I’m increasingly getting the impression that film, as an art form and industry, is being reduced down to a matter of franchise competition. As I touched upon here a week or so ago, film seems to have become a matter of major series: all the main production companies have their own franchise, and they all vie for the top spot. Every year or two they all bring out new additions to their own pet series, which they hope will secure it at the forefront of popular imagination. Usually they launch a major advertising campaign, trying to ensure their characters are on every happy meal box and sweet wrapper. We’re currently seeing this with star wars: I still think that the only reason George Lucas wanted to make a new star wars ilm is because his franchise was no longer the ‘big daddy’ of film series. Star Wars as a brand had lost it’s dominant place in mainstream culture to things like Lord of the Rings and Harry potter; where, when one thought ‘film’ or ‘cinema’, Star Wars had been one of the first things to come to mind, one now thought of other things. Lucas was desperate to regain that top cultural position for his beloved franchise; that is the only reason why we’re getting new star wars films – Gandalf had shoved Obi Wan Kanobi aside. It’s not about art any more, but competition for cultural dominance between production companies.

You might say that’s always been the way cinema has conducted itself, certainly since 1977; but it seems to be getting worse. More and more this is the paradigm upon which mainstream cinema is based – why else would Warner brothers be making a new film based in the harry potter universe? Film is now a tool production companies use to compete for cultural dominance, to get attention and money. It’s not about storytelling anymore – why else would they continue to make films about characters after their stories have ended? The result is a mess of never ending narratives which rely more and more on cliche. If this gets much worse, film will soon be a matter of complete dross which people will go to because they ”saw the last one”.