The first entry in a multi-part series looking at the relationship between the rise of multimedia franchise storytelling and American capitalism's ongoing crisis of accumulation
So excited to see where this goes. In Jameson's Postmodernism he describes po-mo architecture as having a structure that is in kind of floating discrete parts, I guess like kinds of composites. This means that architecture is not necessarily valuable for its unitary form, but the way in which it can be separated into bits of commodification. The recent cinematic tendencies towards "universes"(Star Wars being an early example of this as the rich lore of the universe was really truly developed in the following twenty years of comic, novel, and video game spin-offs, to then be rendered non-canon by disney later), seems to be because of an accumulation logic. The Avengers is not particularly valuable in its unity but rather in the way it can be replicated and multiplied from its component parts. Rogue One had almost no reason to exist, but a vacant reference in the trilogy was able to but sliced off and brewed in a petri dish and become another piece on the pile. "Universes" are the perfect structure for a self-replicating commodity.
So excited to see where this goes. In Jameson's Postmodernism he describes po-mo architecture as having a structure that is in kind of floating discrete parts, I guess like kinds of composites. This means that architecture is not necessarily valuable for its unitary form, but the way in which it can be separated into bits of commodification. The recent cinematic tendencies towards "universes"(Star Wars being an early example of this as the rich lore of the universe was really truly developed in the following twenty years of comic, novel, and video game spin-offs, to then be rendered non-canon by disney later), seems to be because of an accumulation logic. The Avengers is not particularly valuable in its unity but rather in the way it can be replicated and multiplied from its component parts. Rogue One had almost no reason to exist, but a vacant reference in the trilogy was able to but sliced off and brewed in a petri dish and become another piece on the pile. "Universes" are the perfect structure for a self-replicating commodity.
yeah exactly, that's the track we're going don!
down*