100
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
A process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically
across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium
makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story […]
Transmedia storytelling is the ideal aesthetic form for an era of collective
intelligence. 41
Each medium makes a unique contribution: while the print version seeks
to make the most of pastiche print materiality, the e-book app of Pride and
Prejudice and Zombies promises a different kind of reading experience, a
kind of content-added, multi-sensory Gesamtkunstwerk:
This interactive ebook features hundreds of illustrations, an original
musical score, buckets of gory animation, and a pair of literary masterpieces: Hold your device right-side-up to enjoy Pride and Prejudice and
Zombies. Turn it upside-down to read Jane Austen’s original Pride and
Prejudice. Turn the device 90 degrees to read both novels, side-by-side.
Featuring:
– Enhanced book/app version of the bestselling novel
– Hundreds of pages of illustrated, interactive zombie mayhem
– Complete text of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies AND Jane Austen’s
beloved Pride and Prejudice
– Original musical score and sound effects
This revolutionary vision of what an eBook reading should be creates the
definitive user-driven experience through text, animation, music, sound,
gameplay-like elements, and touchscreen technology. 42
Ultimately, both kinds of paratextual formatting invoke a fake authenticity
and traditionalism (“masterpiece,” “original”) to perform mashups as literary
pastiche. In so doing they evince signs of Jamesonian nostalgia, even within
the celebration of transmedia “enhancement.” Quirk Books and other mashup
novels re-perform texts as liturgy, seeking to publicly establish renewed
community with canon texts.
41 Henry Jenkins, “Transmedia Storytelling 101,” Confessions of an Aca-Fan: The Official Weblog
of Henry Jenkins, last modified March 22, 2007. Accessed February 15, 2019, www.henryjenkins.
org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html.
42 “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Interactive eBook App,” product page on QuirkBooks.
com, accessed November 22, 2016, www.quirkbooks.com/app/ppzapp.
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
A process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically
across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium
makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story […]
Transmedia storytelling is the ideal aesthetic form for an era of collective
intelligence. 41
Each medium makes a unique contribution: while the print version seeks
to make the most of pastiche print materiality, the e-book app of Pride and
Prejudice and Zombies promises a different kind of reading experience, a
kind of content-added, multi-sensory Gesamtkunstwerk:
This interactive ebook features hundreds of illustrations, an original
musical score, buckets of gory animation, and a pair of literary masterpieces: Hold your device right-side-up to enjoy Pride and Prejudice and
Zombies. Turn it upside-down to read Jane Austen’s original Pride and
Prejudice. Turn the device 90 degrees to read both novels, side-by-side.
Featuring:
– Enhanced book/app version of the bestselling novel
– Hundreds of pages of illustrated, interactive zombie mayhem
– Complete text of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies AND Jane Austen’s
beloved Pride and Prejudice
– Original musical score and sound effects
This revolutionary vision of what an eBook reading should be creates the
definitive user-driven experience through text, animation, music, sound,
gameplay-like elements, and touchscreen technology. 42
Ultimately, both kinds of paratextual formatting invoke a fake authenticity
and traditionalism (“masterpiece,” “original”) to perform mashups as literary
pastiche. In so doing they evince signs of Jamesonian nostalgia, even within
the celebration of transmedia “enhancement.” Quirk Books and other mashup
novels re-perform texts as liturgy, seeking to publicly establish renewed
community with canon texts.
41 Henry Jenkins, “Transmedia Storytelling 101,” Confessions of an Aca-Fan: The Official Weblog
of Henry Jenkins, last modified March 22, 2007. Accessed February 15, 2019, www.henryjenkins.
org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html.
42 “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Interactive eBook App,” product page on QuirkBooks.
com, accessed November 22, 2016, www.quirkbooks.com/app/ppzapp.