Re Dambusters: Why bother doing a remake at all? Why not reissue the original, as a classic, with a disclaimer stating that its use of language reflects the standards of the time? What would they do with a contemporary film of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, for instance?
I think there's a big difference between something like Huckleberry Finn, which is an important anti-racist work and every word of which cries out against racism and oppression, and Dambusters, where you have a bunch of white people who thought calling a black dog "nigger" was funny because they didn't know any better. Keeping the word in Huckleberry Finn is completely justified, but not in Dambusters.
(This kind of thing is very difficult, of course, because context, both good and bad, gets lost over decades. I know for example that a lot of people refuse to watch Duck Soup because of Groucho's line "The Headstrongs married the Armstrongs, and that's why darkies were born." because they consider it an example of casual racism. In fact "that's why darkies were born" was the title of a mildly popular anti-racist comedy song at the time, and Groucho was referencing that. Were anyone to go about the blasphemous project of remaking Duck Soup, removing this line would be the one thing about it that I *wouldn't* object to...)
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(This kind of thing is very difficult, of course, because context, both good and bad, gets lost over decades. I know for example that a lot of people refuse to watch Duck Soup because of Groucho's line "The Headstrongs married the Armstrongs, and that's why darkies were born." because they consider it an example of casual racism. In fact "that's why darkies were born" was the title of a mildly popular anti-racist comedy song at the time, and Groucho was referencing that. Were anyone to go about the blasphemous project of remaking Duck Soup, removing this line would be the one thing about it that I *wouldn't* object to...)
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Same as any other remake - someone wants to make it, and people will pay to see it.