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AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
within religion. […], the “fandom = religion” discourse all too often
creates a master narrative of (atomized and secularised) society along
with (compensatory and functionalist) fandom marked by the “loss
hypothesis.” 25
We could argue that transmedia storytelling is used primarily to “fill out”
and “expand” a fictional universe, so that it becomes tangible, complete,
worldly. Fans who become immersed in texts as part of a ritual (e.g. cosplay
pilgrimages) also reenact a quasi-religious ceremony: “ST [Star Trek] is a
body of knowledge that is continually being added to and revised.” 26
Neither transmedia producers nor transmedia fans are intentionally
displacing the core with adapted, appropriated, and, in this sense, changed
texts, but rather trying to add to it, building up the universe from that
core. To the extent, however, that the added texts and paratexts begin
to transgress their anchor-texts (not just in terms of textual “faith,” but
also in terms of the legal and textual “situation”), this kind of adaptation,
appropriation, and paratextual diversity seems to be an inevitable result
of their activities. In other words, Matt Hills’ intervention reminds us that
paratexts can add both centripetal (religious) and centrifugal (transgressive)
dimensions to a given text.
It is no surprise that the two examples used in the following, the mashup
novels William Shakespeare’s Star Wars and Two Gentlemen of Lebowski, 27
testify to this cultish dimension of popular textual universes: one the global
franchise that most fully elaborates a myth pastiche – Star Wars – and the
other one the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski (1998), “the most significant
cult film of the last thirty years” 28 and a movie that has kept a faithful group
of devotees which has recently become the object of academic fandom
studies. 29
Both core texts invite centripetal paratexts because they fulfill most of the
existing definition of a “cult film” to a tee, as a summary of the “cult cinema”
definition derived from the book series homepage Cultographies suggests:
25 Matt Hills, “Sacralising Fandom? From the ‘Loss Hypothesis’ to Fans’ Media Rituals,” Kinephanos 4, no. 1 (2013), accessed February 15, 2019,www.kinephanos.ca/2013/sacralising-fandom/.
26 Jindra, “Star Trek Fandom as a Religious Phenomenon,” 46.
27 Ian Doescher, William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (Philadelphia, PA: Quirk
Books, 2013). Adam Bertocci, Two Gentlemen of Lebowski: A Most Excellent Comedie and Tragical
Romance (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010).
28 Zachary Ingle, Introduction to Fan Phenomena: “The Big Lebowski,” ed. Zachary Ingle (London:
Intellect, 2014), 5.
29 Zachary Ingle, ed., Fan Phenomena: “The Big Lebowski” (London: Intellect, 2014).
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
within religion. […], the “fandom = religion” discourse all too often
creates a master narrative of (atomized and secularised) society along
with (compensatory and functionalist) fandom marked by the “loss
hypothesis.” 25
We could argue that transmedia storytelling is used primarily to “fill out”
and “expand” a fictional universe, so that it becomes tangible, complete,
worldly. Fans who become immersed in texts as part of a ritual (e.g. cosplay
pilgrimages) also reenact a quasi-religious ceremony: “ST [Star Trek] is a
body of knowledge that is continually being added to and revised.” 26
Neither transmedia producers nor transmedia fans are intentionally
displacing the core with adapted, appropriated, and, in this sense, changed
texts, but rather trying to add to it, building up the universe from that
core. To the extent, however, that the added texts and paratexts begin
to transgress their anchor-texts (not just in terms of textual “faith,” but
also in terms of the legal and textual “situation”), this kind of adaptation,
appropriation, and paratextual diversity seems to be an inevitable result
of their activities. In other words, Matt Hills’ intervention reminds us that
paratexts can add both centripetal (religious) and centrifugal (transgressive)
dimensions to a given text.
It is no surprise that the two examples used in the following, the mashup
novels William Shakespeare’s Star Wars and Two Gentlemen of Lebowski, 27
testify to this cultish dimension of popular textual universes: one the global
franchise that most fully elaborates a myth pastiche – Star Wars – and the
other one the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski (1998), “the most significant
cult film of the last thirty years” 28 and a movie that has kept a faithful group
of devotees which has recently become the object of academic fandom
studies. 29
Both core texts invite centripetal paratexts because they fulfill most of the
existing definition of a “cult film” to a tee, as a summary of the “cult cinema”
definition derived from the book series homepage Cultographies suggests:
25 Matt Hills, “Sacralising Fandom? From the ‘Loss Hypothesis’ to Fans’ Media Rituals,” Kinephanos 4, no. 1 (2013), accessed February 15, 2019,www.kinephanos.ca/2013/sacralising-fandom/.
26 Jindra, “Star Trek Fandom as a Religious Phenomenon,” 46.
27 Ian Doescher, William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope (Philadelphia, PA: Quirk
Books, 2013). Adam Bertocci, Two Gentlemen of Lebowski: A Most Excellent Comedie and Tragical
Romance (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010).
28 Zachary Ingle, Introduction to Fan Phenomena: “The Big Lebowski,” ed. Zachary Ingle (London:
Intellect, 2014), 5.
29 Zachary Ingle, ed., Fan Phenomena: “The Big Lebowski” (London: Intellect, 2014).