MA Thesis Abstract

HE’LL BE BACK: THE LOGIC OF REINTRODUCTION IN ACTION HERO FRANCHISE FILMS

In my thesis research, I will examine how franchise films can be seen as a distinct form of text, governed by a logic of reintroduction. All such texts are fundamentally informed by a larger franchise, a pre-existing network of texts, products, meanings, conventions and expectations. Each text can therefore be seen as a reintroduction to the franchise, attempting to legitimize both the text and the franchise at large. Specifically, I will analyze four recent films which reintroduce an iconic action hero franchise. In order to understand the process of reintroduction, I will consider these films in context of each franchise as a whole, integrating textual analysis into industrial and socio-cultural approaches to popular media. These case studies will highlight the logic of reintroduction in franchise texts, and serve to illustrate how this logic is a defining feature of all franchises.