The 007 Saga: James Bond and The Modern Media Franchise

What is a franchise, and what approaches have scholars used to study the franchise as a modern cultural and commercial form? This course explores the phenomenon of the modern media franchise in light of the "007 saga"-the stories of James Bond as they have proliferated in various media since the 1950s, in the Ian Fleming novels, television, comics, film, games, and young adult (YA) and fan fiction (including slash fiction). The 007 saga presents an opportunity to re-examine available ways of conceiving the franchise, from transmedia storytelling to media mixing, and emphasizes the importance of scholarly models that can account for a decentralized creative labor. Throughout the history of Bond fiction, authorized and unauthorized writers have generated what now amounts to a threaded storytelling experience whose pleasures overlap with, but are distinct from, those of centrally planned media phenomena, like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. SPECIAL NOTE: Admission by wait-list only. Graduate students and advanced undergraduate ma-jors in Film and Media Studies will have priority. Credit 3 units. REQUIRED SCREENING TIME: Wednesdays @ 4 pm
Course Attributes:

The 007 Saga: James Bond and The Modern Media Franchise

FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES 507

Section 01