Abre los ojos Vs. Vanilla Sky

Vernieri 1
Vernieri 19


Mariana Vernieri
Prof. Nava Dushi
COM 550q
22 February 2015

Translating a Dream:
A Comparative Study of the Spanish film Abre los Ojos and its Hollywood Remake Vanilla Sky

Abstract
The present study is a comparative analysis of the 1997 Spanish film, Abre los ojos ("Open your eyes", in English), and its 2001 American remake, Vanilla sky with the goal of finding and analyzing the specific differences between both films, and deciphering through them the conceptualization of elements inherent to Hollywood Remakes which reflect the cultural differences between Europe and the United States. The methodology applied for this end, consists on the textual analysis of the films and their corresponding scripts, performed through a "Plot Segmentation" of both films and followed by a detailed examination of the rhetorical devices of foreshadowing and repetition for each of them, and then by the research of cultural modifications in the layers of symbols, heroes, rituals and values, as proposed by Geer Hoftede. To conclude, the reception information for each of the films will be taken into account in order to determine the possible influence of the found differences on the success of the movies in terms of revenue, critics and awards.

1. Introduction

The present study is a comparative analysis of the 1997 Spanish film, Abre los ojos, directed by Alejandro Amenabar and its 2001 American remake, Vanilla sky produced by Cruise-Warner and directed by Cameron Crowe. Both films narrate the story of a rich, handsome and successful young man who suddenly loses his beauty after a tragic accident, and becomes involved on a series of surreal events involving the inexplicable transformation, back and forth, of his disfigured face into his wholesome face, and that of his beloved woman into the woman he dreads and who caused his accident. Furthermore, he is accused of the murder of a woman who he fails to understand which of both it is, and he struggles with remembering and understanding everything that happened. The final explanation involves futuristic and postmodern elements: the protagonist had died, and before that, he had signed a contract by which his body would be cryogenically conserved and, when technology is evolved enough to wake him up, kept in a dream until he decides to wake up. Both versions of the story are told almost with the same exact narrative structure, being the remake a fairly loyal reproduction of the original on a scene-by-scene basis. However, a few stylistic and cultural variations have been introduced on the remake, in order to make it "less European" and more suitable for the American market. This study focuses on the scrutiny of those differences.

1.1 Background of the Study

American remakes of foreign films are a common practice in Hollywood. This is so because they function as a way of reproducing previous success with already proved themes, techniques and storylines, and with little work on the part of the scriptwriters. The story is already there; they just have to "translate" it, and make it work. But this translation is more than just a language translation. It is a cultural translation, generally aiming to transform a foreign film into a Hollywood film, which traditionally "strives to conceal its artifice through techniques of continuity and 'invisible' storytelling" and "possesses a fundamental emotional appeal that transcends class and nation" (Bordwell and Staiger 2).
The scholarly study of this phenomenon has been often centered on the criticism of Hollywood remakes as an embodiment of "American culture and its dominance" which "threaten to erase any trace of foreign influence that they might encounter along their imperialist path" (Carol Durham qtd. in Miura 2). In the same sense, Miura cites film scholar Lucy Mazdon who considers American remakes of French films as "a very real and very current manifestation of American cultural imperialism" (3).
But, can this be said about a movie which is almost an exact copy of the original, with only a few, very delimited variations? The selection of Abre los Ojos and Vanilla Sky for the present study takes into account the great structural similarity of both movies which makes it possible to focus on the differences between them as a way to analyze with precision what devices and strategies are needed to convert a foreign movie onto a blockbuster Hollywood success. The detailed enumeration and analysis of these differences will make it possible to evidence the extent in which they can been seen as a demonstration of imperialist power, or only as a cultural adaptation.
In their book "Dead Ringers: The Remake in Theory and Practice", Jennifer Forrest and Leonard R. Koos put forward Claire Vasse's recommendation to "put aside value judgment in order to let both remake and original unveil the mutual enrichment that only emerges from a juxtaposition of the two" (29). This concept will be taken into account during the development of this study, which instead of subjectively arguing on which version is best - as most critics do –will objectively evaluate both versions in search of the specific modifications introduced by the remake, with the aims of contrasting them with the differences on their reception in terms of their critical reviews, the awards won by each film, and their box office success.
1.2 Problem statement

The main goal of this study is to find and analyze the specific differences between both films, and to decipher through them the conceptualization of elements inherent to Hollywood Remakes, reflecting the cultural differences between Europe and the United States. At the same time, these elements will be contrasted with the actual effects that they generate on the audience, in terms of reception. In order to do this, the following questions need to be responded:

a. In what context was Abre los ojos produced, who is its director and
to what filmic trend it belongs?
b. How did Vanilla Sky come to existence, and what was the concept
behind this remake?
c. What specific elements were modified from a version to the other
one in order to "Americanize" it?
d. What impact did these changes have on the public's reception of the films?
The answers to these questions are likely to shred light to a more general question of what elements are part on the cultural translation of European films to the American public. To ascertain this, the elements found as differences will be contrasted with the devices and concepts generally associated with the "Hollywood Style".
With respect of the last question, it can be hypothesized that the results will show that while Abre los ojos had a better reception in regards to critics, user reviews and awards, Vanilla sky's success in terms of Box office will show significantly superior. Lacking the films of other relevant differences beyond the ones that will be underlined by this study, this contradictory results – within delimited markets - can be understood by the specific modifications introduced by the Hollywood version.

1.3 Scholarly significance
While there are abundant studies about American remakes of European films, the specific case study proposed by this paper is of particular interest because of the strong scene-by-scene resemblance of both versions. This makes them especially suitable for the isolation of the differences facilitating further analysis.
Additionally, the fact that Abre los ojos is considered an authorial film, and its postmodern concept adds another dimension to the study, distinguishing it from the classical European/ American comparison.
Even if there can be found numerous critical reviews for each of the studied movies and even some casual comparisons between both, most of them are expressions of the opinion of their authors and are not based on a systematic and thorough study of the movies' texts. The intended objectivity of this research together with the analysis of the reception of both films makes this work unprecedented.


1.4 Limits of the research

The abovementioned particularities of the studied case hinder the possibilities of generalization to other remake cases.
The present study will analyze the narrative and texts of the compared movies, and include a few visual aspects, but it will not focus on the technical aspects of filming, music, and edition, aspects all of them which should be considered for a complete evaluation.
The audience reception of each movie will be considered only for Spain and the USA, and it is important to take into account -for the correct interpretation of these results- that the monetary success of the American version can be due in great part to the fact of being a Hollywood production with all its resources for marketing and distribution, and not to the particular elements found as differences between both films by the present study.
2. Theory and Methodology

Being the purpose of this study a comparison of Abre los ojos and Vanilla sky, the main materials utilized will be both films themselves, as well as their transcripts for a more detailed scrutiny. The texts utilized for this purpose will be the transcription, in English language of Vanilla Sky's script, and, for Abre los ojos, the transcription of its English subtitles.
To begin with, as a method to facilitate this analysis, a "Plot Segmentation" will be performed for both films following the procedures described by Bordwell and Thompson on their book "Film Art, an introduction" (69). In the second place, the pair of structures will be evaluated side by side in search of specific discrepancies, and the found differences will be detailed and explained.
Bordwell proposed in 1985 that foreshadowing and repetition are narrative devices frequently used in Hollywood Films as a way to serve "the constant hypothesis making" and avoid "subsequent unsatisfying promises" (qtd. in Brylla 4). For this reason, textual analysis will be utilized to determine the incidence of these devices in the Spanish and American versions. This analysis, at the same time, will be framed inside of the general theoretical framework proposed by Jim Macnamara in "Media content analysis: Its uses, benefits and best practice methodology"
Moreover, another theory that will be applied for a further exploration of these differences is the one proposed by Geer Hoftede in "Levels of Culture", the first chapter of her book "Software of the mind" in which she puts forward a structure of symbols, heroes, rituals and values, to identify the layers of cultural relativism. The textual, rhetorical and visual differences found between Abre los Ojos and Vanilla sky, will be presented in relation to these points in order to illustrate the layers of cultural difference underlying behind each movie.
To conclude, the reception information about the movies including Spanish and American box offices, awards and nominations, Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audience reviews, and IMDb rating, will be obtained from IMDb, and Rotten Tomatoes for their comparison, and conclusions will derive from this information and how it works together with the information discovered by the previous steps.
3. Literature Review

Two comprehensive books that study the field of movie remakes are "Film Remakes" by Constantine Verevis and "Dead Ringers: The Remake in Theory and Practice" by Jennifer Forrest. The first of them even contemplates the Vanilla sky specific case, but it does so from a very broad point of view on a single paragraph in which he cites its director Cameron Crowe comparing the remaking of Abre los ojos to "doing a cover of a great song" (133)
There have been as well a few scholarly articles comparing both movies within systematic approaches. That is the case of "SKY'S THE LIMIT: Transnationality and Identity in Abre Los Ojos and Vanilla Sky" a complete essay written by Daniel Herbert, in which he takes a critical look on both films in the light of intertextual relations, focusing on "the struggle for cultural power in a transnational field" (1). Another case is the article by Barbara Simerka and Christopher Weimer, "Tom Cruise and the Seven Dwarves: Cinematic Postmodernisms in Abre Los Ojos and Vanilla Sky", which analyzes the postmodern elements in both films. However, both the scopes and the methods for these studies differ significantly from the one here proposed.
Alejandro Amenabar's work has been often studied in the frame of authorial film practices. Some of these studies, which include mention to Abre los ojos, are "Beyond Auteurism" by Rossana Maule, and "Abre los ojos de Alejandro Amenabar" by Fatima de los Santos Romero. Amit Thakkar, for his part, classifies the film as "cine de choque" (clash cinema)
Abandoning the field of peer reviewed scholarly work, there have been numerous critical approaches to the analysis of this particular remake, and the two films involved in it, some of them of high quality and insight. That's the case of Joseph Palis' online article "Abre Those Eyes: The Americanization of Abre Los Ojos and the Hispanization of Vanilla Sky" which presents a praise for both directors with a focus on visual effects and directing techniques. Fans are often the most dedicated analysts, and the fan website "The Lucid Nightmare" presents a thorough comparison of both films created by "Thousands of Users" with great admiration for both the original, which is considered "a timeless classic of foreign awesomeness" and the remake which is for them "An amazing remake that doesn't suck".
However, most comparisons are favorable to the original version (Abre los ojos). That is the case of "`Vanilla sky' fails to match original" by Johnson, Malcolm, and Courant which ascertain that most critics like the original version better than the remake. Joe Queenan fervently criticizes the remake in his 2002 review for The Observer, and so does Eleanor Gillespie in her article "Vanilla Extract: Despite Formidable Star Power, this Ambitious Remake is a Pale Imitation." Meanwhile, in "The truth about remakes" Calvin Wilson analyses several remakes including this one in which he thinks that "In Spanish, the film is much more intense – and much more ambiguous" (3), while Hannah McGill criticizes it from the stand point of acting performances in "The Heart's just not in it." Kenneth Turan, correspondingly, wrote in her "Movie Review; from Paella to Pot Roast; 'Vanilla Sky,' the Remake by Cameron Crowe of a 1997 Spanish Film, is Smooth and Professional, but Something is Off in His Translation's Recipe" her opinion on why the remake failed, in her view, to capture the original's soul.
In Spanish language, as one might expect, most criticisms are favorable to the original movie. Doly Mallet for example, in "Fabrica De Luz/ Vanilla Sky: Abre Los Ojos... no es tan Buena." states and justifies why, in her view, Amenabar's work is superior to that of his "successor", while Mexican magazine "Palabra" in "Le Abren Los Ojos a 'Vanilla Sky'." Considers that something is lost in translation, lacking Crowe's version of the qualities that make Abre los ojos unforgettable.
Conversely, in "Why Vanilla Sky Was Not Just another Dumb Re-imagining", Jordan Rosa argues on favor of the remake stating her opinion that "Amenabar built a beautiful house, but Crowe painted and decorated it"
4. From Abre los ojos to Vanilla sky: the story behind the dream
Abre los ojos ( which means "Open your eyes" in English) is a Spanish movie, released in 1997, directed and co-scripted by the Chilean-Spanish Alejandro Amenabar (also the director of the Nicole Kidman film The Others, among many). The movie counts in its cast with the well renowned Penelope Cruz (having been her also a starring in Vanilla Sky personifying Sofia in both movies), Eduardo Noriega (as Cesar, the main character), Najwa Nimri, as Nuria, (Cesar's obsessed lover who purposely crashes her car with him inside of it because of jealousy), Fele Martínez, as Pelayo (Cesar's best friend), and Chete Lera as Antonio, the psychiatrist who helps him reconstruct what happened.
Four years after the release of Open Your Eyes and due to the initiative of actor and producer Tom Cruise, Vanilla sky comes out in 2001 as a remake of Abre los ojos. Tom Cruise paid $600,000 for the remakes rights of the film in English Language, selected Cameron Crowe to direct it and casted himself for the main role (IMDb). Apart from Penelope Cruz – who as stated before also acted in Abre los ojos – the film includes Cameron Diaz for the role of Julie (instead of Nuria), Jason Lee as Brian (instead of Pelayo), and Kurt Russell as Dr. Curtis McCabe (instead of Antonio). Tom Cruise plays the role of the Americanized Cesar, turned now into David. A budget of 68 million dollars for Vanilla sky dwarfed the approximately 3 million invested in Abre los ojos. Not surprisingly, revenue at the box office also showed a staggering contrast. As of January, 28th Sky had a gross box office worldwide of $203,388,341 whereas its Spanish muse collected well below the 10 million dollars.
Referring to his creation, Alejandro Amenabar has stated that "in the film we talk about appearances, about what we believe to be real and what not" (Ibercine). One cannot avoid the thought that this blurring of frontiers between fiction and reality also expressed itself even beyond the film, by the fact that Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz fell in love during the course of the filmmaking and started since a relationship that lasted for three years.
5. Textual Analysis: Pointing out the differences
At first sight, the most visible difference between both films is the huge investment on the production of Vanilla sky, which is reflected in more spectacular visual effects, dream landscaping, and of course, in the participation of highly paid actors and actresses. Luxury at the same time, is even more evident in the lifestyle of David compared to that of Cesar. But in order to get a more detailed look of the actual differences on the text of the movies, a comparison of both "Plot Segmentations" is here convenient. They will evidence how similar is the structure of Vanilla sky to that of Abre los ojos, and at the same time which are the most structural differences, and this will open the door for a more in-depth scene-by-scene analysis.
Abre los Ojos
1- Awaking- Talks with Nuria
2- First Dream: Empty city
3- Meets Pelayo/racquetball
4- Psychiatrist – Part A
5- Birthday party
5.1 Nuria in the bedroom
5.2 Back to the main room
5.3 With Sofia in the apartment
5.4 Pelayo interrupts
6- Sofia's place
6.1 TV documentary- Part A
6.2 Drawings
7- The car drive
8- Second dream
9- Psychiatrist – Part B
10- Doctors' interview
11- Psychiatrist – Part C
12- They meet again at the park
13- TV documentary - part B
14- Night club
14.1 They meet
14.2 Bar
14.3 Restroom
14.4 Back to her
14.5 They say good bye at the street
15- He wakes up at the street
16- Psychiatrist – Part D
17- Removing plates
18- Cafe with Sofia and Pelayo
19- Sex/ hallucination scene
20- Police report
21- Pelayo picks him up
22- Bar - TV man talks to him
23- Psychiatrist - Part E
24- Hypnosis
25- Murder scene
26- Psychiatrist - Part F
27- TV documentary - Part C – at the institution
28- Psychiatrist access internet
29- They go to LE
29.2 He runs away
29.3 Rooftop
Vanilla Sky
1- Awaking
2- First Dream: Empty city
3- Psychiatrist – Part A
4- Talks with Juliana
5- Meets Brian/racquetball
6- Office scene
7- Psychiatrist – Part B
8- Birthday party
8.2 With Julie in the bedroom
8.3 Back to the main room
8.4 With Sofia in the apartment
8.5 Brian interrupts
9- Sofia's place
10- Psychiatrist- Part C
11- Drawings
12- The car drive
13- Second dream
14- Psychiatrist- Part D
15- Doctors' interview
16– Psychiatrist
17- They meet again at the park
18- TV documentary - Part B
19- Night club
19.1 They meet
19.2 Bar
19.3 Restroom
19.4 Back to her
19.5 They say good bye at the street
20- He wakes up at the street
21- Psychiatrist- Part D
22- Removing plates
23- Cafe with Sofia and Brian
24- Sex/ hallucination scene
25- Police station with Tommy
26- Brian goes to find him
27- Restaurant-TV man talks to him
28- Psychiatrist- Part E
29- Murder scene
30- Psychiatrist- Part F
31- They go to LE
31.1 Elevator
31.2 Rooftop

From the comparison of both structures, some things become evident as differences, and this is especially notable if we take a close look to how identical these structures are, with the exception of these points:
1) The sections with the psychiatrist are placed in different spaces throughout the story, being him presented before Juliana in VS while in ALO he comes later. This grants Vanilla sky a sense of anticipation and fuller disclosure of the narrative elements.
2) There is a scene taking place at David's office in VS, which is completely absent in ALO. As we will see later, this is part of a concept of "WORK" that is much more developed throughout all the movie and is one of the biggest differences between them.
3) At the Police Station, Cesar is alone, while David is helped by Tommy, a character who does not exist in ALO. Tommy is a friend of the family who valued David's father, and represents a sense of patriarchy which is exclusive of the remake.
4) The way in which David finds out about L.E. is different than his Spanish counterpart. While he just logs into the Internet and finds it, Cesar remembers about it in a session of Hypnosis. All the process is slower and clearer in ALO, while in VS it is not evident why they go out running off the penitentiary, and it actually takes less time in the process.
5) The full scene in which Antonio is shot is not reproduced in VS, and it is replaced instead by a disclosure and anticipation scene with the "tech support guy", at the elevator. This character (and the concept of "tech support") does not exist in the first version.
5.1 Americanizing a story

Besides these obvious modifications in the overall structure of the movies, there are some characteristics of "The Hollywood Style" present in Vanilla Sky that represent a point of difference with respect of Abre los Ojos. These are both devices pointed out by Bordwell (Foreshadowing and Repetition), and could be identified as follows:
Foreshadowing:
"Fear of heights" referenced by David five times in VS, is never mentioned by Cesar in ALO. It builds up the idea that in some moment he will have to face this fear.
When Brian tells David "You will never know the exquisite pain of the guy who goes home alone, because without the bitter, baby, the sweet ain't as sweet" in VS, he is advancing not only that he will actually go home alone, but also that "bitter things" are going to happen to him.
Repetition:
The phrase "Open your eyes" , which is the English translation for "Abre los ojos", is actually more repeated in the first version than in the remake, being it said eleven times in the first one and "only" eight in the second one. However, this is the only instance of repetition more insistent on the Spanish version. The question "What is happiness for you?" on the other hand, is repeated four times in ALO but seven times in VS.
This device - present in Amenabar's work - probably gave Crowe the idea of taking repetition to a new level to accentuate its effect. Therefore, these lines and concepts, never mentioned in ALO are repeated in VS:
"Red dress, strappy shoes" – 3 times
"Sweet and sour" – 8 times
"Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around" – 2 times
"Pleasure delayer" – 5 times
"The saddest girl to ever hold a martini"- 3 times
"I'll tell you in another life, when we are both cats" - 4 times
"This is a revolution of the mind" -3 times
5.2 Symbols, Heroes, Rituals and Values

Geert Hofstede presents in her theory about cultural relativism, a scheme in which the concepts of symbols, heroes, rituals and values are presented as the skins of an onion, where symbols is the most superficial level, and values the most profound, with heroes an rituals in between (5). This classification comes handy to interpret the differences between Abre los ojos and Vanilla sky, within each of the categories.
Symbols:
"Symbols are words, gestures, pictures or objects that carry a particular meaning which is only recognized by those who share the culture" (Hofstede 5)
There are plenty of elements on this layers introduced in VS which are not in ALO, as well as elements that have been modified form the original to the remake.
In the first category, VS introduces elements of pop culture in the birthday scene, in which an holographic saxophone player is playing Jazz, and there are guitars and monuments to rock and roll in David's his collection (not shown at ALO). The same concept of pop culture elements is scattered all over the film, with references to paintings, musical albums and films, which are afterwards explained as making the background of his dream. This is so important that "Vanilla sky" is named in reference to one of these pieces (a painting) while the concept of external elements framing the background of the dream is not mentioned in ALO.
American festivities are referenced in VS, in the case of Halloween (when David is presented with the mask and says "It's great. This completely takes care of Halloween, but what about the other 364 days of the year?" and the Fourth of July (a parade is shown featuring an inflatable of Homer Simpson)
He has tequila at the bar instead of whiskey. Sofia has a dog as her pet in VS, while she has a cat in ALO. They have nicknames in the American version, ("Sergio" for her, "Citizen Dildo" for him, "the seven dwarves" for the board members).
Heroes:
"Heroes are persons, alive or dead, real or imaginary, who possess characteristics which are highly prized in a culture, and who thus serve as models of behavior" (Hofstede 6).
It is easy to see that all main characters in VS are more physically attractive than their ALO counterparts. (Especially Julie/Nuria, Brian/Pelayo and the psychiatrist). This could be evidence of a greatest valuation of physical beauty in American culture.
Sofia, is interpreted by the same actress in both movies, but in VS she plays the role of an immigrant (Latina) while in ALO she is a local, and that element changes the connotation of her role.
But probably the most important difference at the "heroes" level between both movies is the reference to David's father. Even if he is dead, he is an important character in the film. The reference begins with the name of the main character (David Ames Jr., which references to David Ames, Sr., his father). There is a huge picture of his father in David's living room. There are references to his job, his fortune, and to the book he wrote. There is even the character of Tommy (inexistent in ALO) who is a friend of the father. The father is a very powerful figure, whilst in ALO, the only reference to him (he does not have a name in this version) are the lines of David's dialog with Antonio:
"-My father had a restaurant chain. That's not my fault.
-When did your parents die?
-Fifteen years ago, in an accident."
And then:
"- I'm just a psychiatrist.
- You don't look like one.
- What do I look like?
- My father. Preaching at me all day.
-Your father's dead.
-There you go."
On the other hand, VS's references to lines mentioning David's father, would fill entire pages.
Rituals:
"Rituals are collective activities, technically superfluous in reaching desired ends, but which, within a culture, are considered as socially essential" (Hofstede 6).
The most important ritual portrayed in VS in contrast with ALO is the central role that jobs play for all the characters in the American version, while in the Spanish version the occupations of most of the characters ar neither defined nor relevant to the plot.
As stated before, there is a full scene in VA in which David goes to work. We know that he works in a fashion magazine, we know that he inherited the 51% of that company from his father, and that the other part is owned by the "seven dwarves", as he refers to his board of partners. Furthermore, he believes that this board is somehow responsible of everything that is happening to him. He blames them of conspiracy, while in ALO Cesar just suspects that something strange is happening, but he does not blame no one in particular for it.
In ALO, the word "company" is used 5 times, four of them referring to L.E. (The American Company in charge of cryonics) and only one in reference to Cesar's company:
"-Does the office belong to your company?
-No, I don't recognize it."
In VS, in contrast, the word is mentioned 7 times, all of them in reference to David's company:
"And you believe the board--the Seven Dwarfs put you here to take control of your company?"
"Never run a company. Stay an artist."
"I will now attempt to run my company showing compassion for the seething throng of my partners...who root quietly for me to fail. And for things you don't even know.
"I'm gonna go to work. I have a company to run."
"You battled your board for control of the company, you battled your board for control of the company… and in the end it was Thomas Tipp, your father's friend...the man whose job you saved... who wrenched the company back into your control."
For further illustration, the word "work" is mentioned 6 times in ALO and 19 in VS; the word "board" is repeated 18 times in VS and none in ALO; and "money" is mentioned 4 times in VS versus only 2 in ALO.
Nonetheless, David's job is not the only one developed in VS. We know that Sofia dances instead of being a mime, but in VS she is a dental assistant as well, while in ALO we don't know her real job, in case she has one. She just jokes about being an "arms dealer" and he asks no more. Julie is a singer in VS, while we completely ignore Nuria's occupation in ALO. Brian in VS is a writer hired by David to write his memoirs. We have no idea of Pelayo's occupation in ALO. The emphasis placed in the remake on the occupation of the characters is probably talking about a difference in the perception of the relative importance of jobs in the respective cultures.
Values:
Most differences between these movies can fit in the categories defined above (Symbols, heroes and rituals) which constitute according to Hofstede what she calls "Practices" and this is where National Cinema would fit.
"Values are the core of culture […] broad tendencies to prefer certain states of affairs over others" (Hofstede 6).
Being both Spain and the United States occidental and democratic countries, most values are doubtless shared. However, the approach to the corporate world differ in a way that could be probably classified in the values layer. This is evident from the first scene. In it, Cesar has a nightmare in which he runs into an empty Madid, and he feels isolated with no other people, between gray buildings and parked cars, while David finds himself in an empty Times Square, full of advertising, lights and billboards. For Herbert, this shows how "Vanilla sky foregrounds consumer culture as mediating the relation between the individual and the social world, thereby altering significantly the allegory of alienation carried over from Abre los Ojos" (2).
6. Reception

A brief analysis of the reception of both movies can be summarized by the following table:


Abre los Ojos
Vanilla Sky









Box Office USA*
$368,234 (USA) (1999)
$100,614,858 (USA) (2002)



Box Office Spain*
€6,442,471 (Spain) (1998)
€2,502,271 (Spain) (2002)



Awards won*
5 wins and 11 nominations
6 wins and 22 nominations



Tomatometer**
85%
41%



RT Audience**
88%
72%



IMDB rating*
7.8/10
6.9/10









*Source: IMDb
**Source: Rotten Tomatoes

Both films have been of important economic success for each of the markets studied (Spain/ USA). However, the numbers of Vanilla Sky is significantly superior, probably due to the full Hollywood mechanism and the immense market that the USA represent. With respect of awards it is important to take into account that European films are not subject to the same nominations than American films, but it is interesting to take a percentage look to the wins, making 45% for ALO against 27% for VS. It is also evident that critics are more favorable to ALO, as the "Tomatometer" represents "The percentage of Approved Tomatometer critics who have given this movie a positive review" (rottentomatoes.com) and in this case the difference in favor of ALO is greater (85% to 41%) than in both cases in which the general audience is considered (IMDB rating and RT audience). For these, the favorite is still ALO but not for so big a difference. This may be explained by a general predisposition of Movie criticists to favor European films over Hollywood productions (And to favor in general originals over remakes).
7. Conclusion

This study has discussed the context of the production of the Spanish movie Abre los ojos, and how Vanilla sky was born as an American remake with a higher budget and famous actors, with the purpose of bringing the story to the American public. The specific elements which were modified from a version to the other one in order to "Americanize" it were found and classified in the devices of repetition and foreshadowing, and the concepts of symbols, heroes, rituals and values. Having confirmed that the reception of the movies favor ALO in critics but VS in gross income, it is left to be ascertained to what extent this might be due to the sole fact of it being a Hollywood production, with all the Hollywood machinery behind it, or to what extent the changes purposely introduced by Cameron Crowe in Vanilla sky could have influenced this outcome (in both senses: worse reviews, better revenue). The question that is still left to answer is: What would have happened if Vanilla Sky had been produced with the same cast and crew but maintaining the exact script and structure of Abre los Ojos without modifications? Would it have had the same results or are the stylistic devices and cultural changes introduced responsible of both making it more attractive to the general public and less admirable for the critics?
Unfortunately, it is not possible to remake a whole film only to ascertain this, but it can be hypothesized that exactly the kind of changes evidenced by this study are part of the recipe that make Hollywood movies the huge popular success that they are, even at the cost of losing cinephiles' appreciation, and that, therefore, the same concept will be applied in the future for the remakes of other European movies.









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