Let’s Make it American: American Remakes of the British Films

Elif Kahraman Dönmez

doi:10.5195/cinej.2018.221

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze American remake versions of the original British films taking narrative as a basis. It claims that the American remakes put America forward as a cultural product for sale, and makes the British narrative Americanized. For the study, four films have been chosen for analysis: Alfie (1966, dir. Lewis Gilbert), Alfie (2004, dir. Charles Shyer), Bedazzled (1967, dir. Stanley Donen), Bedazzled (2000, dir. Harold Ramis). This study explores the narrative elements of the American remakes by comparing the remakes with their originals. These narrative elements are setting, intertextuality and Americanization.

Highlights

Cinema in 21st century offers varieties, especially American cinema, Hollywood, is a global narrative reproduction machine
According to the explanation in A Dictionary of Film Studies an adaptation is “a pre-existing work, often literary or theatrical, that has been made into a film” (Kuhn and Westwell 2012, 5) whereas a remake is defined as “a new version of an earlier film” (Kuhn and Westwell 2012, 348)
While the term adaptation is used for the change in the means of conveying the story, the remake puts the emphasis on where there is a pre-existing film and it is used to make a new one

Summary

Introduction

Cinema in 21st century offers varieties, especially American cinema, Hollywood, is a global narrative reproduction machine. Representation is important especially regarding the fact that the original version is British whereas the remake version is American.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion