Disney and the Live-Action Remake

It seems that wherever you look these days, there’s another reboot staring you in the face. The film industry seems to fancy itself as Dr Frankenstein, pouring money into the desiccated corpses of dead franchises that should be fondly remembered in order to present us with a rotting simulacrum that they can call a remake. Laboured analogies aside, it really does seem that any studio with the budget to make a blockbuster just doesn’t want to invest in anything new.

The film industry seems to fancy itself as Dr Frankenstein, pouring money into the desiccated corpses of dead franchises that should be fondly remembered in order to present us with a rotting simulacrum that they can call a remake

Nowhere is this truer than at Walt Disney studios. From the new Star Wars trilogy to the forthcoming Indiana Jones reboot, Walt himself is clearly the only thing that Disney won’t bring back from the dead. Even the animated classics that have made Disney into the monolithic powerhouse they are today aren’t being left alone, as we’ve seen with Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent and the recently released Cinderella. Not content with that, Disney has announced plans for 3 more remakes, the most recent being Mulan.

But why the interest? What happened to artistic integrity and creativity? It’s not for lack of material – there’s literally hundreds of fairy-tales left, and the House of Mouse has recently showed what it can do when it actually lifts one white-gloved finger in films like Tangled, Frozen and Big Hero 6. Although you could argue that Disney rarely works with completely original material – the original tales existed for centuries before they were sugar coated, so it’s not exactly news to us.

However, the animated Disney version tends to be a lot more family-friendly, and the original story is only just discernible through a veil of songs and questionable sidekicks. Not to mention that a lot of these defined our childhood. So why exactly do we need a live-action reboot that will inevitably piss all over it? The thing about remakes is that you’re walking a fine line – Maleficent may have given the female characters more agency, but reduced everyone but the titular sorceress to ugly 2-D stereotypes and removed the art and music that made the film a beautiful addition to Disney’s roster.

On the other hand, Cinderella retained the magic and beauty of the original, but stuck to the story so rigidly you’d think it was constrained by a corset as tight as Lily James’ was, irritating people who were looking for a tale that showed a girl rescuing herself. Admittedly Cinderella is always going to struggle to be seen as a tale of feminist empowerment, but don’t you see it Disney!? You just can’t win! So why they’re remaking Mulan, arguably the most feminist flick put out by the film studio (with a killer soundtrack to boot), is anyone’s guess. It’s not going to have the magic of the original, and they’re walking an even thinner tightrope this time, as the casting will need to be sensitively handled. I would put money on at least one white character popping up in an Asian fable, despite the surfeit of actors that would be perfect for the part. They’ve already shown they can’t handle themselves particularly well in that area by casting Mara Rooney as Tiger Lily in the upcoming Peter Pan remake. Why is it so hard for studios to cast people correctly? You’re never going to win political correctness points by having all the gods played by white people (here’s looking at you, Exodus).

And for anyone who can’t wait to sing along with a whole new cast, you can forget it. Disney seems to be using the remakes as a chance to transform the bright and kooky classics that we love into gritty films that have all the interesting bits chiseled off, hammered in and sanded down until all we’re left with is another generic fantasy film with dirt, grit and CGI to spare. Despite what Twitter and Buzzfeed might be thinking, it’s time to admit it, both to ourselves and to each other – as far as the House of Mouse is concerned, songs just don’t fit in this grey new world.

This is a problem infecting the entire entertainment industry. We just love what we already know, and what’s new can so often scare us. Anything unique is a risk, but Disney should be using the considerable power it has to promote animated films from smaller studios, such as Canal+ (The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea.) In this way, Disney can foster creativity and some healthy competition that might just inspire the hordes of aspiring animators to work on new and exciting projects. What it shouldn’t be doing is pouring money into an exercise that’s inevitably going to leave someone with a sour taste in their mouth. I say all this as a Disney super-fan. So please Disney, just go and do what you’re good at. That’s why millions of people fall in love with your films year after year – not stale, soulless remakes.

Images: Disney