Transnational film remakes: time, space, identity

Unrestricted This dissertation examines transnational cinema and cultural exchange through the lens of "transnational film remakes," or films made in one nation and remade in another. Looking at Hollywood remakes of European and East Asian films, as well as remakes that circumvent Hollywood, I argue that transnational remakes are privileged articulations of globalization, and as such, demonstrate struggles for power in a transnational field. Using a combination of critical political economy, textual analysis, and intertextual theory, I define these films as formal, institutional, and discursive objects. I engage in a number of intensive case studies that resonate with reconfigurations of time, space, and identity rendered under globalization.; Part I begins by examining film remakes in relation to adaptations and intertextuality. I then argue that the notion of "national cinemas" must give way to "transnational cultural industries," of which Hollywood is a particular example. I then assert the interrelation between transnational remakes and globalization. Part II engages in a historical study of the institutional and discursive forces through which the "transnational film remake" came about as a category. Industrially, this demonstrates remakes' relation to film piracy and to multi-language film versions, while the criteria for evaluating transnational remakes in popular criticism underwent distinct changes. Part III looks at transnational remakes between Hollywood and Europe, noting historical trends and points of ideological overlap and tension. I then analyze the films Abre los Ojos (1997) and Vanilla Sky (2001), paying particular attention to issues of "transnational identities." The last chapter in Part III examines the contemporary Austrian avant-garde as a cinema of "counter-remakes." Part IV marks the recent increase in Hollywood remakes of East Asian films. I engage in a historical survey of Hollywood-East Asian remakes followed by an analysis of "The Ring Intertext." I also examine alternative tendencies within the contemporary cycle of Pacific Rim remakes, as well as some of the specific individuals who shaped this cycle. The last chapter of Part IV examines the shift from Euro-American to Pacific-Rim remakes in relation to "transnational space." The Conclusion looks at remakes in terms of "failure" and "remarkability."