This week in Story Lab we discussed how franchises can create immersive universes for fans to engage in on a multitude of platforms. This use of multiple platforms and mediums was described in the Henry Jenkin’s reading as transmedia storytelling – the telling of “a narrative so large it cannot be contained within a single medium”. In class we watched some of the Animatrix series, which acted as a prequel for the incredibly popular Matrix series. While I handed seen the films for a while, I could see how the links between these two things can be seen.
I was really interest of the idea of fan theories this week – from the vaguely credible to the wildly ridiculous. When creating an engaging and multifaceted narrative, and the universe in which that narrative, a fan culture is kind of inevitable.
My favourite that I’ve come across recently is the Pixar theory (which can be found at www.pixartheory.com), which proposes that all of the films produced by Pixar exist within the same universe, and when arranged in the right order, tell a story in which three distinct groups (humans/animals/machines) are constantly in conflict. It’s an interesting theory (I still haven’t made up my mind about whether or not I think it’s true) but it’s definitely an interesting take on a narrative universe.
My other favourite fan theory I’ve come across recently is much more simple – it’s a narrowing down of which state The Simpsons live. It’s incredibly more simplistic but I think it’s a hilarious. The one I found was (http://funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/2850888/Which/) butI’m sure there are plenty more out there!