Remakes of music and movies have been a popular means of artistic expression for more than a century. As early as 1904, a new version of the iconic film “The Great Train Robbery” was made, less than a year after the original version.

In the 1960s, bands often recorded cover versions of other contemporary artists’ songs within a year of the original’s release. They were also doing this on stage, such as Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of The Beatles’ song “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” which he performed only a few days after the album hit stores.

The notion of remaking films, creating films out of television shows, books, comics, graphic novels or video games is no new idea, just as the concept of sampling songs or covering them in their entirety is also an old practice.

But covers and remakes aren’t limited to a one-time reinterpretation. Many songs and movies have been redone multiple times. For example, the 1933 version of “King Kong” was remade in 1976 and again in 2005. Even more extreme is The Beatles’ song “Yesterday,” which, according to “The Guinness Book of World Records,” has been covered more than 3,000 times.

Lately the entertainment industry is relying more on inspiration from past work than ever before. The number of film remakes in 2010 has been substantial, including “The Taking of Pelham 123,” “Clash of the Titans,” “Karate Kid” and “Let Me In.” Even more are simply big-screen adaptations of books or comics, such as “The Losers,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and “The Social Network.”

In the music world, dance-pop and hip-hop have moved from simply sampling others’ work to blatantly copying their melodies. Jason Derulo’s “Whatcha Say” takes some of its lyrics, melody and production style from Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek.” T.I.’s “Live Your Life” borrows a hook from “Dragostea din tei” by O-Zone, better known as “The Numa Numa Song” of YouTube fame.

Another popular example is Flo Rida’s use of Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)” in his song “Right Round.” I could go on all day, but you get the picture.

Using the work of others is a great way for musicians and filmmakers to pay homage to their heroes. It also gives them a chance to step outside of themselves and function as interpreters rather than creators.

But when a substantial chunk of the industry’s material is based on previously existing work, the relationship becomes a reliance rather than an artistic reinforcement. It appears as though these people would rather look into the past than move on with the future, as if using new technology to refurbish old ideas and make them relevant to the ADD generation is more important than creating something original.

I pray that I’m not the only crazy person out there who would rather see a fresh storyline than another terrible remake of “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” or “Shrek 17.” Hopefully the success of Christopher Nolan’s “Inception,” a purely original film, will prove that there are still good ideas out there, waiting to come to life.