Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, English

In 2008, Hollywood identified a (relatively) new storytelling strategy that I call the elegiac sequel. These kinds of films appear at least ten years after the prior entry in the franchise or series, and feature a returning cast member, usually a star who has maintained popularity in the time between films. I argue that these elegiac sequels allow filmmakers and audiences opportunities to revisit the past both within the storyworld and in the real world, using the gap between entries as a way of thinking through how the past has influenced the present. In the course of my dissertation, I write about the pre-history of the elegiac sequel starting with The Sin of Harold Diddlebock in 1947 and moving up through the start of the elegiac boom period in 2008 with the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In this chapter I examine the industrial crises points at which these nostalgic films look to the past for answers about an uncertain present in Hollywood as it comes under threat from TV, cable, and streaming services, among others. The next chapter is an investigation of how elegiac sequel trailers (and, by extension, the films themselves) serve two audiences and create a heightened sense of emotional response from the core features of the elegiac sequel, namely their genre reinventions, story extensions, and the revivals of stars in beloved character roles. By studying the intensified form of the trailer, I highlight the pleasures audiences can derive from elegiac sequels in their full-length forms. Finally, my last chapter concerns the ways certain fans respond to elegiac sequels that modernize the ideas, themes, and casts with more diverse characters and actors being centered in roles that were primarily held by straight white cis men. I use the three Star Wars elegiac sequel films, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker, to examine how some people who did not enjoy the first two films in the trilogy alongside con (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jared Gardner (Advisor); Amanpal Garcha (Committee Member); Ryan Friedman (Committee Member) Subjects: Film Studies

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2022, Economics

An old, signed baseball mitt or your first tickets to a concert often hold more personal value than you originally spent on them. Nostalgia is a powerful force that can drive a consumer to purchase a product for the sole purpose of remembering a past time. This paper posits that one of the ways businesses in the video game market can utilize nostalgia is by timing the release of remakes. Using observational data on video game sales with information on genre, sequels, and remakes for each observation, I estimate that the length of wait time that generates the most sales for the release of a remake is between 9 and 20 years.

Committee: Mark Tremblay (Advisor); Gregory Niemesh (Committee Member); Peter Nencka (Committee Member) Subjects: Economic Theory; Economics