The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Communications THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE (MCU): THE EVOLUTION OF TRANSMEDIAL TO SPHERICAL MODES OF PRODUCTION A Thesis in Media Studies by Joseph P. Davies Copyright 2016 Joseph P. Davies Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts August 2016 The thesis of Joseph P. Davies was reviewed and approved* by the following: Kevin J. Hagopian Senior Lecturer of Media Studies Thesis Adviser Matthew F. Jordan Associate Professor of Media Studies Matthew P. McAllister Professor of Media Studies Chair of Graduate Programs of Media Studies *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School. ii ABSTRACT As a brand, Marvel has undergone large changes in the past thirty years. They have gone from a popular comic book brand, to bankruptcy, to a licenser of products, to an independent film studio, and finally ended up as the latest branch in the super conglomerate Disney. The brand has been a popular topic of study, as the past few years have seen Marvel grow to be the most lucrative franchise in film history. Past studies have either focused on Marvel's trade story and the economic backdrop that led to such success, or the cultural elements of the films such as plot and theme. In this paper, I want to construct a fusion of these two narratives while taking a close at Marvels past and present. While fusing the cultural and economic elements of the Marvel brand, I have discovered a distinct new paradigm of production and storytelling that will change the relationship consumers have to franchises. What makes Marvel different is that their franchises utilize a spherical model of production. What I mean to suggest by this spherical model is that many franchises are being linked together through character cross overs between films in different franchises. The metaphorical visualization of such a process could be thought of as a sphere, since the many connections can be rotated and perceived from different angles and origins. Why has this strategy not been used in the past, and where did Marvel get the idea for such a bold paradigm shift? I argue that these two questions can only be answered together, and to do so requires a sharp examination of the economic and cultural landscapes surrounding Marvel in the past thirty years. Marvel will fade as time moves forward, but the paradigm they will leave behind is why this study is so important. Already, companies are making an attempt to emulate this model (as will be explained in greater detail). As consumers, we may be witnessing a shift in the way we view franchises. Understanding where this shift came from and what it means for the world of entertainment are questions worth answering as we move into this new era. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures…………………………………………………………….…………....v Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION AND CRITICAL CONCEPTS…………..………..…..1 Chapter 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: SPHERICAL MODEL OF PRODUCTION…………………………………………………………...…………...23 Chapter 3. MARVEL TRADE NARRATIVES AND NETFLIX…………………….41 Chapter 4. THE DEVIL OF HELL’S KITCHEN……………………………………..54 Chapter 5. THE FEMINIST SIDE OF MARVEL …………………………………....64 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..80 References………………………………………………………….………………….83 iv LIST OF FIGURES Batman Production Model (Figure 1)………………………………………………………27 Matrix Production Model (Figure 2)………………………………………………………..32 Marvel Spherical Model of Production (Figure 3)………………………………………...40 v Chapter 1: Introduction and Critical Concepts Looking back into history, storytelling has always been something human kind has engaged in. From cave paintings to the incredibly lucrative entertainment industry of today, people love to tell and listen to stories. They began as spoken word, being passed down from generation to generation through memory alone. The ways stories are produced have gone through major shifts over the years. Because stories are so powerful, who gets exposed to them and how is extremely important. When thinking about storytelling, film has been a major media platform for the practice. The stories told through film that were most successful were disseminated broadly, and this allowed perspective storytellers to emulate the aspects that made these stories great. As film history progressed, the blockbuster was introduced by way of Jaws in 1975. Jaws is a film about a giant man eating shark that is terrorizing tourists. A group of brave men go on a boating voyage to put a stop to the beast. This type of larger than life plot has been the calling card of the blockbuster ever since. Blockbuster films were game changers, and they brought audiences in droves due to star power and high budget. However, it was not until 1989 and Tim Burton’s Batman that the type of blockbuster we are more familiar with today emerged. Batman was not just a big film, it created a mania with merchandising and advertisements that will be discussed thoroughly in this thesis. Batman brings the iconic character of the caped crusader from comic to film in the dark and whimsical way only Tim Burton could manage. The story follows the bat as he duels with his arch-nemesis Joker for control of Gotham. This was the first of three major paradigm shifts in story and media production that will explored. A second paradigm shift occurred when the Wachowski siblings broke the stagnation in 1 1999 with The Matrix. The Matrix is a cerebral thriller about a computer hacker named Neo who discovers the world he knows is nothing but a simulation created by the hyper intelligent machines who have taken over the real world. He must attain skills via computer programs to do battle with the evil agents in the simulated world. Using multiple media platforms, the Wachowskis found a way to tell a story which was free to grow and change with each new iteration of the universe (or at least they did a convincing job making their audiences feel that way). The whole story was not presented in the trilogy of films, so fans were tasked with seeking out the story on other media platforms such as video games, animated series, bonus DVD features, and the internet. The story was now being produced in a myriad of media, each adding its own unique set of properties to the story as a whole. Once the Wachowskis set this style in motion, other media franchises began to follow suit, as I will outline in my literature review. I propose that a third paradigm shift in storytelling and production is taking place in the cultural present. Where the Wachowskis required their audiences to fill in the gaps in their major blockbuster films with ancillary products which provided story continuity, Marvel has accomplished the same kind of story flow by linking together many different franchises. They have also utilized the mania introduced by Batman to bolster each individual franchise. With that many franchises, each generating mania, linked together with direct character cross-overs, a universe has been built which transcends franchise fatigue in a way that the previous two paradigms could not. I intend to prove throughout this thesis that these paradigms of production exist, and that Marvel is currently responsible for the evolution of the Matrix paradigm into one that is much more complicated. This is important because it will (and already is) changing the way 2 consumers interact with media products. Concepts such as character and brand autonomy, the power of stories, and the economics of entertainment will be brought to bear as the timeline of storytelling paradigms is carefully scrutinized in this thesis. Furthermore, it is not just the political economy perspective that is bolstering the success of this paradigm. Marvel’s partnership with broadcast television and Netflix has opened the door for risk taking in the form of progressive concepts which have allowed Marvel to reach for audiences outside of those in the lowest common denominator targeted by huge blockbuster spectacles. With the use of a new paradigm and a partnership with Netflix, it becomes clear that Marvel seeks to attain a foothold in every possible market. Big PG-13 blockbuster films appeal to many people, but there are still markets that remain out of reach. Additionally, the interest of the demographic sought by blockbuster films will logically decline over time if the same formula is repeated at length. In order to make my argument about the existence of this third story production paradigm, I will be using three visual models to indicate the evolution of story production. This theory will be fully fleshed out in my second chapter, but first, I want to explore what has been written about the previous method, one that is known as transmedia storytelling. Transmedia storytelling, at least in the realm of film, was arguably pioneered by the Wachowskis, and it remains an integral part in Marvels new paradigm. Many of the sources throughout the literature review are dated, but each article which takes transmedia and intertextuality as its subject matter helps to build the story production theory I would like to expand on. In order to grasp the way Marvel first became wedded to transmedia storytelling and evolved into the front runner in a new system of production, we must first understand the complex relationship between comic books and their new age adaptations. 3 Though the shift from the comic book format to film and television has been a lucrative one for publishers (especially Marvel), the transition was far from smooth. McAllister et al. (2006) identify a trend among big blockbuster sequels where the opening weekend starts strong, but revenue immediately drops off in the second weekend. They attribute this to the habit of blockbuster films to rely on big action rather than characters. The authors contrast large tent- pole (productions that support the financial performance of networks or studios) films like the 1978 Superman, where Christopher Reeve dons the cape as the orphan of krypton who matures into the world’s greatest super hero with smaller, more character-driven films such as Sin City.