Abstract
Danny Ocean and his gang are either repeated or mentioned or extended in the sequels titled Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen, and Ocean's Eight movies. As Terry Benedict, the casino owner robbed by them, says: “Guys like Ocean… they keep coming back, they don't like to lose. Too much ego, too much pride.” Unlike in vast majority of cinematic narratives, all of the Ocean's films accommodate criminal characters (thieves) in leading roles. This makes these canonical sequels intriguing for scrutinization: a valid reason besides their popularity and box-office success. This chapter aims to put forth the reasons behind the popularity and box-office success of Ocean's films through investigating the dimensions such as the adopted narrative style, the script, the characters, as well as the chosen star actors in these productions. The text continuously refers to the relevant historical and theoretical framework in the field.
TopIntroduction
Cinema has been made for the mass audience from the start. Operating in an expensive and risky business, film producers depend on enough ticket sales (i.e. to achieve the break-even point) to cover their costs, and this obligation defines the commercial nature of films. When deciding on stories, on the star actors to be employed, and even with regard to locations, producers have always to bear in mind the economic rules of the filmmaking business. In this sense sequelization – in an attempt to sustain a commercially-successful story – has been a rational choice, not only for Hollywood, but for almost all mainstream filmmaking practices throughout the world.
Among the many number of sequels in film history, this chapter focuses on Ocean’s Eleven (Lewis Milestone) made in 1960, and its sequels (made in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2018). These popular films deserve to be discussed, I contend, for featuring criminal or disagreeable characters in all of the leading roles – an exceptional situation for such commercially-successful narratives – and for adopting a pro-anarchist stance against money and the ways to obtain it. Thus, the aim of this chapter is to reveal the personal and social motives behind the protagonists’ criminal actions in the abovementioned narratives. The methodology will basically be that of textual analysis – i.e. an analysis of the contents of the films – which will be supported by a theoretical framework relating to the motives that lead the main characters to do what they do. Research into sequels as a filmmaking practice, and previous work about the Ocean’s films will be other references to reinforce my arguments. As distinct from the previous literature on Ocean’s Eleven and its sequels, my work aims to expose the motives of the protagonists in a comprehensive manner by discussing all of these narratives, and to classify the second film (the 2001 version) as a sequel - contrary to the extensive approach (remake) in the literature on film studies.
This chapter first puts forth the rationale for film producers making sequels. I will then attempt to differentiate the sequel from a remake with reference to theoretical sources, since Ocean’s Eleven (Steven Soderbergh) released in 2001, is widely accepted as a remake of the original 1960 production – a pervasive judgment among scholars who have written about these films, as mentioned above. I will then argue that it is actually a sequel, not a remake, and offer my reasons. This will be followed by the analyzes of these stories in terms of love, pride and ego, as well as socioeconomic, psychological and ideological dimensions, i.e. the motives of the robbers with regard to attempting to carry out such crimes. Now I will proceed to the rationale for filmmakers producing sequels.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Ego: The part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing and a sense of personal identity. Ego is the conscious mind, the part of the identity that one considers her/him ‘self’. If one says someone has ‘a big ego’, then he/she is saying that person is too full of her/himself.
Remake: A new, especially updated version of a film. A remake is a film that has the same story, and often the same title, as a film that was made earlier.
Sequel: A literary, cinematic, or televised work continuing the course of a story begun in a preceding one.
Interest: The price paid for obtaining, or price received for providing, money or goods in a credit transaction, calculated as a fraction of the amount or value of what was borrowed. Interest is the predetermined amount of money a borrower must pay for the use of borrowed funds.
Casino: A facility for certain types of gambling. It is a public room or building where gambling games are played.
Socioeconomic: The term used to describe the differences between groups of people relating to their social class and financial situation.
Anarchism: Political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy. This abolishment typically includes governments, nation states, capitalism and related institutions.
Poverty: The state of having few material possessions or little income. It can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects.