted by the films of the late twentieth century. The fascinating and essential essays in this collection provide insightful analyses of how the sequels, remakes, and reboots of these cinematic ghosts have dominated mainstream media for much of the last two decades.'Derek Kompare, Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University'A thrilling compendium of 'lenses' through which to view and understand the mechanisms driving the unceasing remit of recycled narratives in contemporary cinema, Film Reboots offers a definitive take on new modes of storytelling. An essential volume for anyone remotely interested in film.'Carolyn Jess-Cooke, University of GlasgowBringing together the latest developments in the study of serial formatting practices remakes, sequels, series Film Reboots is the first edited collection to specifically focus on the new millennial phenomenon of rebooting. Through a vibrant set of case studies, this collection investigates rebooting as an industrial, textual and discursive practice that seeks to remake an entire film series or franchise, with ambitions that are at once respectful and revisionary. Examining such iconic examples as Batman, Ghostbusters and Star Trek, among others, this collection contends with some of the most important features of contemporary film and media culture today.

Bringing together a range of international scholars, European Film Remakes discusses for the first time the textual, socio-cultural, political, and industrial mechanisms and singularities of the film remake in a European context. Offering a variety of historical, theoretical, and methodological approaches, the book is illustrated by a wide range of case studies from across Europe, including films like A Bigger Splash, Open Your Eyes and Perfect Strangers. Although commonly understood as a typical Hollywood practice, this book demonstrates how film remakes are, and always have been, a significant part of the European film culture and industry.

Combines historical and contemporary approaches to film remakes in EuropeInvestigates, next to the textual, socio-cultural and political dimensions, the often neglected industrial, financial and production-related dynamics of European remake practicesProvides a mix of different methodologies, ranging from comparative textual analysis to production, promotion, and reception analysisTakes into account both popular and art cinema remakesExamines European film remakes within local, regional, national, transnational or transcultural contextsOffers new theoretical concepts and methodological models that take into account both the distinctive and universal aspects of film remaking in a European contextBringing together a range of international scholars, European Film Remakes discusses for the first time the textual, socio-cultural, political, and industrial mechanisms and singularities of the film remake in a European context. Offering a variety of historical, theoretical, and methodological approaches, the book is illustrated by a wide range of case studies from across Europe, including films like A Bigger Splash, Open Your Eyes and Perfect Strangers. Although commonly understood as a typical Hollywood practice, this book demonstrates how film remakes are, and always have been, a significant part of the European film culture and industry.

The notion of seriality and serial identity performance runs as a strong undercurrent through much of the fields of gender studies, feminist theory and queer studies, although the explicit analysis of a serial enactment of gender is surprisingly rare. Whereas media studies and cultural studies-based seriality scholarship can often overlook gender as an ongoing process, this book defines gender as a serial and discursively produced, intersectional entanglement of different practices and agencies. It argues that serial storytelling offers such complex negotiations of identity that it is never adequate to consider the 'results' of televisual gender performances as separate from the processes that produce them. As such, gender performances are not restricted to individual television programmes themselves, but are also located in official paratexts, such as making-of documentaries, interviews with writers and actors, as well as in cultural sites like online viewer discussions, recaps and fan fiction. With case studies of series such as Girls, How to Get Away With Murder and The Walking Dead, this book seeks to understand how gender as a practice is generated by television narratives in the overlapping of text, reception and production, and explores which viewer practices these narratives seek to trigger and draw on in the process.

Offers the first book-length study to commit to gender and television as driven by serialityProvides an introduction to seriality in both gender studies and cultural/media studiesIdentifies shortcomings of seriality studies and gender studies and suggests remediesTraces a massive body of material, 3 different shows with a combined total of 237 episodes over 18 seasons, as well as extensive research on various paratexts and viewer practicesDevelops methods and terminology to analyze gender performances as ongoing and interconnected with practices of reception and productionAllows for an understanding of serial television's complex, ambiguous commercial cooption of cultural-political discourses, especially activism and thoughtConsiders serial, ongoing television authorship as unfolding alongside a television showExamines the changed conditions and implications of television writing (journalistic and academic) for current television storytellingApproaches second-screen/social media viewing, specifically racialized practices of online humor and politicization on TwitterThe notion of seriality and serial identity performance runs as a strong undercurrent through much of the fields of feminist theory, gender studies and queer studies. Defining gender as a serial and discursively produced entanglement of different practices and agencies, this book argues that serial storytelling can offer such complex negotiations of identity that the 'results' of televisual gender performances are rarely separate from the processes that produce them. As such, gender performances are not restricted to individual television programmes themselves, but are also located in official paratexts, such as making-of documentaries, interviews with writers and actors, and in cultural sites like online viewer discussions, recaps and fan fiction. With case studies of series such as Girls, How to Get Away With Murder and The Walking Dead, this book seeks to understand how gender as a practice is generated by television narratives in the overlapping of text, reception and production, and explores the viewer practices that these narratives seek to trigger and draw on in the process.

This book offers various approaches to understanding the short form in television. The collection is structured in three parts, first engaging with the concept of brevity as inherent to television fiction, before going on to examine how the rapidly-changing landscape of "television" outside traditional networks might adapt this trope to new contexts made accessible by streaming platforms. The final part of the study examines how this short form is inextricable from a larger context, either in its relation to seriality (from the crossover to the "bottle episode") and/or a larger structure, for example in the reception of a larger whole through short but evocative clips in order to better weigh their impact (from "Easter Egg" fan videos to "Analyses of"). The collection concludes with an interview with award-winning screenwriter Vincent Poymiro about his French series En therapie (an adaptation of BeTipul/In Treatment).

This book offers various approaches to understanding the short form in television. The collection is structured in three parts, first engaging with the concept of brevity as inherent to television fiction, before going on to examine how the rapidly-changing landscape of "television" outside traditional networks might adapt this trope to new contexts made accessible by streaming platforms. The final part of the study examines how this short form is inextricable from a larger context, either in its relation to seriality (from the crossover to the "bottle episode") and/or a larger structure, for example in the reception of a larger whole through short but evocative clips in order to better weigh their impact (from "Easter Egg" fan videos to "Analyses of"). The collection concludes with an interview with award-winning screenwriter Vincent Poymiro about his French series En thérapie (an adaptation of BeTipul/In Treatment).

This is the first book-length study to examine the enduring popularity of block-buster films based on DC or Marvel superhero comics properties. It argues that the success of superhero movies is rooted in aesthetic practices unavailable to other types of film, and suggests that the multi-dimensional seriality of these movies, combining practices of serialisation, adaptation, and transmedia storytelling, endows them with an unmatched potential to engage audiences over time and to actively intervene in the discourses of online fandom. The book develops a critical theory of digital-era popular seriality, examining the narrative strategies of superhero movies and their evolution, from 1978’s Superman to 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War and beyond. It discusses textual and extra-textual practices of fan mobilisation, and considers the genre’s shared political imaginary and its purchase on contemporary political debates.