introduCtion: AdAptAtion in A ConvergenCe environMent
11
adaptation beyond the original notion of a more or less unidirectional
transposition from one medium to another. This conceptualization, which
was always problematic, promises finally to be laid to rest by the more
dynamic media environment of convergence culture, as the simultaneous
shifts in the mediascape and in the field of adaptation studies have led to
a marked increase in the type of processes and texts that many scholars
(including the contributors to this volume) are willing to regard as adaptations. These scholars point to shifts in the media environment and new
textual (inter)relations that call into question what seemed a relatively
intuitive and clear-cut process of “translation” between neatly separated
media and practices.
To exemplify the blurring of conceptual boundaries that undermines all
sharp distinctions, including those between the three analytical categories
I will propose below, we can turn to transmedia franchises and how their
worlds are constituted. There is today a greater tendency than in a predigital environment by both intellectual property holders and fans to form
interconnected clusters of texts that explore what Matt Hills has called the
“hyperdiegesis” of a fictional creation, i.e. a “vast and detailed narrative space,
only a fraction of which is ever directly seen or encountered.” 10 With an eye
to official materials being created for and distributed across multiple media
platforms, critics have labeled this phenomenon variously as “transmedia
storytelling” (Jenkins), “transmedia worlds” (Lisbeth Klastrup and Susanna
Tosca), “world-building” (Mark J.P. Wolf), “franchise storytelling” (Clare
Parody), or – closing the circle between convergence, franchise practices,
and adaptation studies – “transmedia adaptations” (Siobhan O’Flynn). 11
10 Matt Hills, Fan Cultures (London: Routledge, 2002), 137, cited in Dan Hassler-Forest, Science
Fiction, Fantasy, and Politics: Transmedia World-Building beyond Capitalism (London: Rowman
& Littlef ield, 2016), 3. On the prevalence of transmedia narratives, cf. Dan Hassler-Forest’s
observation that “we’ve seen how transmedia franchising and world-building has really surged
over the past two decades, to the point where fantastic fiction seems to dominate the media
industries and our cultural landscape more and more.” In Henry Jenkins, “Science Fiction World
Building in a Capitalist Society: An Interview with Dan Hassler-Forest (Part One),” Confessions
of an Aca-Fan. The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins, March 22, 2007, accessed February 15, 2019,
http://henryjenkins.org/2016/09/science-f iction-world-building-in-a-capitalist-society-aninterview-with-dan-hassler-forest-part-one.html.
11 Jenkins, Convergence Culture. Lisbeth Klastrup and Susana Tosca, “Transmedial Worlds –
Rethinking Cyberworld Design.” In Proceedings International Conference on Cyberworlds 2004, ed.
Masayuki Nakajima, Yoshinori Hatori, and Alexei Sourin (Los Alamitos: IEEE Computer Society,
2004), 409–416. Mark J.P. Wolf, Building Imaginary Worlds: The Theory and History of Sub-Creation
(New York: Routledge, 2012). Clare Parody, “Adaptation Essay Prize Winner: Franchising/Adaptation,” Adaptation 4, no. 2 (2011): 210–218. Siobhan O’Flynn, “Designing for the Interactant: How
Interactivity Impacts on Adaptation.” In Adaptation and American Studies: Perspectives on Research
11
adaptation beyond the original notion of a more or less unidirectional
transposition from one medium to another. This conceptualization, which
was always problematic, promises finally to be laid to rest by the more
dynamic media environment of convergence culture, as the simultaneous
shifts in the mediascape and in the field of adaptation studies have led to
a marked increase in the type of processes and texts that many scholars
(including the contributors to this volume) are willing to regard as adaptations. These scholars point to shifts in the media environment and new
textual (inter)relations that call into question what seemed a relatively
intuitive and clear-cut process of “translation” between neatly separated
media and practices.
To exemplify the blurring of conceptual boundaries that undermines all
sharp distinctions, including those between the three analytical categories
I will propose below, we can turn to transmedia franchises and how their
worlds are constituted. There is today a greater tendency than in a predigital environment by both intellectual property holders and fans to form
interconnected clusters of texts that explore what Matt Hills has called the
“hyperdiegesis” of a fictional creation, i.e. a “vast and detailed narrative space,
only a fraction of which is ever directly seen or encountered.” 10 With an eye
to official materials being created for and distributed across multiple media
platforms, critics have labeled this phenomenon variously as “transmedia
storytelling” (Jenkins), “transmedia worlds” (Lisbeth Klastrup and Susanna
Tosca), “world-building” (Mark J.P. Wolf), “franchise storytelling” (Clare
Parody), or – closing the circle between convergence, franchise practices,
and adaptation studies – “transmedia adaptations” (Siobhan O’Flynn). 11
10 Matt Hills, Fan Cultures (London: Routledge, 2002), 137, cited in Dan Hassler-Forest, Science
Fiction, Fantasy, and Politics: Transmedia World-Building beyond Capitalism (London: Rowman
& Littlef ield, 2016), 3. On the prevalence of transmedia narratives, cf. Dan Hassler-Forest’s
observation that “we’ve seen how transmedia franchising and world-building has really surged
over the past two decades, to the point where fantastic fiction seems to dominate the media
industries and our cultural landscape more and more.” In Henry Jenkins, “Science Fiction World
Building in a Capitalist Society: An Interview with Dan Hassler-Forest (Part One),” Confessions
of an Aca-Fan. The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins, March 22, 2007, accessed February 15, 2019,
http://henryjenkins.org/2016/09/science-f iction-world-building-in-a-capitalist-society-aninterview-with-dan-hassler-forest-part-one.html.
11 Jenkins, Convergence Culture. Lisbeth Klastrup and Susana Tosca, “Transmedial Worlds –
Rethinking Cyberworld Design.” In Proceedings International Conference on Cyberworlds 2004, ed.
Masayuki Nakajima, Yoshinori Hatori, and Alexei Sourin (Los Alamitos: IEEE Computer Society,
2004), 409–416. Mark J.P. Wolf, Building Imaginary Worlds: The Theory and History of Sub-Creation
(New York: Routledge, 2012). Clare Parody, “Adaptation Essay Prize Winner: Franchising/Adaptation,” Adaptation 4, no. 2 (2011): 210–218. Siobhan O’Flynn, “Designing for the Interactant: How
Interactivity Impacts on Adaptation.” In Adaptation and American Studies: Perspectives on Research