So I want to talk a little about definitions. Mostly, I want to talk about the fact that TV and movies are, more and more, the same thing, sort of? Because they maybe weren’t so different in the first place? But all that comes later. First, we have to talk about comic books.
See, if you were worried that society was going to run out of superhero films then what the hell were you even thinking. Marvel has you covered through like 2020 for a while now, and DC recently released a full, impossibly specific slate of their own (picking a release date before you have a script? Cool, cool idea guys).
And of course they’re using the “Marvel method” of universe-building, super-group crossovers and standalone films, while finally (FINALLY) updating it by giving us people of color and female superheroes (and a gay actor playing the Flash, which is pretty rad). Which is a big deal, because it guarantees that these characters are finally set to be in the spotlight for at least the foreseeable future.
Regardless of how much ugly backlash Wonder Woman is going to get (let’s be real, there are parts of the Internet that were going to hate it from day one), the Amazonian princess is going to be in at least four to five massive mainstream films.
But whether DC is actually committed to increasing visibility and representation for marginalized folk in Hollywood blockbusters, or making a cynical play at having their “thing” that lets them compete with Marvel (can we please be optimists and hope for the first?) the fact is the serialization of these films can be viewed as an extension of the way people have been telling stories for years.
Comic books (or graphic novels) have existed in expansive, installment based universes for about as long as they’ve been written. And films obviously aren’t new to the idea of sequels/follow-ups either. The third upcoming, massive Marvel-style universe debuting soon is Disney’s reboot of Star Wars, which if you remember is sort of the film that put this whole serialization of movies thing into the mainstream way back in 1977. And you could even argue that Peter Jackson’s approach to the Tolkeinverse is in this vein.
This is in fact ancient history, it’s epic storytelling a la Odysseus or Gilgamesh. It’s a way that people have communicated, and it works, and we’re finally starting to realize that the barriers between this type of storytelling and the more self-contained, short storyish mode that most films work in is much, much more permeable than people have pretended it was.
Because really, it comes down to the story being told. To pull some examples from Russian literature (because why not), Richard Ayoade’s recent adaptation of Dostoevsky’s short story “The Double” fits perfectly, snuggly into a 90-minute runtime, but a true adaptation of “The Brothers Karamazov” would be a truly epic undertaking as a feature. As an HBO mini-series though, it would be fantastic. And most importantly, it would be truer to the source and the idea, and it would all still be Dostoevsky.
To use Tolstoy, the short story “Three Deaths” could stand as its own film, but “War and Peace” (which has been adapted as a 4+ hour film in the past) or “Boyhood” would need an episodic, quote unquote TV-type adaptation.
And hey, speaking of “Boyhood,” you know how people lost their bananas over Richard Linklater’s (admittedly wonderful) film? It was awesome and perfect as its own standalone world, but the “growing up onscreen” trick had sort of already been performed, over a longer time frame, by the cast of the Harry Potter universe. And it’ll happen again as we watch Marvel’s heroes age over the next 10+ years, and it’s been happening to the cast of Game of Thrones (and will continue to).
So, deluge of examples aside, what does this all mean? Basically, there’s no more credibility in this silly idea that film and TV are two clearly defined, delineated media platforms, which need to, or even can, be kept separate. Which brings me back to definitions.
Because really, the technology that “television” referred to is looking pretty outdated, and the physical object of “film” is rapidly going extinct. HBO recently gave people the option to opt out of a cable subscription and enjoy their fine products exclusively online, and as independent film distribution becomes more and more democratic, the internet is going to become more and more of an option.
So technologically, and narratively, everything is equitable. Each of Wes Anderson’s films could never be expanded into their own shows, but laid end to end they look a hell of a lot like a series; “True Detective” is apparently taking the anthology, one self-contained story per season approach to TV. How are the two ideas any different, beyond one wanting to stretch its legs a little more? And both choices are right for the material.
The point here is everything is just stories, when we get down to it, and we need to stop acting like one way of telling a story is better than another. “The Odyssey” vs. “2001: A Space Odyssey,” it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we value, and think about the stories themselves, and in this regard the “everything is everything” attitude of internet distribution is beautiful, because it gives us a chance to talk back.
For better or worse, the performance of the “Wonder Woman” film is going to determine the way Hollywood makes movies about women, and whether or not it views them as able to lead a major motion picture. Which is, on the one hand, incredibly sad and sexist and greed driven and part of a lot of problems that filmmaking at large has. But it also gives us an opportunity to demand that they do this right.
If DC messes up and makes a pandering, cynical attempt to “cash in” on people who want equal representation for people who aren’t white dudes named Chris (c’mon, Marvel), we can tell them that. There will be a conversation, and everyone can be a part of it, because everything is equal (or to quote one of my favorite films of the year, everything is awesome). All these definitions and barriers are gone now. We get to demand better.
Do you believe the future is bright for permeable storytelling? Tell Austin yourself at wellens@wisc.edu
