Abstract

MOURA, Pedro. Another Phantom Menace: the relation established by author, contents and audiences in The Prequels Strike Back. OBS* [online]. 2019, vol.13, n.1, pp.122-136. ISSN 1646-5954.

Star Wars Prequels (1999-2005) are still controversial amidst the fans of this transmedia narrative. The documentary The Prequels Strike Back (2016) sought to understand the frustration of the unhappy part of the audience. It also approached the reception of those who, despite enjoying the second trilogy of the saga, were surrounded by an antagonistic culture towards the prequels. This article develops an analysis of the documentary, focusing on how the prequels' reception was presented. It has Umberto Eco's textual cooperation model and Henry Jenkins' convergence culture and transmedia storytelling concepts as the main analytical references. The article argues that, despite presenting relevant features of Eco's model, the documentary neglects a crucial dimension for understanding the Star Wars audiences' reception: the transmedia nature of a saga that wasn't on hold between the original and the prequel trilogies.

Keywords : Textual cooperation; convergence culture; transmedia storytelling; Star Wars; Umberto Eco.

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