| dc.description.abstract | The Departed, a remake of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, was released
during a surge of Hollywood remakes of Asian cinema during the first decade of the
twenty-first century. American filmmakers remaking Asian cinema face the challenge of
translating films reflecting specific aspects of cultural narrative and specific sociocultural
issues informing the domestic film being remade, and the resulting remakes reflect
assumptions and choices made by such American filmmakers regarding the treatment of
cultural specificity when remaking a film for a new audience. Owing in part to the
challenge of translating such cultural specificity in connection with remaking a foreign
film, although The Departed adeptly navigates the difficulties of translating a foreign
film and achieved both critical and commercial success, the remaining film remakes
discussed herein were met with mixed critical and commercial success. A thorough
analysis of American remakes of Asian films during the first decade of the twenty-first
century, as well as an analysis of the development and production of The Departed, and a
comparison of the film to Infernal Affairs, reveal that the critical and commercial success
of The Departed reflects the talent of and independence granted to the screenwriter and
director of the film by the film’s producers, the thorough localization of the
characterizations and narrative of the film to unique, constructed aspects of the politics
and culture of Boston, and the effective presentation of themes that are both unique from
the themes presented in Infernal Affairs, and which are accessible to American and
international audiences. | |
