In recent years, animated works and book adaptations have been increasingly turned into live-action remakes, which may be ruining the essence and message of the original media in the process.
Live-action remakes are nothing new, with many classic books having multiple on-screen adaptations, such as Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables or Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice.
The Hunger Games is also an example of a very popular series in both print and film. Although not perfect, the movies are all very well-received.
However, there appears to be a growing trend in these remakes, where some authors are even receiving movie deals before releasing their novels. This includes Alex Aster’s Lightlark and Sarah Mughal Rana’s Dawn of the Firebird. The Dawn of the Firebird book is set to be released early this December, and the adaptation is scheduled to be filmed next year.
These examples really highlight the growing popularity of these adaptations, where even big production companies are seeking these deals prior to publication dates. They know it will make a lot of money at the box office if the book is popular enough, no matter how authentic it is to the original written work.
But not everyone is excited about this trend. Recently, the creator of K-pop Demon Hunters, Maggie Kang, told Vanity Fair that a live-action film “would feel too grounded,” and I agree.
Part of the film’s charm is its animation. The funny expressions that a human couldn’t do and the demons, which would probably look even creepier, are both big reasons why it would make no sense to me to animate the film.
Unfortunately, though, not everyone understands these issues. Disney is an excellent example of this. The company has gotten into a lot of hot water recently for their love of remaking its own animated movies into hyper-realistic live-action. In these cases, Disney isn’t only ruining the charm of their older movies, but they also can’t seem to stop making these new movies problematic.
Their live-action 2020 remake of Mulan was filmed in parts of China where Uyghur Muslims are being held in China’s “re-education” camps, which have violated human rights. They also cast an Israeli actress in Snow White, who was criticized for her bad acting and was allegedly a Zionist. Now, with the recent release of Lilo & Stitch, the film’s ending was criticized for spreading propaganda encouraging indigenous people to leave their land and siblings/children in the hands of the state.
Thankfully, not many other companies are following in Disney’s deep footsteps of the live-action controversy, but remakes still demonstrate the current lack of originality in our media. It’s been sequels or remakes for a long time, with not many new original storylines for viewers to enjoy.
Now, live-action remakes aren’t all bad. I mean, I loved Netflix’s Matilda: The Musical and 9 Story Media Group’s A Kind of Spark, but I do hate the growing trend of adaptation after adaptation.
These live-action remakes can’t possibly recreate or fit all the content of the original media in a way that pleases everyone. Books have more pages than minutes in a movie, and animation has more creative liberty than the limits of live human acting.
I hope we see more creative movies rather than live-action remakes. The industry is innovative; it just needs to be allowed to be freely expressed by these large production companies.