At the turn of the 21st century, corporate consolidation, technological advances, and new attitudes towards and among audiences caused an explosion in a phenomenom known as transmedia. In transmedia, popular “franchises” (such as Harry Potter, The Matrix, comic book superhero “universes,” etc.) expand across and between various media in a process of fleshing out a property so as to increase both sales and communicative possibilities. With the advent of this “convergence culture,” as Henry Jenkins calls it, media forms are now linked more closely than ever before as the boundaries between them become as porous and fluid as the international circulation of ideas. This has given rise not only to transmedia narrative, but also, according to Jenkins, to, “transmedia branding, transmedia performance, transmedia ritual, transmedia play, transmedia activism, and transmedia spectacle.”
Scholars, agents, marketers, corporate executives, and a host of other interested parties and stakeholders have all begun to explore this topic. However, in this flurry of ink, relatively few authors have considered the transnational ramifications of the transmedia moment. How does the new interconnectedness of media influence our thinking about the relationships between nations and peoples? Does transmedia offer new opportunities for the subaltern to be heard, or does it merely reassert or strengthen existing power imbalances?
Transmedia is a fluid concept, and we invite contributors to make full use of this fluidity in their work, exploring any and every aspect of the phenomenon. Papers might explore such issues as:
*The way transmedia franchises mirror the structures of colonization and domination
*The use of transmedia by marginalized groups to tell their stories
*The use of transmedia stories by corporations and conglomerates to attract new international audiences
*The ways in which transmedia franchises have influenced, shaped, and/or bypassed both domestic politics and international relations
*The creation of new possibilities for identity formation via transmedia
*The use of transmedia iconography for subversive purposes
Please send 250 word abstracts by November 15 to Andrew J. Friedenthal and Andrew Hamsher, Dept. of American Studies, University of Texas at Austin, firstname.lastname@example.org and email@example.com.
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