On Friday, my group and I met up to set down the foundations for our work in Project Brief Four. We had discussed through Skype and on Facebook earlier in the week what our trajectory was in terms of our focus, due to the broad nature of the topic ‘Texts/Narratives’. We’ve decided to focus our research and discussion on the increasing salience or popularity of the release of new major sequels. Nowadays, it is rare to go to the cinema and see the list of available films without there being at least one sequel in the mix. Batman vs Superman and Captain America: Civil War are both showing in cinemas Australia and world-wide right now; two major sequels, both interestingly superhero films about two heroes battling against one another. Where is the originality?
Our group, through both research and general assumption, have decided that perhaps this increase in the creation of sequels is due to major motion picture companies not wanting to take a risk. Even though sequels are usually critically worse than their original predecessors, they often fare much better in their box office results. Audiences hate the sequels, but yet they go to see them on the first night, they buy the merchandise and spend a good deal off their money on them. We want to look at why this is; both why motion picture companies won’t take a bet, why they continually release sequels, why only now they are growing in popularity, and why audiences still see them if they are critically panned. I’m interested to see the outcome, both information wise for my own personal knowledge, and satisfaction wise, knowing that I have worked with a group to create something that explores texts and narrative in a (hopefully) interesting way.
