Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan had a re-working of Moby Dick in it. Also it had Ricardo Montalban being 10-pounds of bad-ass in a 5-pound bag.
So it’s nothing new to take stories and re-tell them in a new setting. The most obvious example might be science-fiction, where often the extremity of the setting allows for a tidy allegory. This often manifests as the “… IN SPACE!” plot. You know, “It’s High Noon… IN SPACE!” (the movie Outland.) “It’s the Cold War… IN SPACE!” (the original Star Trek) “It’s the Embargo Act of 1807… IN SPACE!” (Star Wars: Episode I). Sometimes it’s more subtle, like Fight Club as a retelling of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde; Other times, it’s simply a re-imagining, like Clueless, or simply taking the original text and putting it in a new physical setting.
When it’s done well, it’s great. It opens up whole new ways of looking at the subject and the story. When it’s done badly it’s painful, lazy. Nowhere is this more evident than with Shakespeare. It’s practically a law that you have to “set” your Shakespeare play somewhere weird. ANYWHERE but Elizabethan Europe, thank you. And when it’s done well, like Ian McKellan’s Richard III set in WWII, it’s very cool.
“Get thee to a space nunnery, Ophelia. Woulds’t thou be a breeder of space sinners?”
Last night I saw a production of The Tempest set at Woodstock. The acting was good, so the play was enjoyable, but no real effort was made to make the setting make sense. Everyone was dressed like hippies, and we were told “it’s set at Woodstock,” but then they continued to talk about the king of Naples; the characters were shipwrecked on this “island”; Prospero the wizard (were there a lot of wizards at Woodstock?) complained about being exiled there for 12 years. I don’t know about you, but 12 years at a rock concert sounds pretty awful. Send the brown acid my way, I have to get out of here, man. I couldn’t even pay attention for the first half because I kept thinking about the ways they could have worked Woodstock and rock and the 60’s in to the narrative, since they seemed insistent on doing so. And now I really want to see that play.
And what do you really want to see? What story – fiction or non – would you love to see transplanted in to a new setting? I know, this is a thinker, this week. Maybe it’s highbrow: maybe you want to see Julius Caesar set in a grade school. Maybe you want to read “The Raven” retold with an automated telemarketer instead of a bird, or or see The Seven Samurai set in modern New York, or read Huck Finn… IN SPACE (okay, that would probably not be highbrow). Or maybe it’s not: Maybe you want to read Twilight under the sea, I don’t know. Whatever – I want to hear about it!
For your Weekly Question of the Week: What book, movie, play, etc. would you love to see (for real or out of morbid curiosity) retold in a new setting?
The Byronic Man 
August 12, 2012 at 6:59 am
The Tempest at Woodstock?! In which act do Country Joe and the Multiplying Fishes do their big chant?
August 12, 2012 at 7:45 am
That was another thing – at no point did anyone seem to be listening to a concert. It was all just “hey! we’re dressed like hippies!”
August 12, 2012 at 7:59 am
I saw a production at down in Ashland years ago. I forget which play it even was, but some creative genius had decided that it should be set somewhere around world war I or possibly during the Spanish american war. Nothing changed except the costumes. It was horrid.
August 12, 2012 at 7:03 am
I think Pulp Fiction could work in the Wild West. Or, I’d like to see Noah’s Arc (yes the one in the bible) get a modern update! Basically I just want to see as many animals as possible since the We Bough a Zoo movie. 🙂
August 12, 2012 at 7:44 am
Or maybe Pulp Fiction acted entirely by animals? They audio track could stay the same, just use animals for the actors.
August 12, 2012 at 7:07 am
I’ll have to think about this one, but I wanted to chime in about the nonsense that Shakespeare has to be set outside of Elizabethan Europe. Yes, sometimes it’s great, but often it’s TERRIBLE. I think the idea is that they want to make the play become accessible, but that just teaches people that Shakespeare itself is not accessible. WRONG! (Okay, English teacher rant over…)
Here are some examples of the worst re-settings of Shakespeare I’ve seen, ones in which the major conflicts of the play either no longer made sense because they just weren’t applicable or else they didn’t take into account that set dressing and costumes weren’t the only thing that needed to be adapted:
1. Much Ado About Nothing set within 1950s American college football and cheerleading
2. Macbeth set in Imperial Japan
3. Hamlet made with robots
August 12, 2012 at 7:38 am
I’d say it’s more often terrible than good for exactly that reason. I even thought, with Tempest, it could work: make Prospero a singer who was kicked out of a band (called “Naples”), so he sabotages their tour bus. Stephano & Trinculo – the drunks – are just begging to be two guys tripping who come across Caliban and think he’s a monster.
I saw MacBeth set in fascist Germany that worked because it focused on the unhinging of greed and lust for power, and last year a production of All’s Well That Ends Well set in 1970’s New York which sound like a set up for “ha ha, bellbottoms!” but was outstanding – using urban race & class divisions and government corruption to propel it.
August 12, 2012 at 11:19 am
When it’s done well, it’s quite worthwhile. When it’s done poorly, it just sucks and suggests a lack of creative intelligence or logic.
August 12, 2012 at 7:14 am
Holy sparkling vampires. Twilight under the sea. Yes. That’s my submission. Okay. Fine. My own submission… Omg I have so many ideas…
The Passion of the Christ in present-day New York.
This is an amazing question and cool background story and I’m not just saying that to butter you up.
August 12, 2012 at 7:42 am
“HEY, I’M FLAYING HERE! I’M FLAYING HERE!”
August 12, 2012 at 7:19 am
Pulp Fiction with an entirely Amish cast. I want lots of ‘thys’ and a fatal shooting in a buggy….
August 12, 2012 at 7:40 am
“Which wallet is thine?”
“It’s the one that says ‘Bad Mother Fornicator.'”
August 12, 2012 at 7:27 am
How about Pride And Prejudice with zombies? What? You say that’s been done? OK, how about…. Heck, I can’t think of anything, now that you ask. 2001 in 1948?
August 12, 2012 at 7:39 am
Or for that matter, 2001: A Space Odyssey set in 2001!
August 12, 2012 at 7:45 am
Now that I’d pay money to see!
August 12, 2012 at 7:33 am
I want to see Moby Dick in a large corporate office. Oh wait, that’s my 9 to 5 life and Captain Ahab is out to sink the ship. Wheeeee!
August 12, 2012 at 7:47 am
Instead of a whale it’s some big account that the executive wants to land? I can see that.
August 12, 2012 at 7:43 am
Hmmm, how about “The Sound of Music” in a brothel? Nunneries are so passé.
August 12, 2012 at 7:46 am
That’s a pretty good idea, actually.
August 12, 2012 at 3:18 pm
Puts a disturbing spin on the ‘climb every mountain’ scene though… Ford every streeeeam!
August 12, 2012 at 7:56 am
“OKLAHOMA” anytime, anywhere they can’t sing that awful song.
August 12, 2012 at 9:08 am
I recommend setting it in Okinawa.
August 12, 2012 at 9:47 am
Just choked on what I was chewing. What a great idea! OkinaaaaaaWa! hahaha
August 12, 2012 at 12:27 pm
Great idea. They can do it in Kibuki
August 12, 2012 at 12:29 pm
The crowd will go wild when the cast lines up and sings “Ooooo-kinawa!”
August 12, 2012 at 12:32 pm
Maybe they can mime it.
August 12, 2012 at 12:35 pm
In my opinion, nothing could improve musical theater more than silence.
August 12, 2012 at 12:54 pm
Actually I like many of them, although I do manage to suspend my auto-snicker mechanism when folks spontaneously burst into song. But I HATE Oklahoma. The music, the story, everything about it.
August 12, 2012 at 12:57 pm
Musical theater, to my mind, is just awful. I’ve been over-exposed to it, and really would rather have dental work done than sit through a minute of it.
August 12, 2012 at 1:06 pm
We can arrange a trade. You have my dental work done and I’ll see your musicals. We’d both be happy!
August 12, 2012 at 1:12 pm
You’ve got a deal…first up, The South Jersey Community Players version of….”Oklahoma!”
August 13, 2012 at 9:56 am
Agreed! In general I love musical theatre, but I DESPISE “Oklahoma.” It makes my ears bleed.
August 12, 2012 at 10:29 am
It could be set in Feudal Japan and they could sing, “YOOOOOOOOOKOHAMA, where the cherry blossoms waft down in the rain!”
August 12, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
August 12, 2012 at 8:10 am
I’d like to see “Bladerunner” and “Mannequin” switch locales.
And “Twelfth Night” on “Gilligan’s Island.”
August 12, 2012 at 2:27 pm
Like a mash-up? “Mannequinrunner.”
August 12, 2012 at 5:03 pm
“Bladequin.”
Regardless of title, it needs to have Kim Cattrall in the Darryl Hannah role and Andrew McCarthy in the Harrison Ford role.
And Edward James Olmos should be in it. He should definitely still be in it.
August 12, 2012 at 8:20 am
I want to see Fifty Shades of Grey set on the sun so all characters are consumed in fire.
August 12, 2012 at 2:30 pm
It’d be a short book. Chapter 1: “FOOOM!! AAHHH!!”
August 12, 2012 at 2:31 pm
Perfect.
August 12, 2012 at 8:43 am
Let’s see … Romeo and Juliet done recast as two gangs fighting in New York City. (That’s already been done: “West Side Story.”) I’ll think this challenge over.
This is an excellent premise. But bee careful, Byronic, that some Hollywood producer doesn’t steal your ideas and make them into a movie.
August 12, 2012 at 10:27 am
(Shhh… when it happens I file a lawsuit and get a nuisance pay-off… shhh…)
August 12, 2012 at 8:51 am
Animal House in ancient Egypt.
August 12, 2012 at 9:07 am
Nice gown…you call it a “toga”, huh? Real futuristic looking fashion!
“I love this band! OSIRIS!! My MAN!!”
August 12, 2012 at 11:36 am
Cleopatra would not be down for any food-fighting, but she could “Walk Like an Egyptian…”
August 12, 2012 at 12:16 pm
Good point. No reason to stick with the original soundtrack. I’m sure the delta tau pyramid will be the most raucous on all the Nile.
August 12, 2012 at 2:39 pm
And boating parties on the Nile would rock!
August 12, 2012 at 2:42 pm
Boat Trip..Boat Trip…Boat Trip!!!
August 12, 2012 at 9:04 am
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest set in the halls congress. Nurse Ratched, Martini, Billy, Tabor, The Chief, R.P.McMurphy, all there in suits and positions of varying power, all tragic and trying to find their way. Who can forget the inspirational finale, as Chief rips the podium from the floor and throws it through the window in the capital rotunda?
Instead of electro-shock therapy, perhaps McMurphy can lose his spirit to over-zealous lobbyists who sap his energy and life force with bushel baskets of money and high-priced hookers. Rather than stealing a fishing boat, the gang can hijack the country, and run it into the ground…or maybe a campaign bus can be commandeered instead.
August 12, 2012 at 2:53 pm
I’d read Cuckoos Nest set anywhere.
August 12, 2012 at 3:02 pm
You’re preaching to the choir, brudda.
August 12, 2012 at 3:10 pm
Though anywhere outside the PNW is somewhat sacreligious
August 12, 2012 at 9:19 am
The Odyssey in the Blogosphere.
August 12, 2012 at 3:00 pm
He can register with the username “No one” and leave mean comments on the Cyclops’ blog. “No one has left mean comments! No one is commenting!”
August 12, 2012 at 9:28 am
Gone With The Wind in Shakespearian times
Men In Black set in Gone With the Wind times
August 12, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Isn’t that all steampunk?
August 12, 2012 at 1:46 pm
?
August 12, 2012 at 3:00 pm
Good point.
August 12, 2012 at 9:44 am
Gone with the Wind, in period garb, IN SPACE!
And the story of the Romanov assassination, the cartoon.
August 12, 2012 at 9:51 am
The Tempest — IN SPACE! No, wait …
Romeo and Juliet in 1950s New York, as a musical! No, wait …
I’ve been told that there’s a version of Romeo and Juliet acted entirely by cats, but I’ve never been able to find it.
August 14, 2012 at 7:48 pm
Do you mean this?
August 14, 2012 at 11:39 pm
Haha — that’s pretty cute, but it’s not the one I meant. The version I’m looking for is an actual theatrical film that Wikipedia describes as “a 1990 film version of William Shakespeare’s classic play Romeo and Juliet … using the feral cats of Venice, New York, and Ghent as actors, with the voices dubbed by some of the greats of the English theatre including Sir Ben Kingsley, Dame Maggie Smith, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Powell, Francesca Annis, Victor Spinetti, Quentin Crisp, and John Hurt.”
August 14, 2012 at 11:40 pm
Oops, sorry for the ugliness. I meant to link to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo.Juliet
August 20, 2012 at 7:40 pm
Thanks for the Wikipedia Link. Unfortunately, as the article concludes: (Romeo.Juliet) “…has not been re-released for the home video market. This lack of availability, which has been described as making it “more rare than the dinosaur” has made it a sought-after item in some circles.” – including yours. Let’s hope that this situation changes in the future. Criterion collection, are you listening?
August 12, 2012 at 10:27 am
“A Clockwork Orange” done like Spanky and the “Our Gang” series.
Oh, my…did I say that?!
August 12, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Instead of “Singin’ in the Rain,” Alfalfa can croak out “She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round The Mountain” while they commit horrible crimes.
August 12, 2012 at 11:50 am
100 Years of Solitude set in New York City. Pilar Ternera would make a lot of scratch shaking her venus penis-trap.
August 12, 2012 at 12:49 pm
I’m torn between an all singing, all dancing Bollywood version of “The 10 Commandments” or “Gone With the Wind” set in the Netherlands circa 1620.
August 12, 2012 at 3:04 pm
Bollywood should do a movie about all 33 million minor Hindu gods.
August 12, 2012 at 3:20 pm
An epic with Busby Berkely style dance routines and something on water-skis. I love it!
August 12, 2012 at 2:09 pm
I’d like to see Rear Window set in a redneck, trailer park community! 😀
August 12, 2012 at 4:13 pm
I want to see Three’s Company set in Shakespearean/Elizabethan times. The show would obviously lend itself well to about every Shakespeare comedy since every Three’s Company episode also always involved a big misunderstanding. Plus, I’d love to see Mr. Furley in a ruffled velvet leisure suit.
August 12, 2012 at 6:29 pm
Macbeth 3s company, the witches all share an apartment and many double entendres!
August 12, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Leave it to you, prttynpnk. I pitch them and you knock ’em out of the park!
August 12, 2012 at 4:49 pm
Wrong Number set in the present. Whoops! Cell phones, caller ID, 3 minute movie including credits.
Also, how about All In The Family set in the present? Whoops! Cancelled for being too offensive.
How about Pirates of the Gulf of Aden?
August 12, 2012 at 5:23 pm
“Glengarry Glen Ross” set in a Wal-Mart.
“The Exorcist” set in Washington. One guess who get’s the lead role.
“Diner” set in a shoe shop.
“Dr. Zhivago” set in Texas.
I’d open my wallet if any of these came to the big screen. 🙂
August 12, 2012 at 7:27 pm
I’m thinking Downton Abbey meets Gatsby would be pretty frolicking, mate!
August 12, 2012 at 10:31 pm
My immediate thought was “Debbie Does Dallas” set in Houston. Same movie? Who cares. It’s a story of ambition. OR, “A Hundred Years of Solitude” set in the deep south. Which would be fascinating!
August 13, 2012 at 3:20 am
Or Debbie Does Dulles, shot entirely on location at the airport.
August 13, 2012 at 6:40 am
How about “Little Women” as an adventure/spy thriller, kind of like the female version of an Indian Jones meets Mission Impossible meets Charlies Angles? Costume designers would be challenged, but, hey, that would be part of the thrill…
August 13, 2012 at 9:14 am
Well, they’re making Oliver Twist as a 3D parkour flick, so anything goes, right? (Sadly, I’m not kidding. (http://www.slashfilm.com/wtf-red-bull-producing-parkourflavored-3d-oliver-twist-adaptation/)
Myself, I want to see The Ten Commandments told with Legos. Stone tablets, plastic toys; the script wrties itself! Who doesn’t want to see a bearded lego guy stand watch over a great big sea of blue Legos parting whie hundreds of Lego people walk across brown Legos to safety?
August 13, 2012 at 4:04 pm
To Kill a Mockingbird with robots in the year 3000. Or is that just called I, Robot?
How about Pride and Prejudice performed by cats? It could be animated OR live action.
August 13, 2012 at 6:32 pm
“The Sixth Sense” set on Devil’s Island a-la “Papillion.” The hero would be constantly harassed by the ghosts of the nearby Leper Colony, former inmates and guards as well as victims of the local Indians’ poison darts. “Prisoner, show yourself…so that you can see dead people…”
August 14, 2012 at 6:27 am
Please, sir, don’t make me read “Twilight” (or anything by that terrible writer) ever again, in any context! Um, that said, I think I’d better run away now…!!!
August 14, 2012 at 7:28 pm
How about On Golden Pond, but set in a world of Vampires? I’m not sure how it would work, but that would put a nice twist on the story.
August 14, 2012 at 7:43 pm
“Oh, you old blood-sucking poop…”
August 15, 2012 at 6:13 am
How about Kiefer Sutherlands “Lost Boys” done like the George Clooney’s “Oh, Brother Where Art Thou” ?
August 19, 2012 at 6:32 am
I didn’t see this in a timely fashion (obviously). I recently saw The Taming of the Shrew set in frontier times in American West. The actor who portrayed Petruchio was the only one who employed a distinctly Western frontier dialect and demeanor, which distracted me, but overall, it was a fitting choice for alternative setting.
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