Origin Story as a Serial Form
M. Night Shyamalan's Eastrail 177 Trilogy
Keywords:
origin story, storyworld, serial cinemaAbstract
The essay analyzes M. Night Shyamalan’s Eastrail 177 trilogy as a boundary case of contemporary cinematic seriality. Through narratological, formal, and production-oriented analyses, the study investigates the tension between auteur cinema and blockbuster logics, interpreting the retroactive construction of the narrative universe as a metacinematic reflection on the forms of serial storytelling, and articulating the trilogy as a critical reflection on the politics of the contemporary image.
References
A. Fontana, M. Night Shyamalan. Filmare l’ombra dell’esistenza, Morpheo Edizioni, Rottofreno (PC) 2007.
M. R. Borelli, Raccontare la notte dell’anima. Il cinema di M. Night Shyamalan, Shatter Edizioni, Barbarano Mossano (VI) 2019.
G. Cecchinelli, Nightland. Incubi e sogni nella filmografia di M. Night Shyamalan, Weird Book, Roma 2022.
D. Sødtholt, Split, Part I: M. Night Shyamalan goes crazy and tender, in “Montages: International Edition”, https://montagesmagazine.com/2017/01/split-m-night-shyamalan-goes-crazy-and-tender/.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Daniele Esposito (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
