Hi. So, here is my completely free addition to this discussion, take it however you will but please don’t attack me for this, I’m still a student, and even though I happen to have read and in some cases learned from “the experts” on this topic, I’d rather not get backlash for this. So here I go, oh boy.
Disney, as we all probably know, is way too big. Not mention the organization within the company is super flawed. They pit creators against each other on the same projects and expect the whole thing to come out coherent and pretty and palatable no matter who wrote which part. Which is obviously not how that should work. You have creators who are paid and motivated and in competition with each other working on the same projects. Like Star Wars, for instance.
Star Wars is what is known as transmedia narrative, or transmedia story world. (I won’t go into the nitty gritty of Henry Jenkins and his analysis of the idea, because this is not one of my academic essays, but just know that if you want to look up more about what the heck those are, he is your guy.) A transmedia narrative in the simplest terms is a whole big story world that is meant to be consumed across multiple platforms and media types.
Transmedia narratives are hard to pull off at the best of times in the best of circumstances with all the money in the world, and the internal organization of Disney is not what any creator can actually end up calling the best of circumstances.
For a transmedia narrative to effectively work, all the pillar pieces have to work on their own, AND as part of the overarching super story. That means that if you only watch the films, you are supposed to be able to follow along. There are definitely supposed to be incentives hidden throughout to make you go watch the TV shows, or buy the books, or even go buy that little toy that has the secret message, or join an email list that sends you on a treasure hunt, whatever. BUT THE PILLARS HAVE TO WORK ON THEIR OWN. @friendships-are-masterpieces totally called it.
Star Wars’ pillars are the movies. And Disney is trying so hard to get you to buy more products and consume more of the story world, that they don’t actually remember that. And I don’t blame the directors, or the writers, personally. Because they are working under Disney. With that terrible organizational system. Yes, individual writers and directors and creators are not all equal under The Mouse, as it were. That isn’t what I’m arguing.
Star Wars, and hell, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (I am not up to date on what that one is called right now, they keep changing it), the Matrix franchise, and other transmedia narratives take a lot of work. They take a lot of detail and time and crafting and yes, collaboration, that most production companies don’t realize or don’t want to deal with. So they throw money at the experts and they force their creators to bow down to shareholders or whatever, and they don’t actually listen to what those creators and experts have to say.
(Sorry that was a lot. And I probably didn’t explain that very well, but I can try to answer more coherently if someone has a question.)
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