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The philosophical thought experiment referred to as the “Ship of Theseus”, also known as “Theseus’ Paradox” (which will be the term used throughout the rest of this post) in short explores the idea of whether something can be considered either new or not after replacements have been made whilst still resembling the original.

In more detail, Theseus’ Paradox refers to a ship in which Theseus travelled upon to its destination. During the journey, the original planks of wood were replaced due to general wear and tear with new stronger wood. By the end of the journey, whilst the ship resembled the ship that originally began its journey, it was no longer the same ship in terms of the physical components of its construction. This led to the philosophical question, and therefore debate, of whether this ship remained the same or if it is in fact a new ship.

I introduced the relevancy of this in a previous post for this blog (as well as in a now reposted entry originally from last year) about the connection to videogame remasters and remakes. In that post, I was primarily further exploring the differences between “new” and “novelty”, which interestingly (but not surprisingly for me) led to Theseus’ Paradox given the form that these types of videogames comprise. A remaster would not be considered a new videogame but can be considered a new product. This is because it is likely to be on a new platform and technically serve a slightly different function to what came before but otherwise is the same game. For example, the HD remaster of No More Heroes for Nintendo Switch is the same game as what was originally released on the Nintendo Wii a decade beforehand, albeit with HD graphics and improved frame rate. Otherwise, the gameplay, mechanics, level design, aesthetic style, soundtrack/sound effects remain the same (with a couple of exceptions).

A remake though is a different proposition. For the time being, I will focus on new rather than confusing matters by addressing novelty. Like Theseus’ Paradox, a videogame remake will resemble the original, as the core will remain mostly intact (usually aside from some quality of life updates) and the aesthetics will also bear resemblance to the original style (but recreated with more fidelity). Not all remakes are created equally though and this makes it difficult to provide a definitive statement in relation to Theseus’ Paradox and remakes. If we take Shadow of the Colossus as an example, the PlayStation 4 remake very closely resembles the original PlayStation 2 videogame. So much so that if one were to look at a screenshot of the two side-by-side from a distance they would be forgiven for thinking it was the same image. Of course, up close the differences become apparent in terms of fidelity, but ultimately, there is no mistaking that these are the same videogame.

This would then make us inclined to state that this closely aligns with the same problem identified with Theseus’ Paradox. Shadow of the Colossus has had all of its “components” replaced with better ones, but what we can see looks and plays the same as the original. Can we still call this remake new?

I haven’t mentioned the SotC remaster in this post, but everything I have said about remasters generally can apply. This screengrab from a Sony promotional trailer shows how intentionally similar each version is whilst also improving the fidelity.

Considering how this is a commercial product that has been packaged and sold (with the original only purchasable second hand) it is new in that sense, but considering when a film goes from DVD to Blu-Ray the film itself is rarely new (unless perhaps it is something like a Director's Cut) then this can be disregarded. But, where it gets more complicated is that the remake has taken considerable person-hours in which this version has been newly crafted. The level design, gameplay mechanics, aesthetic style might remain the same, but otherwise (in this instance) many elements have been remade from scratch.

This also brings us to the same conclusion that emerges from the original Theseus’ Paradox. A similar process has taken place as with the ship. The caveat here though is that Theseus’ ship was consistently repaired, was Shadow of the Colossus repaired? No, as it was not broken, yet in its former form, it was not possible to continue to “operate” it on modern hardware. **The intention behind this then is not to provide something new (or novel), rather it is about providing access in the present to something that otherwise might be lost to the past (which also brings aspects of hauntology to mind and therefore nostalgia as a side effect).

A remaster certainly acts in a similar way, and in keeping with Theseus’ Paradox thought experiment is about ending up with something that resembles the original. The difference though is that nothing (or certainly very little) has been replaced, just polished.

Like all good thought experiments, Theseus’ Paradox will have us arguing in circles, but it does help us to better consider whether remakes are new or not. As this is not an academic paper, for now, I come down on the side that a remaster is not new because it does little to distinguish itself from the original. It is like a classic car that has a new coat of (appropriate) paint. Designed to look like it did when it was first made but in a contemporary setting rather than having been stuck rusting away. Or, another way of thinking, as if it had been hermetically sealed. Whereas a videogame remaster if applying rose-tinted glasses to the game itself to live up to players’ memories. In the case of the ship, a remaster would be considered the original.

A remake though is where this is trickier. For now, I will side with the argument that it is new, as many elements have been replaced, it looks better than before and functions better. Sticking with the vintage car analogy, it’s like replacing the engine with one from this century so that it is more reliable. And back to the ship paradox, then we would consider it to be new.

However, whilst a remake might be deemed new, it certainly does not qualify as novel for it retains too many features of the original. “New and improved” is not meaningfully different and that is the crux of understanding the role of remakes.

When discussing this post with a friend and colleague they commented whether this has any connection to Baudrillard’s work on “Simulacra”. I have explored simulacra in some depth a couple of years ago when researching the difference between authenticity and accuracy in videogames but I had not yet considered it in direct relation to newness/novelty, let alone Theseus’ Paradox. For now, I won’t be exploring it in this post, but it is on my agenda to determine how well this does. My hypothesis is that it could help to provide the link between my research on new/novelty back to that on authenticity.