Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2010 May 11

= May 11 =

Death at a Funeral
I saw Death at a Funeral (2007 film) and it was very, very funny. I would recommend it to anyone. And I live in NY. So what I don't understand is why Death at a Funeral (2010 film) was ever given a green light. It's not like the original is from the 1960s, and it's not like there's no internet and no one has any clue that there's a country called Britain across the Atlantic and wouldn't have heard of a very good British-made film. And it's not like there was anything to really make better, cause the original was really a great film. So what was the point? Can't black people watch and laugh at British people?  DRosenbach  ( Talk 23:22, 11 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Well, why are there two roughly simultaneous versions of The Office? Someone thought it could be successfully Americanized, so they did it. Adam Bishop (talk) 02:11, 12 May 2010 (UTC)
 * I was somewhat entirely unaware that there's one version of The Office, let alone two of them. Thanx, though.  DRosenbach  ( Talk 05:07, 12 May 2010 (UTC)


 * I hope my answer didn't sound glib and dismissive (as it appears to me now that I read it again). I don't actually know the answer, except that many TV shows are remade for Americans (aside from The Office, another recent one was Coupling. And the first Harry Potter book has a different title in Britain and America. Remaking something with black actors has been done before, for example, The Honeymooners, although the movie is many decades removed from the original. I'm sure there must be other examples. There is, I assume, some financial benefit. Based on TV, at least, there is a vastly different audience between black and white TV shows. As I am neither American nor black, I don't really understand anything done by Tyler Perry, but he is massively famous. Just a guess, but maybe black American audiences don't watch British movies, so the plot of the original can be easily transferred to an American movie that black audiences would enjoy more. Adam Bishop (talk) 05:40, 12 May 2010 (UTC)
 * "Somewhat entirely unaware", DRosenbach? Is that like colourless green ideas?  --   Jack of Oz    ... speak! ...   20:23, 12 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, I've heard of The Office and even saw an episode once. But I didn't think it was funny and figured that the show had been taken off the air.  But to have 2 of them...nah!  DRosenbach  ( Talk 14:42, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

Then there's REC and Quarantine, which were filmed in the space of one year. As one might expect, the remake is awful, but at least they don't speak no funny foreignese in it, right? Similarly, some blaxploitation films were later remade with white actors - Coffy's one example. TomorrowTime (talk) 08:36, 13 May 2010 (UTC)