memes

For sure that can make sense, but when tastes have changed enough to warrant a remake, I could just as easily file that under "making a case for itself". Just like how history books have to be constantly rewritten not just to incorporate new findings, but to continually be the translation layer between how people back then understood things and how contemporary readers understand the world. History books are not a mere tome of facts, but a deliberately crafted lens to account for past fuzziness and present distortions. In the same way, I can see last year's Frankenstein film as a fresh and valuable take on the old story. Remakes aren't inherently bad, but like I said, they do put prior installations on trial. That can be a good thing!