World Building : Transmedia, Fans, Industries

Thanks To Modern Technology, We Are Now Living In An Age Of Multiplatform Fictional Worlds, As Television, Film, The Internet, Graphic Novels, Toys And More Facilitate The Creation Of Diverse Yet Compact Imaginary Universes, Which Are Often Recognisable As Brands And Exhibit Well-defined Identities. This Volume, Situated At The Cutting Edge Of Media Theory, Explores This Phenomenon From Both Theoretical And Practical Perspectives, Uncovering How The Construction Of These Worlds Influences Our Own Determination Of Values And Meaning In Contemporary Society.--page 4 Of Cover. Introduction. Worlds, Today / Marta Boni -- The Aesthetics Of Proliferation / Marie-laure Ryan -- Building Science-fiction Worlds / Paolo Bertetti -- He Doesn't Look Like Sherlock Holmes: The Truth Value And Existential Status Of Fictional Worlds And Their Characters / Julien Lapointe -- Visible World: The Atlas As A Visual Form Of Knowledge And Narrative Paradigm In Contemporary Art / Cristina Baldacci -- A World Of Disney: Building A Transmedia Storyworld For Mickey And His Friends / Matthew Freeman -- World-building Logics And Copyright: The Dark Knight And The Great Detective / Roberta Pearson -- Battleworlds: The Management Of Multiplicity In The Media Industries / Derek Johnson -- Platform Producer Meets Game Master: On The Conditions For The Media Mix / Marc Steinberg -- Narrative Ecosystems: A Multidisciplinary Approach To Media Worlds / Veronica Innocenti And Guglielmo Pescatore -- The Building And Blurring Of Worlds: Sound, Space, And Complex Narrative Cinema / Justin Horton -- Beyond Immersion: Absorption, Saturation, And Overflow In The Building Of Imaginary Worlds / Mark J.p. Wolf -- Zombie Escape And Survival Plans: Mapping The Transmedial World Of The Dead / Bernard Perron -- Mmorpg As Locally Realized Worlds Of Action / Laurent Di Filippo -- The Worries Of The World(s): Cartoons And Cinema / Karen Redrobe -- Linguistic Terrain And World Time: Chinese Media Theories And Their World Imaginations / Victor Fan -- The Worlds Align: Media Convergence And Complementary Storyworlds In Marvel's Thor: The Dark World / Dru Jeffries -- World Building And Metafiction In Contemporary Comic Books: Metalepsis And Figurative Process Of Graphic Fiction / Denis Mellier -- The Monster At The End Of This Book: Metalepsis, Fandom, And World Making In Contemporary Tv Series / Valentina Re -- Traversing The Whoniverse: Doctor Who's Hyperdiegesis And Transmedia Discontinuity/diachrony / Matt Hills -- Transmediaphilia, World Building, And The Pleasures Of The Personal Digital Archive / Jim Collins -- The Politics Of World Building: Heteroglossia In Janelle Monáe's Afrofuturist Wondaland / Dan Hassler-forest. Edited By Marta Boni. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Introduction 9 Worlds, Today Marta Boni Section 1 Theories of World Building 1. The Aesthetics of Proliferation 31 Marie-Laure Ryan 2. Building Science-Fiction Worlds 47 Paolo Bertetti 3. “He Doesn’t Look Like Sherlock Holmes” 62 The Truth Value and Existential Status of Fictional Worlds and their Characters Julien Lapointe 4. “Visible World” 77 The Atlas as a Visual Form of Knowledge and Narrative Paradigm in Contemporary Art Cristina Baldacci Section 2 Economies of World Building 5. A World of Disney 93 Building a Transmedia Storyworld for Mickey and his Friends Matthew Freeman 6. World-Building Logics and Copyright 109 The Dark Knight and the Great Detective Roberta Pearson 7. Battleworlds 129 The Management of Multiplicity in the Media Industries Derek Johnson 8. Platform Producer Meets Game Master 143 On the Conditions for the Media Mix Marc Steinberg 9. Narrative Ecosystems 164 A Multidisciplinary Approach to Media Worlds Veronica Innocenti and Guglielmo Pescatore Section 3 Immersion 10. The Building and Blurring of Worlds 187 Sound, Space, and Complex Narrative Cinema Justin Horton 11. Beyond Immersion 204 Absorption, Saturation, and Overflow in the Building of Imaginary Worlds Mark J.P. Wolf 12. Zombie Escape and Survival Plans 215 Mapping the Transmedial World of the Dead Bernard Perron 13. MMORPG as Locally Realized Worlds of Action 231 Laurent Di Filippo Section 4 Media as World-Building Devices 14. The Worries of the World(s) 253 Cartoons and Cinema Karen Redrobe (formerly Beckman) 15. Linguistic Terrain and World Time 272 Chinese Media Theories and Their World Imaginations Victor Fan 16. The Worlds Align 287 Media Convergence and Complementary Storyworlds in Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World Dru Jeffries 17. World Building and Metafiction in Contemporary Comic Books 304 Metalepsis and Figurative Process of Graphic Fiction Denis Mellier Section 5 Appropriations and Fan Practices 18. The Monster at the End of This Book 321 Metalepsis, Fandom, and World Making in Contemporary TV Series Valentina Re 19. Traversing the “Whoniverse” 343 Doctor Who’s Hyperdiegesis and Transmedia Discontinuity/ Diachrony Matt Hills 20. Transmediaphilia , World Building, and the Pleasures of the Personal Digital Archive 362 Jim Collins 21. The Politics of World Building 377 Heteroglossia in Janelle Monáe’s Afrofuturist WondaLand Dan Hassler-Forest Index 393 This edited collection of original essays situates itself at the cutting edge of media theory, exploring imaginary worlds as forms of knowledge and forms of life. By exploring the concept of worlds from theoretical and practical perspectives, this book puts forward a unique and original starting point for rethinking media theory, going beyond the notion of communication and understanding the role of worlds in interaction rituals as well as the building of values and meaning in contemporary society. In recent years, due to digital distribution and the integration of social networking and entertainment content, viewing strategies and narrative forms are undergoing important changes. Notably, we are faced with the rise of multi- platform conglomerates, in which film, television, Internet, graphic novels, toys, and virtual environments create heterogeneous yet compact universes, recognizable as brands and having a well-defined semiotic identity. Scholars are looking for new theoretical tools to understand the role of contemporary new media in these phenomena and the increasingly central place that viewers hold in exploring, mapping, interpreting and expanding story worlds. On the one hand, Internet networks are increasingly studied as the environment for the emergence of forms of consumption through fragments. As Henry Jenkins recently underlined, media become spreadable (Jenkins, Ford, Green 2013). On the other, the observation of production practices in the contemporary media sphere shows that, instead of being only fluid and ephemeral elements, media fragments sometimes converge in persistent and heterogeneous spaces built from multiple contributions and comparable to worlds. Media creators don't merely forge stories or characters. Instead, they build worlds: fictional worlds, character worlds, alternative worlds...