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Abstract
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.
Notes
1. Some scholars writing on science fiction cinema celebrate the de‐emphasis of narrative as a liberating rejection of the repressive logic and conventions of the classical text. See Bukatman (Citation1998) and Landon (Citation1999).
2. All box‐office information is taken from www.boxofficemojo.com
3. ‘Opening with a bang’ has become a tried‐and‐true strategy in modern Hollywood cinema, to the point where screenwriting manuals recommend placing a thrilling moment within the first 10 minutes, lest the audience become restless (for example, Costello Citation2002, p. 52).
4. This case is especially unusual because the Star Wars films were made out of order; the audience has not only seen Kenobi as a younger man in The Phantom Menace (1999), but also as an older man in the original trilogy (1977–83).
5. It must be noted that there is a sizeable contingent of fans, usually those who grew up with the original trilogy in the 1970s and 1980s, who strongly dislike the prequel trilogy. See Brooker (Citation2002) for more information.
6. The film's clear political agenda contradicts Thomas Schatz's assertion that the New Hollywood is ‘fantastic (and thus apolitical)’ (Citation2003, p. 29).