For this assignment, I chose the cult movie franchise “Step Up” as my culture media piece. After the first movie’s success in 2006, the franchise continued with five more movies – with the last “Step Up” film, “Step Up China,” released in 2019. The romantic dance films became popular in the American culture, as well as around the world, due to their charismatic characters and impressive choreographies. Although the films are badly rated by critics, 21% on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience reviews are much higher, with the Rotten Tomato score of 83%. Since the franchise has spanned over a decade, the original viewers of the first film witnessed the changes and transformations to the “Step Up” throughout the years, making it a culture media piece.
With the popularity of “Dirty Dancing” in the 1980s and still today, and of the endless “Fast and Furious” movies, “Step Up” serves as the concoction of the two. It combines romance and dancing with the nature of a constantly developing franchise, resulting in cult films that are enjoyed by generations. Unsurprisingly, the creators of the franchise have used the influence of the platform to raise awareness of social issues – to different levels of success. For example, one of the most prominent and consistent contrasts and conflicts between the wealthy and the poor.
Since the franchise, as I have mentioned, has been developing over the past two decades, there have been noticeable technological advances in the later movies as opposed to the earlier ones. The global reach of the franchise, which was noted further with “Step Up China” (2019), is partially due to the addition of technology to the choreographies, making the dancing scenes more and more impressive every year. Furthermore, the series was greatly affected by social media in its casting, creation, and marketing. For example, Jon M. Chu, who directed some of the “Step Up” films, used MySpace to search for backgrounds for the scenes. Furthermore, the crew used social media casting to discover new talents and include them in the film (“Step Up 5 – Movie,” 2013). This allowed these upcoming actors and actresses to be discovered by other filmmakers, being a highly influential part of their careers.
References
Step Up.(n.d.). Rotten Tomatoes. Web.
Step Up 5 – Movie.(2013). Casting Call Hub. Web.