The news of late has had me thinking it may be time to brush the boundaries of cultural commentary, so for those of you uninterested in even mild political discussion, this may be a good time to go shopping for cheap champagne.
There are few more dangerous pursuits on the part of a creator than updating something old and beloved to account for a changing era.
Enter the twin giants of Marvel and DC in the world of comics, who have this year come under fire for several choices made which bring minority actors and characters into new light.
While both movements are small and fairly polarized, they've led to a shockwave of milder, overlooked squeamishness in a far wider arc. Even outside of the extremes of racism and other prejudice, audiences generally dislike it when you change anything about an empire they love.
Change is inevitable. We, as a people, are constantly evolving, while much of our art remains frozen in time. While that may never injure the works of Picasso, we've already seen it have a large impact on the unspoken implications of men like JRR Tolkien. While it can take years to happen, there is always a chance that someone, some day, will create a new iteration of the old standby, taking it in a direction the original writer (and his or her adoring fans) never expected.
I bring this to light here for two reasons: there is a wealth of good to be found in releasing an updated version of an older work, and, if you are yourself successful enough, you should be prepared for the sincerest form of flattery.
Giving new life to an old work is a wonderful way for a new writer to get started, or for a seasoned writer to test their chops. As an example: try penning a new version of Oliver Twist using modern-day South Korea as your landscape. The same themes exist today that did centuries ago. Adjusting the setting helps to draw today's eyes in the right direction.
Shifting time and place is one of many ways to update an old beloved classic. Take the landmark success of the play "Wicked," telling the story of Oz from the very positive perspective of the "wicked" witch of the west. Take Seth Grahame-Smith's parody series starting with "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," a delicious spin on Jane Austen's largely unattainable original.
Pearl Harbor, for whatever you make think of the acting, was one of the first World War II films to show the leaders of Japan in a positive light, forced into a no-win situation and taking what they felt was the best option to protect their people. While it's not based on a specific work, I think you'll agree that World War II as a story has been done before, at least once or twice.
If you're looking for inspiration, for a solid backbone on which to place a clever twist or a cultural treasure to help leverage a very pressing modern-day need, using an old story as the basis for new life can be a wonderful place to start. Be careful of how you borrow, of course, but do not rule out the idea just because you feel it's not wholly original. Drawing on a known entity as your baseline to shatter or update pregenerated notions can oftentimes have an even greater impact that an entirely original work.
While it hinges entirely on your purpose, I believe that boldness is the blood of the artist, a word here meaning 'anyone who creates something not real to help show us what we are, what we dream, or what we can be.' To be different, to be remembered, to have an impact on the cultural consciousness requires courage and tenacity of mind.
For that reason, expect others to branch out into new and unexpected areas with your work, as well. If you're a supporter of the Creative Commons model (and if you're not, you may want to consider it), this is all but a given for anything of yours that becomes popular, even if it's just on "that there Internet." So be prepared to see someone else take even your own work in a new direction.
Returning to my opening mention, I want to be clear on one point: I do not mean to compare casting an African American as a Norse god to rewriting Sense and Sensibility as a nautical epic. Frankly, I'm of the opinion that if the man can act, it's entirely moot what color his skin is. The inclusion of Nightrunner is slightly more valid as a creative direction only because of the oft-overlooked political situation in France today.
The overreaction of bigots was not the point I was hoping to draw attention to. I merely hoped to use the ensuing large-scale squirming of those less organized entities as a warning towards anyone hoping to update a beloved classic. While Austen's works in the modern day are a fairly safe bet for anyone who ever snored their way through high school English class, you may be surprised by what people truly love (and will riot to protect).
Although if anyone yells at you for tearing apart the work of James Joyce, their own judgment may be in question.
The masters who penned the classics we adore did so because they wanted to share a story. Whether for entertainment, the hope of change, or just the desperate need we all have to shout from the proverbial hilltop, their voices echo in our hearts and minds many years after they first hit print.
Adding your own take on that historic yell should only ever be seen as a way to help bring the classics we love into a modern reckoning so that that echo may resound forever. So as we brace to face the new year, let the past help us reflect on what we were, understand where we are and predict where we are going.
And let it do so with zombies.
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