From Frankenstein to the new Harry Potter: When faithfulness to the original pays off

There is something profoundly human in the desire to remain faithful to an origin, to return to the roots of a story to breathe new life into them. This is the movement sweeping through a significant part of contemporary culture today, pervaded by remakes and reboots. Whether in cinema or fashion (as Fashion Week continues to demonstrate), there seems to be a collective need to reclaim authenticity. 2025 has embraced this desire, bringing back to the screen faces and heroes of the past who, alongside the great classics of literature, return today in a guise that is entirely new yet always familiar.

This is the case with Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, where the Oscar-winning director of The Shape of Water restores Mary Shelley’s creature to its deepest meaning. Not a monster, but a soul in search of recognition. Del Toro does not copy the novel; he remains faithful to it in the truest sense of the term: not in form, but in heart. His fidelity is an act of listening. Elizabeth, for instance, is in many ways an entirely new character. Although present in the novel, the woman portrayed by Mia Goth is unprecedented and magnetic in her quest for recognition. This is the element that draws her close to the "creature"—the fruit of Victor’s extreme desire and his challenge to creation itself. Frankenstein’s monster becomes the vehicle for something Elizabeth has sought all her life: a place in the world.

In this perspective, fidelity becomes creativity. Reinterpreting a classic means taking the responsibility to understand it in its own time and reimagine it in ours. Authenticity does not imply that something remains forever the same; on the contrary, evolution, change, and indeed creativity are the best allies for those who wish to be faithful to their original essence. This was also clear to James Gunn, the visionary DC filmmaker, with his "new" Superman. A project that, even before its release, has already become a symbol of a return to origins. Gunn, now head of DC Studios, decided to start again from the character of the 1930s, when Superman was still the naive but powerful embodiment of the American dream. He does not transform him; he returns him to his essence.

And what about us at Teddy? With what spirit do we approach the same challenge currently facing the worlds of cinema, culture, and fashion? Our project was born from a vision - from a Dream, that of our founder Vittorio Tadei - which has undergone continuous evolution. One need only look at the brands that make up the company today and how our collections have changed. But what has been the underlying reason for our transformation and growth over the years? In truth, the answer is so evident that we encounter it every day upon entering our offices and our stores: it is represented by people. People change and evolve constantly, and any organization that fails to account for this cannot truly call itself faithful to its own history. Because every story is born from the creativity of those who live it.

Every generation needs to rewrite the stories it loves. Harry Potter, for example, is currently the subject of a new series adaptation, set to bring the Hogwarts universe back to the screen with a new cast and a fidelity of "spirit" rather than just the literal word. The producers do not intend to simply repeat the success of the films, but to reinterpret J.K. Rowling’s work in its original complexity, giving space to subplots, nuances, and characters that remained in the shadows on the big screen. Once again, the strength of the project lies in the will to remain faithful to the narrative and ethical core - friendship, the choice of good, the construction of identity - while reinventing everything external.

What, then, is the challenge? What does it mean for us to be faithful to our history? Just as Del Toro reinterprets Mary Shelley without betraying her, or as Gunn anchors Superman to Earth by restoring his simplest truth, we at Teddy strive to carry forward that idea of business as a community of people, as a place where work is also a vocation and a responsibility.

Fidelity is an act of creative responsibility. Cinema, literature, fashion, business: different fields, yet all crossed by the same question: what allows a story to evolve without "losing its memory"? Perhaps it is remembering the Dream, returning to the heart. And perhaps, in the end, this is the greatest lesson that contemporary culture, Del Toro’s Frankenstein, Superman, and even the return of Harry Potter allow us to glimpse: being faithful to the original means being in constant motion toward the profound essence of one’s own story.