Tobe Hopper's original Poltergeist was in many ways a socio-economic satire of the Reagan era. A bold statement about consumerism, the American Dream and the notion that the so-called "perfect life" was built upon a lie. However the central characters in the 1982 film and were benign and essentially likeable. Although they were social climbers they were tempered by some of the more compassionate aspects of seventies pop culture. The family at the heart of this remake are subtly different. The Bowen's are suffering both financially and emotionally due to the foibles of the economy. Where the original movie was about US notions of family aspiration, this remake is about the failure of retail therapy and taking comfort in "things".