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From SCIFIPEDIA
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A 1994 science fiction novel by Connie Willis, Remake blends comic
content with a tale of star-crossed love in a story about musicals, time
travel, Fred Astaire, and a Hollywood film industry gone berserk with
the magic of computer animation.
Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.
In the near-future world inhabited by Tom and Alis, moviemaking has
become a purely digital process: filmmakers create electronic versions
of copyrighted actors like Marilyn Monroe and River Phoenix, then paste
them into previously successful films from Pretty Woman to Batman. The
only impediment to this process is legalistic red tape--if an actor is
not copyrighted, their estate can forbid the use of their image.
Originality is frowned upon, and most films in production are remakes or
sequels. This is a tragedy for Alis, who wants to work as a dancer even
though there are no live action films of any kind being made, let alone
in the long-dead genre of musical films.
As Alis searches for a dance teacher, Tom is making ends meet by
removing references to alcohol from classic movies. A true film lover,
he is sickened by the censorship, and his growing self-hatred
exacerbates his own substance abuse issues. The downward spiral makes a
relationship with Alis impossible, despite their strong mutual
attraction. But shortly after she leaves, apparently forever, Tom begins
seeing Alis on film. . . dancing in the chorus lines of the old films
he is editing.
Willis uses standard film conventions in the course of the novel:
clichés like the film industry party and hangover scenes appear, along
with specific shooting instructions for scenes from montages to
production numbers. These references to the film genre are mentioned at
the heads of the scenes in which they appear. Remake's title has
metafictional overtones--the novel is, in some sense, a literary
"remake" of the film Casablanca. Willis has used the same technique in
her short story "Adaptation" which is both concerned with and an
adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol.
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