#6: What's the Deal with Sequels?

Feeling that their conversation re: Roland Emmerich's great sequel Independence Day: Resurgence ended insufficiently, Matt and Sean migrated from the basement to sit at table beneath the seven stars of the St. Louis night. Situated amidst the crickets and cicadas, beneath the jet airplanes, within the cool and gentle breeze, they set out to discuss the question: What's the deal with all the sequels these days? What topics, ideas, and questions then arose? Well, dear listener, to offer a brief teaser trailer: Indiana Jones/Indian Death Cults, Pulp Fiction, change in character as "deserved" and "necessary," Breaking Bad, emotion, The Truman Show, recycling of formulaic material, P.T. Anderson and Richard Linklater’s superiority, the relation between pop novels, pop songs, and big-budget films, art's facilitation of a "confrontation with reality", and, finally, the ensuing moral responsibility of the artist. How, the hosts ask, can a film become truly enduring? Tune in, dear listener, and join us in our philosophical considerations of these many topics and questions, and together let us snob our way into a discussion that unveils the calm, serious tonalities of the ancient art of snobbery.