If you’re a fan of “Summer Heights High”, “Angry Boys” or any other genius work that Australian comedian Chris Lilley has done, you’re probably stoked about the recent news about Lilley’s newest project “Ja’mie: Private School Girl”, which will air on HBO starting November 24.
The show will feature Lilley’s character Ja’mie, King, previously featured in “Summer Heights High” and Lilley’s first big production “We Can Be Heroes: Finding the Australian of the Year”, though most of us in the States probably know her from the former.
Lilley has a habit of reintroducing characters he’s created for other projects. This will be the third series created by Lilley to feature Ja’mie. Twins Nathan and Daniel Sims were a part of “Angry Boys” and “We Could Be Heroes”.
By expanding on an already created universe, Lilley’s shows are able to tap into a fan-base whose knowledge makes them familiar to whatever new project he introduces. The fans don’t need to readjust their minds to something entirely new.
A genius ploy, all of Lilley’s work is excellent enough to watch on its own, but if somebody’s never heard of him and suddenly latches onto “Private School Girl” in November, you can guarantee that person will go back and watch what ridiculousness Ja’mie King got into in “Summer Heights High” and probably be interested enough to check out all of his other work too.
It’s not a new concept for people to create these entirely new universes for fans to enjoy. Comic books have been doing it for years (i.e. The Marvel Universe, DC Universe). “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” both have introduced characters and plots in different times in their respective universes. Kevin Smith’s “View Askewniverse” has been the setting of all of his films from “Clerks” to “Dogma” to “Chasing Amy”. Hell, Smith’s “Jay and Silent Bob” even made fun of the fictional town of Shermer, Ill., that John Hughes used as the setting for the majority of his “Brat Pack” films in the 80s.
So what’s to take from this?
Fans appreciate some sort of familiarity; it makes the bond between the art and the audience deeper. Writers, directors, etc., still have the freedom to tackle anything and everything within the realm of the universe they create, but the fact that it’s in an established universe allows the audience to dig deeper into the meaning the artist is trying to convey, ultimately allowing people to dig deeper into themselves.
Because of this, it’s not surprising that J.K. Rowling is putting her recently announced new film series in the wizarding world of Harry Potter. She’s already got the biggest audience in the world, why bother trying to please them by creating something new? Why not create something new in the world she’s created?
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Some people may view it as an easy way to make money off of the Harry Potter name that’s so permanently ingrained in our culture, but I view it differently. If Rowling were to write something or produce something unrelated to Potter, it’d have to be an absolute masterpiece to even be considered outside of the shadow of what she’s already done. So how would she ever go on working as a writer if she knew she could never reach an audience in the same way? It would drive somebody mad. Instead, she can reach her old fans and a new audience by producing work that’s set in a universe people are already familiar with.
I’m not saying that everything any writer creates needs to be set within an already established realm; that would be ridiculous. Creativity flows in an infinite number of beautiful ways. But perhaps by expanding the universes they’ve already created, writers are making a statement that we can grow and expand ourselves in a place we’re already familiar with rather than needing to change our setting to progress. Perhaps we can have as big of an impact on the world right here in Gainesville as we could in New York or London or Paris. Perhaps it’s not where we are, but our state of mind that really matters.
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