East Coast Musings 12.14.08: Mining a Decade

Posted by James Craig on 12.14.2008

Whether you love it or hate it, all of our old favorites are making their way back.

In this column, I will explore various facets of the film world and offer my views on why things are they way they are and where I feel the subject of each topic in heading in the future by weighing both the pros and the cons each is facing. Nothing is safe and no one is safe as from my focus.

Ladies and gentlemen, children of the children of the '80's, our childhood is being mined, boxed and sold as little more then the years next most recent passing fad. If you have grown up in the '80's then you can identify with names like Transformers, Voltron and Robotech. These are all pieces of a collective memory from when times were innocent, prices were lower and television cartoons were infinitely superior to what is being broadcast today. If you are an avid collector, or even a casual consumer looking for a piece of the past, you will know that online auction sites are filled with links to our past. Some are the real deal, others are replicas and knock offs. The reason for the sale of all these things is that the generation that grew up in the '80's and played with the toys and watched the television shows is looking to recapture segments of a childhood that doesn't relate at all to the times we are faced with today.

This trend of buying the past doesn't stop with consumers in the "regualer" segment of the population, but it also applies with those with considerably larger bank accounts. Be it those who own their own production studios like Toby Maguire, who has bough the films rights to a live action Robotech, or those who have the ear of the owners of other production studios, the market for '80's properties is red hot. Last year it was Transformers, and in the near future titles like Robotech and G.I. Joe will be coming along. While it feels good in some cases to have these treasured pieces of nostalgia back, it does hurt to see when Hollywood makes changes to the source material. It isn't necessarily a huge problem in terms of business, but to those who have been chomping at the bit to get these titles resurrected, they feel betrayed.

This all boils down to then a matter of creative integrity vs. the bottom line for the film production companies. Like all other business, film companies are out to make money. The bigger the pay day, the better the film is. In the context of bringing back properties that were once popular in the '80's, the very real fact is, some of these properties are coming up in 25 to 30 years old. Some creative thinking needs to be applied to update and make what was old new again. In many cases this means the bastardization of our favorite titles from days gone by in order to sell a project to the now generation. I for one was one of those that was left with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth after seeing what was done to Transformers. I had a very hard time getting past some of the changes that were made to the characters and so on, that it ruined my first viewing of the film. I won't go as far to say that in the interim time, I have come to love the film and forgive all. I can't say that, but what I will say if that I can appreciate why the changes were made considering the target audience.

Grumblings from online users when news of a new property being bought up or finally being given the green light to move in production generally run in the vein of exuberance to sheer dread at what is to come. However many of the comments found tend to take a middle of the road approach with the tried and true,"...sounds great, but they better not screw this up like they did with blank...". It is easy to see how this feeing can come across. It seems however, that sometimes those who make the comment tend to forget that they may not be who the film is being made for. While they may have helped to show that a certain property still generates some interest, it is the population segment with the most dispensable income that many of these films are made for. Be it for a male or female demographic, it will be those in their teen years who go out to see films in the greatest numbers and tend to be a large reason why a film may, or may not bust. Just take a look at Twilight and its success to see how a film targeted to a certain audience can do remarkably well. This in turn tends to alienate the whole other segment of the audience, the segment that had originally made the clatter to see something of their childhood brought back.

It is hard for some to see and deal with change. Be it in how a graphic novel is adapted or old childhood memories are brought back to life. Whether we like it or not, the fact of the matter is that creative license will be taken in the process of updating and streamlining a film for mass consumption. This won't necessarily apply to all films, but in terms of the big blockbuster types, it seems that this will now and forever be a reality to be dealt with. While other generations have seen their heros come and go from the small and little screens many of these characters, mostly those from comic book and graphic novels specifically, have been able to grow and evolve as time moved along and truly belong to many not just one generation. Perhaps this is evidence of my own fondness and regard for the material that had been produced, but it seems that it is a problem that is unique to the properties from the '80's and fans of these same materials, where properties that are beheld in wide regard to be solely belonging to those who grew up with them get to watch the changes being made.

It is hard to make the argument one way or the other to be very frank. While it does suck to see things that are beloved to be tinkered with and changed to something very different, it is also very good to see that these same things are being allowed to become something to last a test of time. So if you are out holiday shopping or just out for yourself, take a wander over to the toy aisle, that very same highlight of many a childhood trip to the store, and look at how many of our old favorites are still on the shelves. Try not to be harsh, but try to put it into the perspective that as we grew up, so did the things we loved back then. That being said, the original is still better and they better not screw up Robotech like they did Transformers.