It’s easier than ever to watch foreign films — which has made it easier than ever to raise the question of why these films are being remade for a supposed subset of the North American market that loves critically acclaimed fare but refuses to strain their precious eyes on subtitles. The 2020 announcement of a Parasite remake prompted a wave of haranguing opinion pieces, like Esquire’s argument that the proposal “panders to audiences that are too lazy to do a bit of reading.” (The project has since been reframed as an original series set in, apparently, the Parasite Cinematic Universe.)
