CRITICISM: LITERARY INQUIRY AND

TRANSMEDIATION / REMEDIATION

Prof. Q

What we have covered so far… Procedural Rhetoric Thematic Criticism Feminist criticism

Today… Panopticon State Apparatus Behavior and interaction Transmediation and Remediation

Panopticon A type of institutional building designed

by English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century.

“A new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example.“ (Semple 1993, p. 152.)

As the watchmen cannot be seen, they need not be on duty at all times, effectively leaving the watching to the watched.

According to Bentham's design, the prisoners would also be used as menial labor.

Can you think of anything that resembles the panopticon construct?

Panopticon as Metaphor Michel Foucault – Panopticon as

modern "disciplinary" societies and their pervasive inclination to observe and normalize.

“One can speak of the formation of a disciplinary society in this movement that stretches from the enclosed disciplines, a sort of social 'quarantine', to an indefinitely generalizable mechanism of 'panopticism'.” (Foucault 1995, pp. 195-210)

Visibility as Power

What About Criticism? Does your text represent a society in which

panoptic models are present?

How does your text represent those societies?

What does your text say about panoptic ideologies?

Heritage of War Peace Maintenance Brigade

Admonisher

All-Seeing Eye

“Once nations see the power we have, they will stop fighting with each other” - Haschen

Ideological State Apparatus Society makes the

individual in its own image.

Today, individuals are self-conscious, responsible agent whose actions can be explained by his or her beliefs and thoughts.

This is acquired within the structure of established social practices.

Repressive State Apparatus

… We also see that in Heritage of War… Eventually, groups

that disagree with the philosophy of the Peace Maintenance Brigade are hunted down and imprisoned or destroyed.

Short Discussion Can you think of any text that represents

the above-mentioned concepts? Explain.

Behavior and Interaction

Behavior and Interaction Id - the set of uncoordinated instinctual trends (desires).

“It is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality.” Superego - plays the critical and moralizing role.

“The superego reflects the internalization of cultural rules, solely taught by parents applying their guidance and influence.”

Ego - the organized, realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego.

What does this have to do with games? Choice. Do I kill this girl and harvest the soul of

this girl to increase my power, or do I restore to her childhood innocence?

In Fallout 3 Do I kidnap a child and have her killed to

discover a vaccine that will cure the population, or do I kill the revolution leader to protect the child?

Your choice will depend on…

The Approach Navigate through the text Take notice of your choices Analyze them using theories of behavior

Transmediation and Remediation

Transmediation “… stories that unfold across multiple

media platforms, with each medium making distinct contributions to our understanding of the world, a more integrated approach to franchise development than models based on urtexts and ancillary products.” - Jenkins

Levels of Transmedia Transmedia 1.0: “Pushed Media”

Transmedia 2.0: “Extended Media”

Transmedia 3.0: “Adapted Media”

Transmedia 4.0: “Experiences in Media”

The Matrix – Transmedia Storytelling

But the problem was… The Matrix grossed 7.34 times its budget. The Matrix Reloaded grossed 4.94 times its

budget. The Matrix Revolutions grossed 3.41 times

its budget.

Why? Due to an ambitious narrative construction that demanded too much from the casual viewer and didn’t offer enough of a reward to dedicated fans.

“Transmediating” Visuals and Style:Remediation

Sin City

Remediation The representation of one

medium in another.

It can be linear or cyclical, it can go on indefinitely.

It is a defining characteristic of digital media because digital media is constantly remediating its predecessors (television, radio, print journalism, etc.)

Scott Pilgrim Instead of relying on narrative

transmediation, it relied on visual remediation.

Scott Pilgrim:Graphical Remediation

Transmediation vs. Remediation in Scott Pilgrim

By avoiding transmedia storytelling and instead relying on stylistic transmediation, it manages to appeal to fans of the franchise without turning away the casual viewer.

Remediating Film and Games The two media continually borrow from each

other, creating an aesthetic interdependency. Films remediate game aesthetics. Games incorporate film conventions.

Transmedia Aesthetic

The Approach Similar to Genre Transmedia Analyses Comparative reading of two remediated

texts. Look for concepts, ideas, or aesthetics that

make the transition from one form of media to another.

Think about how each iteration of the text best uses the specific media in which it was published.

Don’t focus on fidelity of the adaptation.

Questions

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The Activity