C/MD/33. 'Original' vs. Remake: Case study of 'Abre los ojos' - open your eyes -Spanish film and 'Vanilla Sky' which is a Hollywood remake

According to Hutcheon the relationship between an 'original' and a remake can be summarized as 'repetition with difference'. Explore these notions of repetition and difference using as a case study a European film its Hollywood remake. The films that are chosen here for comparison are "Abre los ojos" - open your eyes -Spanish film and "Vanilla Sky" which is a Hollywood remake. This discussion deals with the adaptation of the Spanish movie Abre los Ojos or Vanilla Sky that is marked by science fiction and a merger of reality and fantasy. The storyline is discussed and brings out the philosophical questions of life, death, love and desire. Both the original and the Hollywood remake deal with the same story of a young man who faces a car crash caused by his jealous lover. The movie shifts between dreams, fantasy and reality and even brings out moral and ethical questions portrayed through conflicts, struggles and neuroticism. Apart from the psychological dimensions, the movie is largely a cross between a suspense thriller and a science fiction and here the focus is on whether the remake Vanilla Sky has done any justice to its original Spanish version. The criticisms of adaptations and remakes as 'repetition with a difference' and secondary or derivative' have also been considered in this context.