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3pm Journal of Digital Research & Publishing my experiences and interactions with the piece would differ vastly to other’s experiences. Like many popular literatures “The Lord of The Rings” has been dragged throughout the digital arena having a profound and wide ranging impact on popular culture. Its original publication in the 1950’s as an intricate and masterfully epic narrative had an enormous impact on society. It then maintained its popularity with its transformation to popular radio, theatre and film adaptations which re-imagined the original narrative. This lead to the inevitable adaptations of ‘Lord of The Rings’ video-games, tragic attempts at video sequels and of course the ability to read it on the computer screen via e-book technology. The re-imaginations and hype which came about from the Lord of the Rings I found all too exciting, however I did not know how to feel when I came home one day to find my brother playing Lord of the Rings on his playstation. I watched eagerly as he fought for the Dark Lord Sauron destroying all of middle earth; an absurd rendition of my beloved childhood narrative. So at this juncture I must ask, what are the consequences of digitisation and convergence to a brilliant narrative? Narratives are something which society has cherished and enjoyed for hundreds and thousands of years; libraries and entire institutions have been developed for the protection and safety of the written word. However new technologies have emerged over the past decades which have challenged the popularity and power of the written novel. It is in the name of ‘digital preservation’ and ‘cross-sited narratives’, whereby media technologies have adapted an original narrative to fit their specific medium. The possibilities of these technologies are all very exciting, particularly when considering participatory culture and ‘remix’ theories. However it then becomes necessary to speculate the importance for the manifestation of the original narrative when it has been re-imagined and re-fabricated throughout this vast media playground. Paradigm Shift Historically, before transmedia storytelling was capable, the focus of the author was simple; to tell one good story and keep audiences engaged; “the plot was then considered the most significant part to a story, then came the characters” (Ruppel. 2009. 23). Marc Ruppel outlines a shift in the audience’s understanding and priorities of new media, narrative and play, and further our methods for studying these fields. He examines the enormous impact which electronic, digital, and the interactive technologies and practices have had on the production of literary knowledge and narrative. Over recent decades 13
3pm Journal of Digital Research & Publishing audiences have become more deeply engaged with good solid characters. This is evident through television shows, where a good storyline is not central as audiences focus their attention on the well-rounded characters which they either -like or dislike (Ruppel. 2009. 24). Consider ‘Seinfeld’, the popular television show of the 90’s, the episodes each have an irrelevant plot based around insignificant problems such as someone’s bad breath or an irritating habit they might have. This is not what keeps us interested, it is rather how the characters deal with the situation which keeps us watching. However, increasingly through transmedia narratives, scholars are noticing another big shift in society’s way of thinking. Scholar Geoffrey Long notes “The entertainment industry has learned that yes, popular recurring characters can increase repeat revenue, but better still is a rich story world that can host multiple sets of recurring characters, as in Star Trek and Star Wars” (2000. 13). Thus the modern paradigm is revealed; There is an overriding importance for the story teller to captivate universes in unique ways. For example, there is no main protagonist in the Star Wars epic as the initial three films follow Anakin Skywalker’s journey to the dark side, and the later three films follow his son, Luke Skywalkers journey. The overarching story instead becomes about the intriguing universe which Lucas has created. Long describes this as the storyteller assigning the role of the main protagonist to the world and the structures and mechanisms which exist within it (2000. 160). Many transmedia narratives aren’t the story of one character at all, but the story of a world. Consider the biggest box-office hits, the grandest transmedia narratives; Star Wars, Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter, Matrix, Avatar. One common factor which they all share is that they are constructed around physical spaces which are somewhat different to our own world and norms. Furthermore, Henry Jenkins suggests that because current generations have grown up consuming texts across diverse media platforms, by design we have specific expectations and hunger for sophisticated story telling; “Younger consumers have become information hunters and gatherers, taking pleasure in tracking down character backgrounds and plot points and making connections between different texts within the same franchise” (2007. 12) Thus Jenkins coined the term ‘convergent culture’ which describes the exciting new avenues which producers are taking and the great lengths which they are going to in order 14
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