Assignment 2 - Old Films for New

Assignment 2 – Old Films for New

In this assignment, I will be comparing the original and the remake of the film ‘Freaky Friday’ by discussing production contexts, financial determinants and the trends and genres at that particular time.

I will firstly look at the financial aspects of both productions; the budget for the original ‘Freaky Friday (1976)’ was $5 million, whereas the most recent one (2003) had a budget of $160 million. The larger budget for the director of the remake had more opportunities available to invest in ensuring that the production was as good as it could be, however, $5 million was considered a lot of money during the 1970’s for a production which gave the original a considerable amount of opportunities to create a good production.  

Technology was of course more advanced during the production of ‘Freaky Friday (2003)’ as opposed to the original. The difference between the two is that the remake has a much higher resolution picture as well as improved and different editing techniques. Both films share the same split screens when the mother and daughter swaps bodies, however the remake did not include over the top effects as they were popular and fairly new during the 70s; the remake opted for a more realistic body swap. Although both films have different budgets, it is unlikely that the reason the effects are different are because of the lack funds available, mainly the type of technology and effects available during the time considering that the 1976 version had very good graphics for its time.

The original Freaky Friday was released in cinemas in January 1977. DVD’s were not introduced by that time so viewers had to either watch it in cinema or on television sets. However, Freaky Friday’s production company was Walt Disney Productions, therefore the film was more likely going to have a large fan base already just by it being made by Disney. The same applies to the remake, as it was released in August 2003. The only difference is that the remake was distributed on DVD’s which made it easier for the film to gain a wider audience, therefore increasing film popularity. Due to technical advancements, Disney films were made more accessible to audiences worldwide including films on planes, online sites, DVD’s and television recording sets. The release of DVD was beneficial to the remake of Freaky Friday as it became something major and was a ‘must have’ for everyone at the time, therefore adding newly recreated ‘Freaky Friday’ to their DVD list.

Although the trends and fashion of the time periods in which both films are in are different, the audiences watching both films will still be able to identify the more modern side to each film in the same way; the mothers in both films are considered to be rather old fashioned and hard working for the time they are portrayed in whereas the daughters are rebellious to that and are portrayed as lazy and uncaring. This shows the audience a clear difference between the time periods that the mother and daughter were raised in, which could potentially be why they have so many differences, conveying that all younger generations are considered to be lazier than the older generations.

The genres of both Freaky Fridays are comedy, family and fantasy due to it consistently portraying stereotypes of families, teenagers and their issues. The fantasy still remains in both films due to the body swap situation as it is unrealistic that this could ever take place in real life. Both films are also considered a comedy as the issues shown are not entirely serious and harmful, but audiences would find them funny to watch as they are all issues considered to be that ‘everyone has gone through’ and brings the idea of teenagers swapping bodies with their mums to life, therefore making it comical.

The stars in both versions include females who were famous amongst people of their age; such as Jodie Foster who played Annabel (the daughter) and Barbara Harris who played the mother in the 1976 version. These stars were popular during the time as Jodie Foster would have drawn in younger audiences who admired her work whereas Barbara Harris would have drawn in older audiences. The same applies for the 2003 version where Jamie Lee Curtis played the mother and Lindsay Lohan who played the daughter; the filmmakers used popular actresses as it allowed the film to attract audiences of different ages to see their favourite stars, increasing viewing and popularity figures.

The social issues found in both films could be the typical relationships that mothers and daughters have, regardless of the time period the film was created in. The films portray the parent/child conflict in a positive way as it gives the audiences the opportunity to see life from a mother’s perspective and a child’s perspective at that time; covering work and school issues. At the end of both films both characters finally understand what it is like to be one another and how stressful their lives can be regardless of their age, which in a way informs the audience that rebuilding relationships are fairly possible. The daughter in both films are also conveyed rather boyish and have a negative attitude towards being a typical female, which goes against the general image of girls wanting to get married and have a traditional life. This could be a way of the filmmakers portraying the issues that girls have with wanting to have a different life compared to how their parents did. Another issue highlighted could be that once the mother switches to the daughter’s body, she then sees the issues with the education system that most parents do not get to see.

The similarities between both films is that they kept the main characters a mother and daughter. This could potentially be due to girls, even 30 years on, still having trouble with being different to older generations. The reason they may have kept this could be that there had become a large minority of girls who want to avoid being the typical female. The remake still highlights the troubles that the daughter goes through at school which again parents do not get to see. However, in the original film you see that the daughter’s parents are still together, whereas in the remake the mother plans to remarry to her fiancée. This highlights how social issues have changed, making divorce and remarriage more common than it was 30 years prior to the remake. They added more modern themes to the remake to show how times have changed and what is common during that time. 

  

Walt Disney Productions own a number of sub-companies which cover certain production and distribution costs when it comes to producing a new film. Although they may not have their own cinemas, Disney has its own channels, stores and other well-known entertainment methods of publicising the original (at the time) and its remake. This is known as vertical integration as the producing company owns a number of subsidiaries that will support the distribution of the film, allowing them to gain more money.