Remakes, Remasters, and the ethics of preservation (Gaming)

by EffortlessFury , Friday, December 11, 2020, 08:48 (1533 days ago) @ Cody Miller

It was 100% unethical.

To do the remasters, he had to cut the original finished negative to conform it to the special edition. This means he literally destroyed the original version of those movies. They do not exist anymore in their negative form, and CANNOT exist anymore as recutting the negative was destructive. As an extremely influential and important piece of culture, it can no longer be preserved.

There are separation masters that still exist (somewhere), so there is at least the possibility of creating a faithful remaster. But it is unlikely.

I understand what was done, I'm more interested in the argument for it being unethical.

Because it destroyed the original, which is a cornerstone of cinema and culture.

Do you no longer own or have a right to your art after it is released?

To some extent no, because it becomes part of the larger cultural collective. You obviously have certain legal and moral rights, but you can't go into someone's home and take back the book you wrote just because you want to change it.

Agreed. I also believe a creator has a right to change whatever they like in the copies they sell afterward.

There's leeway for things like director's cuts and stuff, so long as it supplements rather than replaces the original, and there was some kind of reason the original didn't match your initial intent (publisher/studio interference, censorship, etc).

In fact if they'd have branded it like a "Director's Cut" I probably would not be having this conversation.

Really this comes down to your personal definition of remaster, which is sort of pedantic? Remasters have just as much capability to supplant an original work as remakes. I've never played FF7 and my only experience with it will be the remake, and that's my choice.

To your earlier comment about Star Wars, I do agree that destroying the original negatives sucks and sits on the border of what I'm comfortable with; it's a real tragedy. I don't think that analogy is fair when compared to digital works, however.