Abstract
Sequels in the history of cinema hold a significant place for both filmmakers and audiences because they offer the opportunity to revisit, expand, or deepen a previously initiated story or characters. Viewers can explore new facets that allow for a deeper understanding of favorite characters or a universe. Such productions often have sub-missions like maintaining an audience base and building a fan community. Moreover, the success of sequels greatly relies on the quality of the original film, audience expectations, and the originality of the sequels. In this context, director Robert Rodriguez's trilogy comprising 'El Mariachi,' 'Desperado,' and 'Once Upon a Time in Mexico,' which entered the cinematic scene with a fresh storytelling approach in the 1990s, stands out among prominent sequels. This work aims to explain, using critical descriptive analysis, how Robert Rodriguez's trilogy attempts to unveil new narrative experiments in the language of cinema and how it constructs the necessary connections among sequels.
TopIntroduction
Trilogy or triptych; it means three works that are a continuation of each other or are connected to each other in terms of characters or plot. It is generally used in culture, arts and entertainment fields such as literature, cinema, video games and theatre. Works of this type can sometimes be considered as a whole, sometimes as three separate works. Examples of trilogies or sequels, which are widely used especially in the field of cinema, include The Godfather; Star Wars; Lethal Weapon; Rocky; Alien; Die Hard; The Lord of the Rings; Mad Max; Matrix; Back to the Future series can be shown.
While there are trilogies that have thematic unity, there are also trilogies whose subjects are completely different from each other. Most of the films defined as trilogies belong to the same director and some of them are also named after the director. There are also trilogies with different directors, although few in number. The logic of trilogy and the logic of sequels may not always mean the same thing. Just as not every trilogy turns into a series, it is not possible for serial films to become trilogies. Some trilogies were produced with commercial concerns to benefit from the success of the first film. In some trilogies, the plots can continue where the previous movie left off, almost like series episodes. The films that make up the trilogy can be considered as individual works that are independent of each other, or they can be considered as a single work as a whole.
Even though he was born and raised in Texas, the film that made Robert Rodriguez, a director loyal to his roots, famous worldwide, El Mariachi (1992) marked the beginning of an important trilogy with its budget of $ 7,000. The other two films of this trilogy, which were shot on Mexican soil, in keeping with the traditions of the Mexican region, are Desperado (1995) and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003). These films competed against action films with much larger productions and cheaper budgets. Thanks to these films, Rodriguez made his name among the important action directors such as Michael Bay and John Woo. In this study, the director's trilogy will be examined and their common features will be tried to be revealed.
In an interview years later, Robert Rodriguez said that he wanted to return to the trilogy and that he thought that series was a project far ahead of its time. However, he also pointed out how real-life tragedies stopped a potential fourth film with his statements: “It's really hard for me to do anything with guns today. Gun violence is out of control. Even these are very playful and fun. It's very difficult to do that. It's always scary guns. Attacks are happening and you're leaving, I don't know if I can do anything responsibly with guns.” (Rodriguez, 2023).
In this study, Robert Rodriguez's “Mexican Trilogy” will be discussed with Vladimir Propp's “Fairy Tale Morphology” method. Russian folklorist Vladimir Propp's work titled Morfologiya Skazki (Morphology of the Fairy Tale), published in 1928, is an important study in this sense. In this study, Propp examined extraordinary tales in terms of structure. According to Propp, it is wrong to classify fairy tales according to content criteria. Because in another version of the tale, a giant or a bear performs the same action that a monster or a dragon does. Even though people change, actions remain constant. Therefore, according to Propp's analysis, there are fixed and variable elements in fairy tales. While the movements and actions of the characters are fixed elements, the fairy tale heroes and the environment are variable elements.
Key Terms in this Chapter
The Mexico Trilogy: It is a series of American/Mexican contemporary western action films written and directed by Robert Rodriguez.
El Mariachi: It is a 1992 Spanish language American independent neo-Western action film and the first part of the saga that came to be known as Robert Rodriguez's Mexico Trilogy.
Cinema: Cinema or the art of cinema is the process of producing moving videos with or without sound, called movies, by reflecting the images obtained by a camera onto a white screen through a light.
Desperado: It is a 1995 American neo-Western action film written, co-produced, edited and directed by Robert Rodriguez.
Robert Rodriguez: American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas.
Mexican Cinema: Cinema produced by Mexicans.
Low Budget Production: Films produced and released with low budgets.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico: It is a 2003 American neo-Western action film written, directed, produced, photographed, scored, and edited by Robert Rodriguez.