Cowboy Bebop (Netflix, 2021)

[Irish]

Stu's expression may be a little off, but he's got the right spirit. I think you guys are dunking on him just to dunk.

I have zero attachment to the original "Bebop" (it was cool 20 years ago, but c'mon) and I could only make it through about 10 minutes of the live action remake. The visuals were sorta aesthetically vulgar, and the whole exercise felt extremely cynical in the worst way. So good riddance to bad rubbish and all that.

I disagree with trans on a fundamental point, though, because I think remakes and recuts can occasionally supplant their original sources.

Cf: "Scarface," "The Maltese Falcon," "The Magnificent Seven," "A Fistful of Dollars," "Oceans 11," "The Thomas Crowne Affair," "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "Heaven Can Wait," "The Thing," "Cape Fear," "The Birdcage," "Insomnia," "The Departed," "The Hills Have Eyes," "True Grit."

Then there's "Star Wars" special editions and various "director's cuts." Cf: "Blade Runner," "Terminator 2: Judgement Day," and the entire "Alien" franchise, etc. Some of these recuts are radically different than their sources, but they still become the de facto version in the popular imagination. Theatrical cuts are then relegated to the status of second disc extras in "ultimate" edition box sets, if they're commercially available at all.

Sure, the original films may still technically exist somewhere, but they're not part of the cultural conversation in a meaningful way. Like, I see someone talking on social media about "True Grit," I already know they're not talking about John Wayne. Someone else talks about "Blade Runner," and it's a good guess they've never heard Harrison Ford's shitty voiceover. This matters because without public interest there will be less incentive for streaming companies to host those original films and original cuts.

If you love older work, this system --- that only values what's newest and what's still commercial --- really sucks.

[transmogrifier]

I disagree with trans on a fundamental point, though, because I think remakes and recuts can occasionally supplant their original sources.

Cf: "Scarface," "The Maltese Falcon," "The Magnificent Seven," "A Fistful of Dollars," "Oceans 11," "The Thomas Crowne Affair," "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "Heaven Can Wait," "The Thing," "Cape Fear," "The Birdcage," "Insomnia," "The Departed," "The Hills Have Eyes," "True Grit."

Then there's "Star Wars" special editions and various "director's cuts." Cf: "Blade Runner," "Terminator 2: Judgement Day," and the entire "Alien" franchise, etc. Some of these recuts are radically different than their sources. The originals are then relegated to the status of second disc extras in "ultimate" edition box sets, if they're commercially available at all.

Sure, the originals still technically exist somewhere, but they're not part of the cultural conversation in a meaningful way. Like, I see someone talking on social media about "True Grit," I already know they're not talking about John Wayne. This matters because without public interest there will be less incentive for streaming companies to host those original films.

If you love older work, this system --- that only values what's newest and what's still commercial --- really sucks.

But, from my perspective, it doesn't matter to me whether The Wild Bunch gets streamed or not. It has been made, I own it, I can watch it whenever I want. In that context, whether there is a remake or not makes no difference to me. It doesn't affect my enjoyment of the film one bit. If future generations prefer to talk about the new True Grit....so what, really? Is it fundamentally any different from people talking more about Free Guy today than they are about, say, The Truman Show? Eventually, as with all movies forever, the one that stands the test of time will last out; on an individual level, we still get to watch and love the one we prefer until we shuffle off into the beyond.

Now, from the other perspective, I do bemoan remakes, spin-offs, the 1 trillionth MCU crossover event if it means that fewer decent original films are going to be made in the future. But to my mind, that is a separate conversation.

[Skitch]

Now, from the other perspective, I do bemoan remakes, spin-offs, the 1 trillionth MCU crossover event if it means that fewer decent original films are going to be made in the future. But to my mind, that is a separate conversation.

I agree, separate conversation. As is recuts, because that is physically altering the original version...in my mind, that's wholly different than what we were discussing in remakes. The remakes we were discussing were entirely different entities from the original, that is something that can be compartmentalized. Alterations such as Irish mentioned are different animal altogether.