introduCtion: AdAptAtion in A ConvergenCe environMent
15
themselves do. This approach can serve as an important corrective for adaptation studies, which has too often remained at the level of comparative textual
analysis. Jenkins’ concept thus challenges adaptation studies to approach
not only texts but the contexts of their creation, distribution, and reception.
It is in this vein that the contributors to this volume situate their theoretical models and approach their case studies. They avoid the temptation of
reading the texts as traditional adaptations that simply add new media into
the mix and situate them instead in their cultural framework while also
taking into account the dynamic interactions of their environments, be
that YouTube cover culture (Constandinides), showrunners interacting with
fans (Poore), fanfiction and mashup writers who turn towards commercial
publishing (Soller; Voigts), or the cultural and legal frameworks in which
the media industry operates (Schäfke).
Considering new trends in convergence culture and connecting them to
previous research positions, this collection suggests that the transformations
of media and the media industries most relevant for adaptation studies can
be described as falling into three main developments:
1. the rise of new media as containers for adapted stories (e.g.
computer games, networked text bodies such as wikis, online
versions of older media like video or text formats, etc.) and
the novel potentialities they bring with them (e.g. a greater
interactivity between user and text, an ability to connect texts
more closely across different media, means of expression that
converge across new and old media, and so forth);
2. the transformation of audiences, regarding both their willingness and their ability to participate, and their self-conception
as empowered, contributing consumers vis-à-vis media producers;
3. the transformation of production, distribution, and marketing
structures under globalized neoliberal capitalism, including
the rise of a franchising logic impacting (adaptive) text
clusters in their form, content, production, marketing, and
reception. The spread of franchised expansions that connect
text corpora can take the form that Jenkins has called “transmedia storytelling,” but a looser connection is much more
common. Following Derek Johnson, Claire Parody, and others,
I will call this “franchising” or “media franchising.” 18
18 Ibid., 95–134. Jenkins, “Transmedia Storytelling 101;” Johnson, Media Franchising; Parody,
“Franchising/Adaptation,” 210–218.
15
themselves do. This approach can serve as an important corrective for adaptation studies, which has too often remained at the level of comparative textual
analysis. Jenkins’ concept thus challenges adaptation studies to approach
not only texts but the contexts of their creation, distribution, and reception.
It is in this vein that the contributors to this volume situate their theoretical models and approach their case studies. They avoid the temptation of
reading the texts as traditional adaptations that simply add new media into
the mix and situate them instead in their cultural framework while also
taking into account the dynamic interactions of their environments, be
that YouTube cover culture (Constandinides), showrunners interacting with
fans (Poore), fanfiction and mashup writers who turn towards commercial
publishing (Soller; Voigts), or the cultural and legal frameworks in which
the media industry operates (Schäfke).
Considering new trends in convergence culture and connecting them to
previous research positions, this collection suggests that the transformations
of media and the media industries most relevant for adaptation studies can
be described as falling into three main developments:
1. the rise of new media as containers for adapted stories (e.g.
computer games, networked text bodies such as wikis, online
versions of older media like video or text formats, etc.) and
the novel potentialities they bring with them (e.g. a greater
interactivity between user and text, an ability to connect texts
more closely across different media, means of expression that
converge across new and old media, and so forth);
2. the transformation of audiences, regarding both their willingness and their ability to participate, and their self-conception
as empowered, contributing consumers vis-à-vis media producers;
3. the transformation of production, distribution, and marketing
structures under globalized neoliberal capitalism, including
the rise of a franchising logic impacting (adaptive) text
clusters in their form, content, production, marketing, and
reception. The spread of franchised expansions that connect
text corpora can take the form that Jenkins has called “transmedia storytelling,” but a looser connection is much more
common. Following Derek Johnson, Claire Parody, and others,
I will call this “franchising” or “media franchising.” 18
18 Ibid., 95–134. Jenkins, “Transmedia Storytelling 101;” Johnson, Media Franchising; Parody,
“Franchising/Adaptation,” 210–218.