A concept that refers to a collection of individually connected movie franchises that share a similar and ongoing narrative. The concept of a shared universe was first introduced by Marvel Comics with their 'Marvel Universe' in 1961. The term “cinematic universe” is most often used to refer specifically to franchises owned and produced by the major Hollywood studios, including Marvel, Disney, Warner Bros., Universal, and Sony. The idea of a cinematic universe has been implemented by studios in their franchises in order to maximize their returns by keeping the same characters, settings, and themes across multiple films and television series. This has allowed for interaction between the films and series, creating an interconnected story and allowing for crossover characters and plot points.
Published in Chapter:
The Effects of New Characters on the Narrative Structure in Film Sequels: The Case of the Blade Runner Movies
Alper Gedik (Izmir University of Economics, Turkey) and Ümit Aydoğan (Izmir Katip Celebi University, Turkey)
Copyright: © 2023
|Pages: 17
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-7864-6.ch018
Abstract
In the movie industry, the complex cinematic universes constructed for sequels are crucial elements that strengthen the narrative continuity and bond between the audience and the story. In successful cases, this will result in a strong attachment and easy identification by the viewer, since they would emotionally relate to what and how things are represented in the film. On another aspect, sequels frequently answer ontological questions that arose in the first film. This clarification accounts to a satisfying completion in terms of overall story and feel. In order to achieve this, sequels often introduce new characters, side stories and flashbacks. This slight contribution adds to the expansion of overall cinematic experience, enriching and deepening the film texture. For this study, the 1982 film Blade Runner and its sequel Blade Runner 2049 (2017) are analyzed on how the inclusion of new characters and spaces in the cinematic universe effects the narrative structure of the films.