AND still they come. This summer you will have the option of watching the latest versions of the following franchises (deep breath): Pirates of the Caribbean, the latest Mummy reboot (this one with Tom Cruise), the soon-to-come Alien Covenant, another Spider-Man movie, the latest Planet of the Apes sequel and a Wonder Woman movie. Further in the distance, like a Death Star, lurks the next Star Wars movie (will that give them sufficient time to come up with a new plot, you wonder?)
And as it is in the cinema so it is on TV. We’ve already seen small-screen versions of Lethal Weapon and Westworld and now on the horizon are Dirty Dancing the TV series and a revival of Dynasty of all things (because rich American idiots are in vogue, perhaps). But front and centre is the revival of Twin Peaks, coming to Sky Atlantic on May 22. David Lynch and Mark Frost’s 1990 drama is back a quarter of a century after it last graced our screens. Baristas brace yourselves for people saying “damn fine coffee” every five seconds in the coming weeks.
It was only a matter of time. Twin Peaks is just the latest in an almost endless round of pop culture recycling. From Ghostbusters to Poldark, film and TV companies are obsessed with brand recognition. Why try and come up with a new idea when there’s an old one you can pull off the shelf?
It’s not that these reboots are necessarily destined to be bad. George Miller’s reboot of Mad Max the other year was, if anything, a thrilling improvement on the original films. But you know, rule, exception, and so on. At one level this is just simple economics. Familiar ideas are pre-sold to audiences who know what to expect; good news for the marketing department.
But it’s also a reflection of a depressing cultural conservatism that is in play these days, reflecting our current political conservatism. Who needs new heroes when we can have all the old ones back again? There’s still an audience for them.
Actually, worse than that, there is a substantial part of that audience who want their heroes to act and, more importantly, look much like they did before.
And so heaven forfend if film or TV dare to change anything. Fans on social media are quick to tell them that, no, Doctor Who/The Ghostbusters/fill in the blank shouldn’t be black or Asian or, most heretical of all, female. The ridiculous, frankly misogynistic, reaction to the casting of an all-female cast for last year’s Ghostbusters remake was the ultimate expression of this. Social media has empowered ageing white boys who want to keep their childhood sacrosanct because they reckon they matter more than any other group in society, it seems.
(Of course, the real problem with the Ghostbusters movies was that the film wasn’t very good. Then again, the original isn’t anything special either.)
Nostalgia is pleasurable. I speak as someone who wallows in the Top of the Pops repeats on BBC4. But is life so messy and difficult these days that we want to retreat to the nursery?
Maybe that explains Theresa May’s popularity. She’s a Thatcher reboot. Nanny knows best. God help us.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here