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CRITICS, CLONES AND NARRATIVE IN THE FRANCHISE BLOCKBUSTER

2007; Routledge; Volume: 5; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17400300701432894

1740-7923

Bradley Schauer,

American Sports and Literature

In opposition to the claims of many cinema scholars and critics, this paper argues that the classical narrative remains largely intact in contemporary Hollywood filmmaking, if in a somewhat different form. A close analysis of the narrative of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) demonstrates how closely that film, an exemplar of ‘post‐classical Hollywood’, fits the precepts of the unified, classical text. However, the film was much more popular with fan audiences than with the mass public. These opposed responses call attention to the film's status as a failed ‘franchise blockbuster’—a big‐budget genre epic that is constructed to appeal to both popular and fan audiences. One of the most important recent narrative developments in Hollywood, the franchise blockbuster, works within a network of transmedia texts, but should also stand alone as an autonomous narrative. While many critics are prevented by the perceived larger cultural significance of the franchise blockbuster from attempting a serious aesthetic analysis, it is incumbent upon students of contemporary Hollywood to analyze the unique ways these films address and generate different meanings for both general and specialized audiences.