Remaking Powerful Stories: Hollywood Lessons
I’m a huge fan of film and television. From an early age I remember excitedly gathering around the TV with my family for shows that we loved to watch on a weekly basis (something rare in the DVR age). From shows like Happy Days and Little House on the Prairie, to sitcoms like Growing Pains, Family Ties and The Cosby Show, we loved our weekly programs. I also vividly remember the joy I felt as a kid watching shows like The A Team, Knight Rider and Dukes of Hazzard. And nothing could beat a trip to the local movie theater or drive-in when films like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, E.T., and Back to the Future were playing.
Some of those films and TV shows definitely seem dated now, but at the time they all had really fun/relevant/exciting stories to tell. Everyone loves a good story, which is why the entertainment industry is still thriving all these years after it began.
This week has been up-front week in TV land. It’s the week that all of the networks announce what shows have been picked up for the upcoming fall and midseason schedules. Being a fan of TV, it’s been fun to watch, and this year it’s been especially exciting as I have a few friends in Hollywood who have shows that have been picked up.
One of the shows I’m most excited about is a remake of the original 1980s miniseries called “V”. I was utterly mesmerized as a child when the original aired. It told the story of “friendly” aliens who arrived needing our help- only in the end, what the wanted was to steal our resources and even our people for unimaginable purposes. More than anything it was the story of resistance against oppression. Great stuff for a sci-fi loving kid who has grown into a sci-fi loving adult.
What’s interesting to me is that V is a remake of an old show. Remakes are huge these days. In the last few seasons we’ve seen: Battlestar Galactica, Bionic Woman, Knight Rider, and 90210 all remade. Melrose Place and V are both on the fall schedule. I also recently read that they’re remaking Karate Kid, Red Dawn, Nightmare on Elm Street and Footloose. This joins recent remakes such as Star Trek, Superman, The Dukes of Hazzard, and Batman (to name a small few). Can you tell that there are a bunch of 30 somethings who grew up in the 70s and 80s running Hollywood right now?
It seems some stories are so good they’re worth telling again and again. Of course, simply retelling a story doesn’t assure it’s success. Execution matters. While a beloved title might get them to tune in or through the theater door initially, the quality of story and how it is told is what’s going to keep them coming back.
What can we learn from the current remake craze?
If we truly want to grab people’s attention and keep them coming back, we have to be very careful, creative and intentional about how we tell the story. The church has basically been telling the same stories since the beginning of Chrisendom and are under the false impression that we can rely on story alone. How we tell it is just as important as the story itself. A story can be told powerfully or poorly. Rote scripture readings, or even simply putting the text on the screen is not powerful. Video-based stories, image-based scripture, and live dramatic presentation is powerful. Unfortunately, many worship designers don’t put forth the effort required to make a story really powerful. If worship was based on critical review and Nielsen ratings, how many of our churches would be cancelled? I don’t even want to venture a guess.
What will you do this week to tell the story in a fresh way? What can you do to reinvigorate the Gospel story for this present time?
