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When Remake Mania hits Literature
Mar. 1st, 2011 01:50 pmThe classic science fiction novel Little Fuzzy has been rewritten and re-imagined by John Scalzi, as the novel Fuzzy Nation.
The original novel was a well written examination of how one could tell whether a species was sentient, a question settled in the novel with of all things a trial, not a gunfight. I confess I haven't read Scalzi's version; the original Little Fuzzy is within arm's reach of me, and there are free audio book and Project Gutenberg versions available, . I see no real reason to read the remake.
But this is really focusing on a single example, and ignoring the major issue that the Hollywood trend of doing remakes and "updates" may have reached genre literature. With a surplus of hungry authors, and publishers looking for something that's both new and in a classic comfort zone, what could we see coming down the pike if this catches on? A remake of 2001 set in 2101? A new version of Lord of the Rings with attention paid to diversity? A social democratic version of the "Sword of Truth" series? A rewrite of "Thud and Blunder" that takes into account an actual knowledge of history?
The possibilities are staggering, if this goes on.
(Originally started as a reply at James Nicoll's LJ)
The original novel was a well written examination of how one could tell whether a species was sentient, a question settled in the novel with of all things a trial, not a gunfight. I confess I haven't read Scalzi's version; the original Little Fuzzy is within arm's reach of me, and there are free audio book and Project Gutenberg versions available, . I see no real reason to read the remake.
But this is really focusing on a single example, and ignoring the major issue that the Hollywood trend of doing remakes and "updates" may have reached genre literature. With a surplus of hungry authors, and publishers looking for something that's both new and in a classic comfort zone, what could we see coming down the pike if this catches on? A remake of 2001 set in 2101? A new version of Lord of the Rings with attention paid to diversity? A social democratic version of the "Sword of Truth" series? A rewrite of "Thud and Blunder" that takes into account an actual knowledge of history?
The possibilities are staggering, if this goes on.
(Originally started as a reply at James Nicoll's LJ)