In less than a month, the highly anticipated A Star is Born remake starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper will sail into theaters around the country, but this isn’t the first, second, or even third time this story has graced the silver screen. What is it about this story that continues to make it so beloved?

After seeing the new A Star is Born at its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, I started thinking a lot about how this movie has changed over the course of its four remakes.

In 1937, legendary Hollywood producer David O. Selznick produced A Star is Born starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. The film told the story of an aspiring actress and the fading movie star that helps jumpstart her career. The two fall in love, but their romance is complicated by their diametrically opposed careers and his ongoing alcoholism.

Less than 20 years later, the film would be remade. This time, Judy Garland and James Mason took the spotlight directed by George Cukor. The 1954 remake was instrumental in solidifying the legacy of the A Star is Born property; it brought music to the forefront, making the lead ingénue an actress and singer.

Then in 1976, Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson starred in another adaptation. This time, the film committed entirely to telling the story of a rising star in the music industry rather than the movie industry. Despite the film’s success, it received less than favorable reviews – not that it mattered. The 1976 version was enough of a success to further cement the series’ legacy.

The newest retelling of this story has been in development for a long time and, after opening to stellar reviews at the Venice Film Festival, A Star is Born is ready to undergo its latest rebirth.

With Oscar prognosticators already calling the film a major contender and the hype surrounding the film growing with intensity every day, A Star is Born is undeniably one of the must see movies of the year.

With that said, what can our renewed interest in A Star is Born tell us about the way stories change, or don’t, over time? What is it about A Star is Born that makes it such a crowd favorite?

The power of archetypes

There are certain enduring archetypes that have existed for as long as stories have been told. Sure, framing devices vary, genres evolve, acting styles change, social, sexual and racial politics progress over time, but if you can strip down a story to its bare bones, you’ll find lots of repetition. It’s in the very nature of stories to be recycled and recreated over time; there’s no greater fallacy in storytelling than the idea that a story must be completely unique or original in order to good.

With that said, A Star is Born succeeds, first and foremost, by allowing the audience to revel in an unadulterated underdog narrative that sees an aspiring actress and/or musician succeed without any real risk of failure. We’re far more accustomed to stories that focus on the rise and fall, or the fall and rise, of one person. A Star is Born pulls these elements apart – offering the unique experience of reveling in the glory of an underdog’s success while enduring the devastation of old-timer’s failure.

What’s so fascinating about A Star is Born is how the series has consistently cast actresses/singers in the title role that are already stars. Janet Gaynor, Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, and Lady Gaga were not cast in their respective versions of the film as no-name actors. Judy and Barbra had already won Oscars, Janet Gaynor was a popular 1930s actress, and Lady Gaga…well, I don’t need to even say.

It’s tempting to wonder how A Star is Born would change if an unknown was given the role, but casting someone who is already famous is an essential element of how A Star is Born has built it’s legacy; it takes the familiar archetype of an underdog narrative and infuses it with all the success and notoriety already earned by its lead.

In this way, A Star is Born offers the best of both worlds: it gives the audience a underdog narrative and a fall of man arc, both contained within a romance between two artists, thereby offering a more profound and compelling emotional landscape. It’s a celebration of stardom, fame, and the glamour of Hollywood. Not only that, it’s also warning of how excess and decadence in this world can lead to dangerous consequences.

The comfort of familiarity

There are, of course, more serious implications about our continual retelling of familiar stories. Despite the ways in which each A Star is Born remake have changed to better reflect their generation, they have also resisted more radical change, remaining familiar and conventional – perhaps even to a fault.

Let’s put aside the fact that each iteration follows the exact same narrative beats. We can excuse that; credit them for staying true to the original 1937 script. The more significant issue is how every single version of A Star is Born centers on a white, heterosexual couple inhabiting a largely white and heterosexual industry that does not accurately reflect the way in which the industry – particularly the music industry – has changed.

That the 2018 version of A Star is Born still centers on a white pop musician feels more or less out of touch. That’s not to say that the movie isn’t good! It’s great! But as Hollywood continues to return to this particular story, it feels uninspired to see them cling so desperately to what’s familiar.

No one loves Hollywood more than Hollywood, which is at least in part to blame (or credit) for the renewed energy around A Star is Born. There’s a comfort – both for creators and audiences – in returning to what’s familiar, in making movies that remind them of the power of the industry to create a star.

In this way, it’s impossible to separate A Star is Born from the antiquated traditions that have governed the familiar faces of the industry; in other words, Hollywood has vested interest in maintaining an industry that keeps things the same, upholding the familiar.

But you needn’t look far to find examples of the benefits of doing away with conventions of the past. This year alone, movies like Black Panther (a distinctly black superhero movie) and Crazy Rich Asians (an Asian romantic comedy) have shown how successful films can be when they choose minorities to lead these stories.

The short answer

This is all to say that A Star is Born taps into something deeply rooted in fundamental traditions — in fiction and in Hollywood — that audiences respond to.

Not only is it a glamorous showcase of celebrity, but it delivers a satisfying underdog narrative with a huge payoff. The inclusion of a parallel narrative of another star’s downfall adds to the emotional complexity of the film in a way that only adds to the catharsis.

It’s discouraging, however, that even after four remakes, A Star is Born can’t let go of the more conventional elements of the narrative in favor of something a bit more modern.