the proper use of the word ‘prequel.’

I’m trying to work toward re-embracing the fact that I’m a huge nerd, letting the chips fall where they may. Here is part of that process.

I’m not sure why, but people seem to have a pretty difficult time with when something can appropriately called a ‘prequel.’ The word is really popular now, because there are so very many of them, but people often call something a prequel when it isn’t. I’m not just referring to friends and random people on the street, although that’s annoying, too. I’m referring to movie websites, places where people get paid to write or a living, and have editors. That’s not annoying, that’s unforgivable. It drives me insane. Someone please give me a job.

The word prequel is a combination of the prefix: pre, and the word: sequel.

Pre, as a prefix, means: “before in time, rank, order, position, etc.” And, to use wikipedia’s definition, because it’s easy, a sequel “is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, movie … or song that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work.”

This being the case, the definition of “prequel” is pretty straightforward. To cite wikipedia again, “a prequel is a literary, dramatic, or filmic work whose story precedes that of a previous work” So, the prequel is a work that comes after another work, but in which the story precedes the events of the original work.

What seems to confuse people is that the story in a prequel is earlier chronologically. This leads folks to start calling any story that comes earlier in a larger story a prequel. This would be like calling Iron Man a ‘prequel’ to The Avengers. However, that’s an incorrect usage of the word. Iron Man is in fact a story that takes place before The Avengers, however, it came out before The Avengers, thus it isn’t a sequel, and cannot be referred to as a prequel. It is a prelude, in that a prelude can mean: “any action, event, comment, etc. that precedes something else.”

Another example: I’ve heard so very many people refer to the book The Hobbit as a prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Not true. The Hobbit was written and released before Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings. It is a prelude, not a prequel. However, if you are referring to the film adaptations, then you can correctly refer to the upcoming Hobbit films as prequels, because the events in the story take place before the events in The Lord of the Rings, but the films are coming out afterward. 

Here are some more examples:
Star Wars: A New Hope is a prelude to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is a prequel to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (A terrible, terrible prequel.)
The Hunger Games is a prelude to Catching Fire
People often don’t know this, but Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark
The upcoming Prometheus is a prequel to Alien.

So, there you have it. The correct way to use the word ‘prequel.’ Stay tuned for the next installment, the correct use of the word ‘irony.’