Second Takes

Remaking Film, Remaking America

Second Takes presents the history of English language cinema by focusing on cinematic remakes and on how cinema has been replaced by new forms of “media.” Remakes, with their innate plurality, offer the most substance for concentrated cultural analysis of how movies reflect and shape American culture. Analyzing the archetypes that recur in this culture reveals how movies are an increasingly dangerous surrogate for the actual. Close readings are presented of such works as popular favorites as Cronenberg’s Crash, Disney’s The Parent Trap, Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant, Hitchcock’s Psycho, Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, Lynch’s Twin Peaks (the film) and Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons, while unearthing pictures ripe for rediscovery such as One More Tomorrow, Strange Illusion and Andy Warhol’s Vinyl. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.