3pm Journal of Digital research & publishing - artichoke web design
3pm Journal of Digital research & publishing - artichoke web design
3pm Journal of Digital research & publishing - artichoke web design
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<strong>3pm</strong> <strong>Journal</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Digital</strong> <strong>research</strong> & <strong>publishing</strong><br />
audiences have become more deeply engaged with good solid characters. This is evident<br />
through television shows, where a good storyline is not central as audiences focus their<br />
attention on the well-rounded characters which they either -like or dislike (Ruppel. 2009.<br />
24). Consider ‘Seinfeld’, the popular television show <strong>of</strong> the 90’s, the episodes each have an<br />
irrelevant plot based around insignificant problems such as someone’s bad breath or an<br />
irritating habit they might have. This is not what keeps us interested, it is rather how the<br />
characters deal with the situation which keeps us watching.<br />
However, increasingly through transmedia narratives, scholars are noticing another<br />
big shift in society’s way <strong>of</strong> thinking. Scholar Ge<strong>of</strong>frey Long notes “The entertainment<br />
industry has learned that yes, popular recurring characters can increase repeat revenue,<br />
but better still is a rich story world that can host multiple sets <strong>of</strong> recurring characters, as<br />
in Star Trek and Star Wars” (2000. 13).<br />
Thus the modern paradigm is revealed; There is an overriding importance for the story<br />
teller to captivate universes in unique ways. For example, there is no main protagonist in<br />
the Star Wars epic as the initial three films follow Anakin Skywalker’s journey to the dark<br />
side, and the later three films follow his son, Luke Skywalkers journey. The overarching<br />
story instead becomes about the intriguing universe which Lucas has created. Long<br />
describes this as the storyteller assigning the role <strong>of</strong> the main protagonist to the world<br />
and the structures and mechanisms which exist within it (2000. 160). Many transmedia<br />
narratives aren’t the story <strong>of</strong> one character at all, but the story <strong>of</strong> a world.<br />
Consider the biggest box-<strong>of</strong>fice hits, the grandest transmedia narratives; Star Wars,<br />
Lord <strong>of</strong> The Rings, Harry Potter, Matrix, Avatar. One common factor which they all share<br />
is that they are constructed around physical spaces which are somewhat different to our<br />
own world and norms.<br />
Furthermore, Henry Jenkins suggests that because current generations have grown up<br />
consuming texts across diverse media platforms, by <strong>design</strong> we have specific expectations<br />
and hunger for sophisticated story telling;<br />
“Younger consumers have become information hunters and gatherers, taking pleasure<br />
in tracking down character backgrounds and plot points and making connections between<br />
different texts within the same franchise” (2007. 12)<br />
Thus Jenkins coined the term ‘convergent culture’ which describes the exciting new<br />
avenues which producers are taking and the great lengths which they are going to in order<br />
14