I’m not into Marvel. I don’t get it. I mean, I’ll go and see them all because I know I’m going to get my $11.50’s worth through explosions and little gems of pure cleverness, like Captain America’s region-specific to-do list.

Hats off to the manicurist for nailing the “clean and well cared-for but still manly, so manly” brief

I think my disinterest / confusion / alienation from the Marvel universe gives me some of that precious outsider’s perspective when it comes to the transmedia element of that universe. I’m the unwilling participant that’s dragged into this superhero juggernaut through peer and advertising pressure. I will never willingly wander through this transmedia experience. So, I’ll ask myself: what’s transmedia like when you don’t care?

In the case of Marvel, at least, the answer is simple: it’s impossible to avoid. I watched the first season of Daredevil because Netflix refused to stop recommending it and I got sick of seeing it pop up. I know fan theories and fan community drama because the guy that I caught the train with in high school won’t stop posting about it on Facebook. I engage with criticism because I’m a slave to the A.V. Club. All of this is fascinating because it really blurs the lines between transmedia and marketing and fan engagement. I wouldn’t call an Onion article transmedia in the slightest, but it’s things like that which are almost – almost – hooks that propel me into the Marvel universe. I like knowing about things. I like having opinions. Hearing other people and organisations discuss Marvel, or anything really, makes me more curious about it than those god-awful sneak-peaks at the end of the movies ever do.

What have I learnt from myself about engaging an apathetic audience? Try something new, I think. Get ‘em where they live. Team up with that snarky asshole that runs the CinemaSins YouTube. I suppose this is really, wholeheartedly becoming a love letter to PR but if fan discussion is counted as a transmedia element – and I would argue very passionately that it is, because fans are terrifying and fanfiction is thorough – then those bodies that channel fans are important, too. The line between transmedia and marketing is blurred and confusing, but it should be embraced absolutely instead of dismissed. I want to engage with my media; traditional advertising and pure transmedia aren’t going to work on people like me.