I have a new piece out on entertainment franchises and their effects on artistic production at Asia Art Archive, entitled “The Franchise Problem.” Here is a preview:
There is a curious contradiction at the heart of contemporary American popular culture: the most popular and commercially successful framework for artistic production is at the same time the most resented and even reviled. I am speaking of the role of franchises such as Star Wars or the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which take pre-existing characters and storyworlds and generate an open-ended chain of new stories across multiple media (usually some combination of television, film, video games, novels, comic books, and toys, supplemented by branded merchandise). Typically, these new stories are not one-off or self-contained, but purport to take place in the “same” narrative space as all the others, so that they should all not only make sense together but actually clarify and enhance each other. This attempt to flesh out the respective fictional worlds has led to a proliferation of prequels (which are sequels to an existing story but set at an earlier time) that purport to give crucial background for previously published stories and therefore recontextualise them. Once limited to “nerdy” genres like science fiction and superhero comic books, franchise storytelling is now the dominant format for film and television.
Thanks to Paul Fermin for commissioning the piece and to him and his colleagues for their perceptive comments and suggestion, which pushed me to make the piece better!
Adam Kotsko 