Film remakes as a form of translation

How often have you come away from a remade movie or TV show comparing it to the original or wondering what the original was like? Films and TV shows are remade all the time, often crossing linguistic and cultural borders. The phenomenon of Japanese horror remakes, with American films such as The Ring (2002) remaking Japanese movies (in this case, Hideo Nakata’s Ringu/Ring from 1998), is a well-known example. But there are also American remakes of British TV shows, such as The Office (2001–2003) and its American counterpart The Office (2005–2013), where differences in cultures, rather than differences in languages, had to be negotiated by the producers. Remakes have been around in the cinema ever since George Méliès’ Une partie de cartes/Card party (1896), which was a remake of Louis Lumière’s Partie d’écarté/Card game (1896). In other words, remakes are almost as old as cinema itself.