After essentially finishing the Fast and Furious Franchise and watching the new Spider-Man joint a while ago, an arthouse stan has a try at decoding the enduring popularity of the blockbuster beast that keeps on rolling and taking big bucks at the box office.
I’m not necessarily against the franchise model. Sure, there are big franchises I’m definitely not a fan of. Looking at you, Fast and Furious. And you, Star Wars. I wasn’t always cynical about the Marvel machine. After a while, when decent quality content gets recycled over and over again, it just turns rotten. You may see the occasional anomaly in that debris, but generally it’s just more of the same. The recent Spiderman joint had some nice relief from the norm with a few decent emotional beats, but it was still plagued with inconsequential fight scenes and lots of ‘ooh, it’s [insert character name]. But anyway, I’ll try and fit my sizable noggin into some kind of invisible empathy helmet of sorts to have some ruminations about why this stuff keeps drawing in the crowds. (╭ರ_•́)
Group Experience
Yes, as I carry around my walking stick and do a fake impression of having a sore back, I too remember the days when it was a big deal to go and see Marvel films with friends. It was like an event. You had to get your backside firmly planted on your seat as soon as possible to avoid potential spoilers being blurted out from those who had watched it already. You can’t really compare that experience to watching the joint on your own. And that feeling’s similar in a more universal sense if you’re watching the film in a packed cinema. Whenever you have an audience that’s reacting alongside you, that always creates good vibes. As long as they’re not causing too much of a rabble, mind you. By that I mean having long audible conversations during the film, looking at their phone, chucking food around and, perhaps the most irritating of cardinal sins, kicking the seat in front of them. Yes, I still remember you, irritating 10-year-old from the Hans Zimmer concert. You don’t live in my head rent free, that’s for sure. I will find you, and I will…anyway. Don’t abuse other paying customers, that’s what I’m trying to say.
Familiarity
Some people just don’t like going out of their comfort zone. Some people don’t like experiencing something new. Something challenging. Something different. At the end of the day, some people just like watching the same thing. Sure, there might be a few new characters here and there, but everything’s largely the same. The good guys win, the bad guy loses, a character might die here and there, but they’ll almost certainly come back. No jeopardy, just nice, easy watching. And then it becomes like a similar vibe to collecting toys. ‘Hey, it’s [character name] from that movie!’ ‘Hey, it’s that item from that film! Easter eggs, yay!’ And everything just becomes a slightly monotonous soup bowl of slop. Yep, that’s the description I’m going to go for. And in case you can’t tell, I’m not a huge fan of it. Marvel’s creation of the multiverse just created a whole new (soup?) can of worms in that regard. ‘Hey, now, we can bring back this character from this film and bring back multiple versions of this character using previous actors and-‘ Oof. Stop. Get some help. Yeah, it was kind of cool seeing Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield collab for a bit with the current Spidey guy in No Way Home, but it just feels a tad hollow after a while. There’s nothing wrong with trying something new every so often. Sure, there’s that added financial risk attached, but come on. try. The ongoing sequel soup gets tasteless pretty quickly.
Rewatching
The franchise film also encourages multiple viewings, partly because of this idea of generations passing their love down to the next ones, which is nice in principle. But it also gets a bit stale. Why not introduce the next young peeps to other independent films? Let the flavours dance on their palette, as Nelson Muntz says? There’s nothing wrong with broadening appeal. Sure, maybe it wasn’t the greatest idea to introduce certain films to my good self well before the age rating specified by the BBFC, but hey, having two older siblings has its perks. Those films didn’t encourage me to commit any dastardly crimes like the media shouts about them doing sometimes, so all’s well that ends well.
Short Attention Spans
A major thing that franchises like The Fast and Furious and Marvel are known for is that mindless action stuff. I’m talking fast edits, minimal plot and no consequential violence. Sure, multiple buildings can be destroyed at once by huge superpowered beings, but it’s all good. No blood or gore or anything, which means they’re just fine and dandy. That nice little 12A rating is all nice and secure, ensuring that as many tykes can view this fast moving, narratively hollow joint and come back and enjoy the same thing again. The fact that some TV shows are deliberately making content with heavy exposition in mind of appealing to folks who are going to be staring down at their phone for most of the experience is just all kinds of depressing. Why can’t you just sit down and watch a brief 90-minute film where Mads Mikelsen says absolutely nothing and the surrounding characters hardly say anything and you have to really focus and derive meaning from visuals and sound, huh? I can watch Valhalla Rising and have a jolly good time, so why can’t you, punk? Work on yourself.
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