Remaking Controversy? Three Case Studies of the Changing Reception of Controversial Films and Their Remakes
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Remaking Controversy? Three case studies of the changing reception of controversial films and their remakes by Nia Naseem Edwards-Behi Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies, Aberystwyth University This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Aberystwyth University. 2014 REMAKING CONTROVERSY? Three case studies of the changing reception of controversial films and their remakes CONTENTS Abstract……………………………………………………………………………i Declaration/Statements…………………………………………………….ii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………iii Introduction…………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter One: Literature Review: Contextualising the Original Films………..20 Chapter Two: Literature Review: Methodology………………………………………..59 Chapter Three: The Original Films………………………………………………………………113 Chapter Four: The Remakes……………………………………………………………………..162 Chapter Five: Then and Now: Changes and Comparisons………………………..211 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………238 Appendix: Illustrations……………………………………………………….252 Select Filmography……………………………………………………………277 References………………………………………………………………………..278 THESIS ABSTRACT This thesis offers an analysis of the British marketing and reviewing of three films from the 1970s which have been seen as controversial, through to their most recent DVD releases, as well as their more recent remakes, in relation to the changing public construction of cultural taste. The films are Straw Dogs (Peckinpah, 1971/Lurie, 2011), Last House on the Left (Craven, 1972/Iliadis, 2009) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Hooper, 1974)/The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Nispel, 2003). The methodological design of the thesis is based firmly in traditions of historical reception studies, following Barbara Klinger (1994), Janet Staiger (1992, 2000) and Kate Egan (2007), and employs methods of analysis primarily drawn from Lisa Kernan (2004) and Martin Barker and Kate Brooks (1998). By employing a historical reception studies approach to the material, the thesis resists the tendency to treat film remakes as inherently ‘inferior’ to authentic originals. The public construction of taste in relation to these films is figured in relation to Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of cultural capital, cultural distinction, and developments of these, such as Sarah Thornton’s notion of subcultural capital (1995). Through such an analysis a discrepancy emerges between the two sorts of material under scrutiny, whereby a sense of ‘the generic’ is figured as either positive in marketing or negative in reviewing, suggesting difference conceptions of an imagined audience. Overwhelmingly, the remakes are positioned negatively by critics in relation to the original films and these negative appraisals are often asserted through the discourses which have rehabilitated the original films from their own negative reception during the 1970s and 1980s. i DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed ...................................................................... (candidate) Date ........................................................................ STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Where *correction services have been used, the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked in a footnote(s). Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed ..................................................................... (candidate) Date ........................................................................ [*this refers to the extent to which the text has been corrected by others] STATEMENT 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed ..................................................................... (candidate) Date ........................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I must express my immeasurable gratitude to my supervisors, Kate Egan and Sarah Thomas, for their guidance and support on this project. Without their contributions my thesis would never have come so far. I must also extend my thanks to Martin Barker for his early supervisory input on the project. The Department of Theatre, Film and Television at Aberystwyth University has provided a supportive and helpful environment in which to conduct my research. In particular, the friends amongst staff and the postgraduate community who have sympathised, supported and inspired the project have my heartfelt thanks: Steph Jones, Lisa Richards, Emma Pett, Mareike Jenner, Jim Woolley, Ali Matthews, Ffion Jones, Bethan Jones, Tan Promkuhntong, Madara Veipa, Gregor Cameron and Sophie van de Goor. Thanks also go to friends at other institutions for their support: Johnny Walker, Laura Mee, Sarah Harman, Sarah Wharton, Russ Hunter, Jamie Sexton, Ian Hunter and Steven Gerrard. My research would have been impossible without the help of staff at the BFI Library, the British Newspaper Library at Colindale, the British Library, the National Library of Wales, the BBFC and Film4. Also my thanks to the many individuals who have helped me source materials, including Mike Hewitt at Universal, Nigel Floyd, M J Simpson, and countless friends via Twitter and Facebook over the past four years. Indirectly, but crucially, I must thank my colleagues and friends at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre for their patience, understanding and flexibility over the course of this project: Gaz Bailey, Sian Bennett, Hannah Crute, Carolyn Evans, Lynette Evans, Nerys Hughes, Rachael Taylor, Simon Williams and Louise Amery. Likewise, thanks to my colleagues at BrutalasHell.com, particularly editor Ben Bussey, for their patience and flexibility in my final year of finishing the project. I am also hugely grateful to my flatmate Yvette Evans, for putting up with me taking over our lounge with so many books and papers. My thanks go to Tristan for his unwavering encouragement and reassurance, and for his willingness to discuss ideas and to listen to me thinking out loud. Finally, I am eternally grateful to my parents for consistently supporting and encouraging my interests and passions, and without whom this project could not have been possible. Diolch. iii INTRODUCTION This thesis considers the British reception of three films that were controversial on their first release, and a consideration of the reception of their recent remakes. In particular, the thesis is concerned with the change in status of these films from controversial to mainstream, with the remakes having caused little or no controversy at all. While my thesis might not be able to uncover precisely why this is, the change in the films’ reception will be traced from original film through to remake, which will serve to illuminate the differences and the continuities and connections in the reception of both sets of films. The title of this thesis refers to ‘controversial films’. There is no easy or straight-forward definition of what I mean by ‘controversial film’ other than it is a film which has caused a degree of public controversy. Any sort of film might become controversial, be it through the depiction of violence, or sex, or any number of social vices. Controversy is often figured in relation to a broader ‘real-world’ context, eg. the socio-sexual debates of the first decades of the twentieth century, or the various, related, social transgressions of post-World War One USA, as depicted in classical exploitation films. As Annette Kuhn notes, films “do not reflect a ‘real’ world outside the text, nor even […] any discursively constructed social formation” but rather that “films are themselves actively instrumental in discursive constructions” of particular social debates.1 The ‘controversy’ may stem from the public’s response to the film, or through the press response, or through censorship decisions. Controversy can also arise from a group of films emerging together and sparking debate, e.g. the video nasties or the ‘new brutalism’ of the early 90s. The debate itself might then spark controversy in relation to particular titles, that is to say, as films are discussed in a public forum, a snowball effect may occur. Controversy is, of course, not equal – while the video nasties press campaign constituted a moral panic, discussion surrounding films such as Reservoir Dogs caused a sort of positive commercial outcome, boosting the films’ publicity. As Annette Hill notes, the different sort of talk that might circulate around a film that discusses it as controversial – positively or negatively – can result in a film becoming “a cultural phenomenon in itself” and not just a media object.2 Although films may court controversy for a variety of reasons, all three of the original case 1 Kuhn, 1988, 108 2 Hill, 1997, 21 1 study films in this thesis became controversial due to their perceived ‘extreme’ content. The initial negative response to Straw Dogs, for example, came most prominently from the vocal press, while The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was controversial due to its outright ban by the British Board of Film Classification. These particular films came at a time in which many films were challenging the established expectations of film in the UK, alongside other titles such as A Clockwork Orange, The Devils and Last Tango in