The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
1 Paratexts and the Commercial Promotion of Film Authorship : James Wan and Saw Tyson Wils , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , December no. 69 2013;
'This article discusses one way Malaysian-Australian James Wan (b. 1977-) (1) can be considered or constructed as an author. Wan is best known for the film Saw (2004), which he co-wrote with Leigh Whannell (2). Saw was made for around $US1.2 million but grossed just over $US103 million worldwide at the box office (3). Saw also turned out to be the first instalment in a seven-part series. Wan and Whannell have both claimed that they did not make Saw with the intention of producing a sequel, even though at the end of the film the criminal mastermind John Kramer (aka Jigsaw, played by Tobin Bell) escapes leaving one of his victims, Adam Stanheight (Leigh Whannell), locked in an industrial bathroom. In what would become an iconic moment for the film series Kramer turns off the lights and closes the room’s large sliding door saying to Stanheight “Game Over” (not only is this scene directly referenced at the end of Saw: The Final Chapter [2010], but the idea of playing a “game” is developed in various ways across the series)...' (From Author's introduction)
X