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The Housemaid (1960/2010): The right to be called a remake.

  • Writer: Leo Barton
    Leo Barton
  • Jan 27, 2018
  • 3 min read

Updated: Oct 26, 2019

Comparing Kim Kiyoung and Im Sangsoo’s films of the same title is no easy feat, even though many sources will tell you that Im’s film is simply a remake of Kim’s. This begs the question what is a ‘remake’ and what is a new film simply inspired by another. The main problem between these two examples is that the title is exactly the same; while you wouldn’t call A Fist Full of Dollars a remake of Kurosawa’s Yojimbo—instead you would call it a rework. Similarly The Housemaid (2010) is a rework/adaptation or is inspired by The Housemaid (1960) instead of simply being named a remake. [The following discussion will obviously contain a few spoilers, although I will try to avoid the biggest ones!]

First let’s look at the Kim Kiyoung’s 1960 film. Here we find a composer/teacher hiring a housemaid to help his wife take care of the larger family house they are moving in to. This housemaid turns out to be hugely attracted to the teacher turning her into a sexual predator who seduces the composer, gets impregnated and continues to dominate and abuse the household to the extreme. In contrast Im Sangsoo’s 2010 film sees a young housemaid (this time the protagonist) move into a huge mansion where she works for a wealthy family. The man of the house is a rich and sexually dominant individual who rapes the housemaid and subsequently impregnates her. The housemaid attempts to escape the situation however runs into blockades surrounding abortion.

The difference here is huge and surrounds the titular character being either a terrifyingly dominant figure or a helplessly abused one. Can we then class this as a remake? I would argue not, although this argument over terminology is not the most interesting part. If we simply accredit the 2010 film to being ‘based on’ or ‘inspired by’ the former we can dig into more interesting debates—why does the titular character’s role shift between the versions?


Considering 50 years passed between the original and the rework, it is obvious that social issues have changed. In the first we see a male main character with a stable family—a harmony which is disrupted by a sexually deviant young woman. In the second we find a working woman being sexually abused by a domineering wealthy man. These two films then enforce traditional values against modern values. The first enforces family as a unit as an opposition to the rise of female sexuality (likely influenced by American culture post-Korean war). The second enforces female independence (moving them out of this rigid traditional framework) bringing about discussions of feminism seen through the many contrasting female characters within the mansion.

Although this analysis has been very brief we can see that the two films vary greatly which, I believe, should dispel the ‘remake’ label. However why do I even have an urge to remove this label from the film? The answer lies in the hugely negative stigma towards the word in contemporary film culture—remakes are often regarded as a lack of creativity in a society which has nothing to say. Therefore instead of dispelling the label all-together maybe we should embrace it as a positive in this case. Combining the films into a meta-text (which plays dynamically between both films) we can analyse shifts in society and see how ‘remaking’ a film can provide new insight into the modern age and how our concerns have shifted to show us how far we have come, but also how far we still have to go. I look forward to seeing The Housemaid in 2060 to see the next step.


The Housemaid (1960)

0/2/1

3/13


The Housemaid (2010)

1/2/1

4/13


~Leo

Opmerkingen


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