Same story told differently how the socio-cultural factors influenced the creation of Abre los Ojos and Vanilla Sky

Abstract

In order to illustrate how the same story significantly changes depending on its country of origin, I will use the example of Abre Los Ojos (Spain, 1997) and its remake Vanilla Sky (USA, 2001). The intention of my thesis will not be to prove which version is better, but rather to show how all differences are results of a different ideological and cinematographic tradition. First, I will talk about kinds of remakes and why Hollywood remakes European films. Then, I will compare the main characters in both films, and show how they reflect socio-behavioral norms, based on their country of origin. Then, I will continue with other cultural differences expressed in the language, cinematography, editing, music, acting and directing. The main sociological, therefore cinematographic difference, which prevails in all aspects and sections of the two films, is that Abre los Ojos deals with the protagonist?s inner struggles, while Vanilla Sky is a love driven film. This thematic difference reveals a lot about the audience?s preferences in Europe and America.