Before learning about transmedia storytelling…I never really thought about it as a form of furthering the storytelling, I just thought of it as fun stuff to do. There are many pros and cons for both the audience and the people that are creating and distributing the content. A pro for the audience is that they get to enjoy the story that they are interested in and learn more about it. With Harry Potter (yes I’m referencing it again because I love it!), there are 7 main books, 8 movies, 8 video games for multiple consoles, and books that further explain aspects of the world of harry potter like the harry potter prequel short story, quidditch through the ages, and fantastic beasts and where to find them. This allows a fan to dig past the surface of the basic storyline. Other movies and shows have webisodes and graphic novels. Like I said in our discussion, I think that transmedia content is only really successful with sci-fi/fantasy stories like HP, Trueblood, Walking Dead, etc. I think that these stories are so vivid and complex that there is enough information that can spread across different mediums. Dexter is kind of the exception to this…however he does have visions of a dead person so I guess this is kind of in between the stories I just listed and shows like law and order or csi. Since this kind of stuff can kind of be considered a niche culture and some people think that the fans that get too far into it are nerdy, weird, and turning an interest into an obsession…I wonder if like 20-30 years in the future if the people who simply watch a tv show and don’t use transmedia storytelling will be considered niche and lazy for just watching a show and not using other content.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!