When it comes to movie universes, there are so many. It could be Star
Wars, Star Trek, or Lord of the Rings. But what these universes have in common
is that they are both real and fictional. They are fictional in the traditional
sense in that they are made up. Some person at desk had the imagination to come
up with these characters and places. And then the filmmakers brought it to the
screen with the power of CGI, special effects, make up, costuming, and set
design. But, where the true magic lies in movie universes is how real they are.
These universes have a way of encapsulating us into becoming invested into the
characters and what is happening in the movie. Another really cool thing about
these universes is that a movie can have multiple storylines but in the context
of the universe it makes sense.
A
great example of a movie universe doing this is the View Askewniverse. This
universe was created by director-writer Kevin Smith. In 1994, he came out with
little movie that he took to Sundance Film Festival called Clerks. It was a low budget film that Kevin and his friends made
together at a crappy little quick mart type place. What Kevin didn’t realize
was the massive appraisal it would receive because it ended winning awards at both
Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals. So because of this one little movie he was
able to make other such movie as Mallrats,
Dogma, Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Clerks II. All of
these movies have some overlapping characters but the two characters that are
in all of these movies are Jay and Silent Bob. These two characters are
normally supporting characters, with the exception of Jay and Silent Bob Strike
Back, and by far these guys are the fan favorites. The reason why they are so
popular with the fans is because throughout the saga we follow these characters
and it gives the audience a certain amount of legitimacy to the movie. It
provides legitimacy because we are aware of the environment in which they live
and we as the audience understand the rules of the particular universe. Let us
take the View Askewniverse as an example. In this particular universe, there
can be fallen angels and hilarious sculptures of Jesus and no one would think
twice about it. Actors can play different characters and we wouldn’t take away
anything from the movie.
So
recently I watched the Captain America: Winter Soldier. This movie was next
installment to the Captain America movies and it’s part of Marvel’s phase two
of the Marvel Universe. And after watching this movie I realized just how crazy
the Marvel Universe has gotten. Before I get into how the universe is right
now, I will explain the beginnings of this ever-expanding universe. Unless a
person has lived under an isolated rock, they know that Marvel was originally a
comic book company since the 1940s. And in the 1960s Marvel Comics really hit
its stride with Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and the Avengers. And this
is where the Marvel Universe really began.
So
now let us fast forward to 2008 with the release of Iron Man. This movie was Marvel Entertainments huge blockbuster and
the catalyst to Marvel’s movie universe because at the end of Iron Man there is
a very quick scene with Tony Strak (Iron Man) and General Nick Fury. What this
scene did was that it setup so many different paths that Marvel could take with
their movies. Because of the success they immediately went into pre-production
of Thor and Captain America. Incredible Hulk then came out and at the end of
that there is a scene with Tony Stark and he alludes to the Avengers. After Captain America, Thor, and another Iron Man
movie came out, Marvel released their jointed character movie the Avengers.
This movie brought the four characters together with other supporting
characters to fight in the battle of New York. This movie went huge worldwide
because it brought all of our favorite superheroes into one movie and no live
action movie has ever done that to this extent. Thankfully, the great Joss
Whedon helmed this movie because he was able to give each of the characters
their proper screen time and make them cohesive unit. And after the Avengers,
Marvel decided to expand their universe even more with the inclusion of Guardians of the Galaxy and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Guardians of the
Galaxy will be big risk for Marvel because those characters aren’t household
names like the Avengers were. And Marvel’s Agents
of S.H.I.E.L.D is doing something that has never happened before and they
are crossing over television and movies. The TV show experiences everything
that is happening in the movie universe and it interesting to see what are the
after effects of the movies.
The
last and final movie universe I want to talk about is the Lord of the Rings
universe. And when I say the Lord of the Rings universe I am only talking about
the Peter Jackson’s trilogy that came out in the early 2000s. Even though it
did start out of as a book I believe that this can be counted as a movie
universe because the extraordinary work they did in bringing this universe to
the big screen.
These
movies hold a very special place in heart because they made me fall in love
with cinema. How they were able to create this fantastic world just astounded
me on every level and it fueled my imagination for the years to follow. When I
was young I liked movies much like any other child would. I watched all of the
Disney movies and they were good movies. There were some movies that I really
liked and some not so much. But it was when my parents to took me to an 11:35
PM screening of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in January of 2002, I knew
that was my movie universe. The reason why this particular movie universe
worked for me was because it was believable. Even though the audience was
transported into a mythical world it still felt like I could hop unto a plane a
go visit there (also this so called plane would have to be able to travel back
in time too but that’s not the point). The fact that they shot this in New
Zealand was a smart choice because they could have made most of sets of the
movie with special effects and computer graphics an example of this would be
the movie 300. Visually it looked cool but the audience was fully aware of CGI
and the special effects. But when it came to Lord of the Rings most of the sets
were either built on site or they used a realistic backdrop and then added with
CGI later on. And I am not saying
that there weren’t parts of the movie that were made in complete CGI because there
were. All I’m getting at is that I could imagine seeing that wonderful place in
the real world.
Another
thing that these movies did was spark my imagination like no other movie ever
had. Have you ever just had a book or movie that you wish you were a part of? I
would with out a doubt answer that question with the Lord of the Rings. The
reason why is simple. It’s because I would not be able to calculate how many
times I had spent imagining myself as either one of the characters (mainly
Legolas and Aragorn) or a character that I made up myself. The character that I
made for my self though was my favorite to recreate because I could give him
his own personality, back-story, and way about him. I remember once I spent
almost a whole Sunday as one of my made characters because I just wanted to.
That movie universe did something that had never happened to me before. It made
me desperately want to be there. As I said earlier this movie tapped into my
imagination like no other previously because of the wonderful characters that
were, the fascinating and intricate story that it had, and the environment that
made it up. I often wish that I could go back to those days and just live life
like that because life right now is moving both so fast and slow that I
sometimes I to just want to escape it. And in my opinion those are the best
kind of movie universes.
There
is reason why some of the most memorable movies come from movie universes. It
is because they draw in, excite and move audiences in ways that few movies can.
Take for example the original Star Wars movies. The lines for those movies when
they came out shattered all box office records because people loved the
universe that George Lucas created. These movies universe have a way of drawing
the viewer in and making us fall in love with the characters and plot. I know
at least for me these types of movies are so cool because most stories in
movies are just single events. It is just a storyline and that’s it. But with movies that are part of movie
universes, there are multiple storylines and multiple events that help shape
characters. We as the audience can see these changes occurring and will feel
sometimes directly what the character is feeling if it’s a really good story.
And lastly one of the best things about movie universes is that it is not
limited to completing the story in 2 hours 30 minutes like many single
storyline movies are. There is time for characters to develop and grow. For all
of the above reasons and many more, I love movie universes.
