DOCSLIB.ORG

Take Five: 'Mysteries of Laura' Star Janina Gavankar

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Take Five: 'Mysteries of Laura' Star Janina Gavankar Take Five: 'Mysteries of Laura' Star Janina Gavankar 04.18.2016 You may know her as Shiva in The League. Or from Arrow. Or as Luna Garza on True Blood. Or from her numerous other recurring roles on TV. You might not know her at all. And that's okay with actress Janina Gavankar (The Mysteries of Laura), who doesn't care if you know her name. In fact, she loves it. At this past WonderCon, we met to talk about the success of streaming shows. So naturally, we talked about spirit animals, fame and fandom along the way. And just for the record, she's savvy. We're here for "Streaming Success," whatever that means… Yes. Because internet. How have streaming shows changed you as an actress? I've always been kind of savvy. Ugh, I hate that word. Pretend like I never fucking called myself savvy. I don't think you can call yourself savvy. I think someone else has to call you savvy. So I retract my statement. But I've always said I don't care what you watch it on, I just want to have an incredible artistic experience. My first gig that I booked when I first moved to LA from Chicago was this thing called Ms. Dewey. It was this interactive search engine and you can ask her questions. It was the coolest project I've been a part of, and this was 10 years ago now. That was online. She was this smarter-than-you lady who knew about everything. She was savvy. SHE WAS SAVVY. Now that was a savvy lady. We shot over 700 clips and you could type anything in the search engine and she would say something that applied to what you said. It was crazy and it went super viral. It was an entertaining experience. It didn't have a narrative over episodes or anything like that, but I had such a great time. I don't care. My interests are a complicated character, and a project that's filled with brilliant artists so I can just come play. Those are the things that attract me. They've always been off kilter. I've done plenty of web series. I'm developing one right now. What are you developing? Right now, it's called "As Seen on TV." I'm developing it with my writing partner Russo Schelling. Max Jenkins, who's in The Mysteries of Laura with me, we're very close and constantly looking for other things to do together. It's basically the two of us running around and being assholes together. We're former child stars. That's the idea. I'm also developing a really complicated one hour drama. But I'm just as interested in making something that's seven and a half minutes long that makes you laugh your ass off than I am with taking three years to develop a huge big thing. I think that's why it's so great to work in TV right now. It can be anything you want. Yes. Everybody has always said quality is king. Now you can see the proof. All the awards have gone to streaming shows. You can't half ass anything anymore, otherwise people won't watch. They just won't. And that's great. It's stressful to choose a show to watch. Yeah, there are so many. I'm on hiatus right now and I just finished House of Cards and I'm going to start Bloodline next I think. I'm catching up on Billions, watching Ru-Paul's Drag Race, but everything is a binge watch for me. But I've always done that. So you invented binge watching? Yes. I think somebody else has to say that. Can we get that on the record? Andy just said that I invented binge watching. I would like to add that to my Wiki later. Mostly it's because I've always been late to the punch, because I'm busy or some BS, all the reasons we don't watch things. But I said many years ago that I'd rather wait for a show to be in its fourth season so I can watch the whole thing. Do you live in LA? Yeah. In my head, people only talk about TV. Even outside LA- Everyone's doing that all the time. The craziest thing that ever happened to me, I had just joined True Blood and when I joined True Blood, it was season 4. It was already the biggest show on television. On its own. I had nothing to do with that. I was just so happy to be there. I was flying somewhere and two people sat down in front of me, total strangers. The first episode of season 4 had aired the night before. One stranger said to the other, 'Did you watch True Blood last night?' The other guy had. I watched two strangers talk about the season premiere of the show that I was on. Did you talk to them? Certainly not. I was so nervous and enthralled to be seeing it happen. When you get to be part of a show that is in the zeitgeist, it's just…a dream. We all work as hard as we can to try and be a part of something like that. What show that you've been on has the craziest fans? Well no one recognizes me. Really? Yeah. It's great. It's like the best magic trick. So you're a magician, you're also saying that? What you just said is that I'm a magician. Right? Andy just said I'm a magician. If I wanted to be famous, I would've figured out how to be famous by now. Anybody whose reading this is going to go, 'Who?' They don't actually know my name. I'm just the girl that's on those shows. Maybe you saw a show that I was on. But I'm not doing it for everybody else. I'm doing it for the artistic experience. That doesn't necessarily correlate to fame. And I'm absolutely okay with that. What's your sign? My sign is Sagittarius. Don't really know what it means. I'm Taurus. Me neither. We probably hate each other. We're warring. I could smell it on you. F***ing Taurus, I could tell. What's your spirit animal? My spirit animal… You thought of something. I was thinking of people. You're spirit animal is a person? There's this little girl on Vine. Speaking of fame. This little girl is my spirit animal. She speaks to me on a level… I thought you said you don't want to be famous. Watch it. Please watch. Those eyebrows. That's how I feel about fame. That's me in seven seconds. If you want more than seven seconds of Janina, she's everywhere: True Blood's on HBO Go. Arrow's on Hulu. The League's on FXNow. Pee-wee's Big Holiday's on Netflix. Her current show, The Mysteries of Laura, streams on Hulu. [Cube image courtesy of HBO via io9; Ms Dewey courtesy of Marketing Land; Mysteries of Laura image courtesy of NBC].
Load more

Recommended publications
  • P6 P16community
    Community Community Birla Public Samuel School Mcmillan P6organises P16 teaches Jungle Zone and sound meditation to movie trip for the release stress using participants as part of Tibetan Himalaya their summer camp. singing bowl. Monday, July 30, 2018 Dhul-Qa’da 17, 1439 AH Doha today 320 - 430 ABERRATION?: A scene from Asura. COVER Box office bomb STORY As its film business grows up, China faces Ishtar moment with its most expensive movie. P4-5 BOLLYWOOD HOLLYWOOD When you are young, you tend Daveed Diggs’ Blindspotting is a to be misguided, says Prateik. serious buddy comedy. Page 14 Page 15 2 GULF TIMES Monday, July 30, 2018 COMMUNITY ROUND & ABOUT PRAYER TIME Fajr 3.35am Shorooq (sunrise) 5.00am Zuhr (noon) 11.40am Asr (afternoon) 3.07pm Maghreb (sunset) 6.23pm Isha (night) 7.53pm Teefa in Trouble daughter Anya (Maya Ali) for his son. Teefa travels to Poland DIRECTION: Ahsan Rahim where Anya resides and so kicks off the story of the lm.fi USEFUL NUMBERS CAST: Ali Zafar, Maya Ali, Javed Sheikh, Mehmood Aslam Instead of taking her back, Teefa and Anya falls in love but SYNOPSIS: Directed by Ahsan Rahim, Teefa in Trouble things become complicated when Anya’s criminal father and revolves around Teefa (Ali Zafar) who is hired by Butt Sahab police chase them down but it’s too late. (Mehmood Aslam) to kidnap his friend Bonzo’s (Javed Sheikh) THEATRE: Landmark Emergency 999 Worldwide Emergency Number 112 Kahramaa – Electricity and Water 991 Local Directory 180 International Calls Enquires 150 Hamad International Airport 40106666 Labor Department
    [Show full text]
  • Event RECAP July 21-23 Wired Café San Diego, CA July 21-23 July 21-23 2011 WIRED Café
    EVENT RECAP JULY 21-23 WIRED CAFÉ SAN DIEGO, CA JULY 21-23 JULY 21-23 2011 WIRED CAFÉ From July 21-23, 2011, WIRED hosted the 3rd Annual WIRED Café @ Comic-Con. Throughout the weekend, over 3,000 guests received invitation-only access to WIRED’s full-service Café, which provided a media preview lounge, gadget lab, cuisine, cocktails, and a host of activities and interactive demos from WIRED partners, including HBO, Microsoft, History Channel, MGM Casinos, Budweiser Select, and Pringles. An all-star cast of celebs stopped by to sample the food, drinks, and gear, including Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Jon Favreau, Rose McGowan, Natasha Henstridge, Olivia Munn, John Landis, Adam West, Billy Dee Williams, Kevin Smith, Nikki Reed, Kellan Lutz, and the entire cast of HBO’s True Blood. All of these celebs were captured by the WIRED.com video crew and featured on WIRED.com. Both Access Hollywood and CNN camped out all day to interview the stars of True Blood. PRESENTED BY SPONSORED BY WIRED CAFÉ SAN DIEGO, CA JULY 21-23 SAN DIEGO, CA JULY 21-23 WIRED CAFÉ 5 “I love the WIRED Café, it’s one of my favorite spots at Comic-Con.” —Kellan Lutz KellanWIRED Lutz CAF/ TwilightÉ SAN DIEGO, CA JULY 21-23 SAN DIEGO, CA JULY 21-23 WIRED CAFÉ 7 Lucy LawlessWIRED CAF /É SpartacusSAN DIEGO, CA JULY 21-23 JULY 21-23 CELEBRITY ATTENDEES 6 / 7 / 8 / 1 / 9 / 10 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 11 / 12 / 1 / Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried, In Time 2 / Rose McGowan, Conan the Barbarian 3 / Rutina Wesley, True Blood 6 / Eric Balfour, Haven 7 / Aisha Tyler, Archer 8 / Nikki Reed, Twilight 9 / Jon Favreau, Cowboys and Aliens 4 / Skyler Samuels, The Nine Lives of Chloe King 5 / Tony Hale, Alan Tudyk, Adam Brody, and Jake Busey, Good Vibes 10 / Dominic Monaghan, X-Men Origins: Wolverine 11 / Kristin Bauer and Alexander Skarsgard, True Blood 12 / Kevin Smith, 4.3.2.1.
    [Show full text]
  • How Disney's Abc Avoided Reporting Electronic Arts Star Wars Game Micro
    University of Windsor Scholarship at UWindsor Major Papers Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers 2018 HOW DISNEY’S ABC AVOIDED REPORTING ELECTRONIC ARTS STAR WARS GAME MICRO-TRANSACTIONS Rohan Khanna University of Windsor, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/major-papers Part of the Communication Commons, and the Models and Methods Commons Recommended Citation Khanna, Rohan, "HOW DISNEY’S ABC AVOIDED REPORTING ELECTRONIC ARTS STAR WARS GAME MICRO- TRANSACTIONS" (2018). Major Papers. 41. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/major-papers/41 This Major Research Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers at Scholarship at UWindsor. It has been accepted for inclusion in Major Papers by an authorized administrator of Scholarship at UWindsor. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HOW DISNEY’S ABC AVOIDED REPORTING ELECTRONIC ARTS STAR WARS GAME MICRO-TRANSACTIONS by Rohan Khanna A Major Research Paper Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies through Communication and Social Justice in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario, Canada 2018 © 2018 Rohan Khanna HOW DISNEY’S ABC AVOIDED REPORTING ELECTRONIC ARTS STAR WARS GAME MICRO-TRANSACTIONS by Rohan Khanna APPROVED BY: ———————————————— V. Manzerolle Communication, Media, and Film ———————————————— J. P. Winter, Advisor Communication, Media, and Film May 10, 2018 iii AUTHOR’S DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this MRP and that no part of this Major paper has been published or submitted for publication.
    [Show full text]
  • Completeandleft
    MEN WOMEN 1. JA Jason Aldean=American singer=188,534=33 Julia Alexandratou=Model, singer and actress=129,945=69 Jin Akanishi=Singer-songwriter, actor, voice actor, Julie Anne+San+Jose=Filipino actress and radio host=31,926=197 singer=67,087=129 John Abraham=Film actor=118,346=54 Julie Andrews=Actress, singer, author=55,954=162 Jensen Ackles=American actor=453,578=10 Julie Adams=American actress=54,598=166 Jonas Armstrong=Irish, Actor=20,732=288 Jenny Agutter=British film and television actress=72,810=122 COMPLETEandLEFT Jessica Alba=actress=893,599=3 JA,Jack Anderson Jaimie Alexander=Actress=59,371=151 JA,James Agee June Allyson=Actress=28,006=290 JA,James Arness Jennifer Aniston=American actress=1,005,243=2 JA,Jane Austen Julia Ann=American pornographic actress=47,874=184 JA,Jean Arthur Judy Ann+Santos=Filipino, Actress=39,619=212 JA,Jennifer Aniston Jean Arthur=Actress=45,356=192 JA,Jessica Alba JA,Joan Van Ark Jane Asher=Actress, author=53,663=168 …….. JA,Joan of Arc José González JA,John Adams Janelle Monáe JA,John Amos Joseph Arthur JA,John Astin James Arthur JA,John James Audubon Jann Arden JA,John Quincy Adams Jessica Andrews JA,Jon Anderson John Anderson JA,Julie Andrews Jefferson Airplane JA,June Allyson Jane's Addiction Jacob ,Abbott ,Author ,Franconia Stories Jim ,Abbott ,Baseball ,One-handed MLB pitcher John ,Abbott ,Actor ,The Woman in White John ,Abbott ,Head of State ,Prime Minister of Canada, 1891-93 James ,Abdnor ,Politician ,US Senator from South Dakota, 1981-87 John ,Abizaid ,Military ,C-in-C, US Central Command, 2003-
    [Show full text]
  • (Inter)Face: a Critical Analysis of Microsoft's 'Ms.Dewey'
    © 2013 Miriam E. Sweeney NOT JUST A PRETTY (INTER)FACE: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF MICROSOFT’S ‘MS. DEWEY’ BY MIRIAM E. SWEENEY DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Library and Information Science in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2013. Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Linda C. Smith, Chair Professor Lisa Nakamura Assistant Professor André Brock, University of Michigan Professor Allen H. Renear ABSTRACT Increasingly anthropomorphism is used as a design strategy in computing interfaces to make them more accessible and intuitive to users. Technologies are never neutral, and always consist of a complex arrangement of technical, social, and cultural (ideological) aspects. Computing interfaces designed to have the characteristics of people raise ethical questions about what it means to explicitly gender and racialize technologies. This project explores these broader questions through a case study of Microsoft's former search engine interface, "Ms. Dewey." The titular character featured in the interface was anthropomorphized as a sexy librarian virtual agent who performs search results in response to user queries. I explore how the Ms. Dewey search engine is gendered and racialized and, ultimately, how Ms. Dewey reveals specific assumptions about gender, race, and technology in the search engine. I conduct an interface analysis that investigates the semiotic and material aspects of the interface in terms of technological and cultural affordances, finding that gender and race function as crucial infrastructural elements that frame the search process and results as more explicitly ideological rather than instrumental. This research contributes to understanding the broader implications of anthropomorphization as a design strategy, blending concerns of technology design and cultural beliefs about gender and race.
    [Show full text]
  • P27 Layout 1
    MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2017 technology AI gets so-so grade in China university entrance exam BEIJING: An AI machine has taken the math section the math exam last year scored an average of “This is not a make-or-break test for a robot. The The test was the latest attempt to show how AI of China’s annual university entrance exam, finish- 109.Exam questions and the AI machine’s answers aim is to train artificial intelligence to learn the way technology can perform in comparison to the ing it faster than students but with a below average were both shown on a big screen while three peo- humans reason and deal with numbers,” Lin said. The human brain. Last year, the Google-owned comput- grade. The artificial intelligence machine, a tall ple kept score. The AI was developed in 2014 by a machine took only one of the four subjects in the er algorithm AlphaGo became the first computer black box containing 11 servers placed in the centre Chengdu-based company, Zhunxingyunxue crucially important entrance examination, the other program to beat an elite player in a full match of of a test room took two versions of the exam on Technology, using big data, artificial intelligence three being Chinese, a foreign language and one the ancient Chinese game of Go. AlphaGo won Wednesday in Chengdu, Sichuan province. The and natural language recognition technologies comprehensive test in either liberal arts or science. again last month, crushing the world’s top player, machine, called AI-MATHS, scored 105 out of 150 in from Tsinghua University.
    [Show full text]
  • 'The Young Pope'
    January 13 - 19, 2017 2 x 2" ad 2 x 2" ad M E L B O T E R S E R A B A M 2 x 3" ad A S E A R T B I R S E L O R U B R H S G O G G I N S X N I T WHY JUDE A G O B C S T R K V C A P C U C O R B A P M H E C U A X H E 2 x 3.5" ad S G D X E F T E E M E J E A D LAW IS C H E I F R E A A R D X H R S F L X R C S T R S C H M I D A A F S T I C A X L A P O D B M SMOKIN' AS R S G L J H O R B P H J O A D K E D H O D G E I T E D I D E H A X K C A P D C U H A H E B S L O R J S N G E R I C K Y V A B S K O N L E R E S A C H A 'THE R G E L E X W C E D U P I F H “Six” on History (Words in parentheses not in puzzle) Richard (Taggart) (Walton) Goggins SEAL (Team Six) Solution on page 13 Joe (Graves) (Barry) Sloane Brotherhood Alex (Caulder) (Kyle) Schmid Boko Haram YOUNG 2 x 3" ad Ricky (Ortiz) (Juan Pablo) Raba Captured 1 x 4" ad Word Search Robert (Chase) (Edwin) Hodge Rescue (Mission) © Zap2it POPE' "The Young Pope," premiering Sunday on HBO.
    [Show full text]
  • Post-Gay Television: “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” Marriage, and Bullying On
    Post-Gay Television: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Marriage, and Bullying On and Off Screen A dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Liora P. Elias IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Laurie Ouellette, Adviser June 2015 © Liora P. Elias 2015 Acknowledgements I want to thank a number of people who have played an instrumental role in the quality and completion of my dissertation. First, my adviser Dr. Laurie Ouellette whose research and teaching has inspired my thinking as well as my pedagogy. I cannot estimate how many times I have had light bulb moments in Professor Ouellette’s classroom, during her lectures, or in conversation about the direction of my project. It has truly been a pleasure being guided into academia by her. I want to thank the rest of my committee as well. Dr. Mary Vavrus, whose work has inspired my own on many an occasion and whose support through the emotional ups and downs of graduate school has been extraordinarily helpful. Professor Vavrus’ research on Army Wives inspired my “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” chapter. Her feedback has made the chapter much stronger. Dr. Catherine Squires helped clarify and develop the topic of my dissertation in its early stages. I am also grateful to Professor Squires for her close reading and comments on my chapter on bullying in schools. Dr. Ronald Greene taught The Rhetoric of Social Movements class that allowed me the opportunity to historicize gay and lesbian activism early in my PhD coursework.
    [Show full text]
  • How Jenna Elfman Found Challenge in 'Imaginary Mary'
    Looking for a way to keep up with local news, school happenings, sports events and more? 2 x 2" ad 2 x 2" ad March 24 - 30, 2017 We’ve got you covered! waxahachietx.com S L D O F A M I L Y V T T E U 2 x 3" ad S A R A L V E R R S W N A D L Your Key A M A U I B O L Y M E O O U W To Buying Y J T E P Z O A F D A L I C E How Jenna A T C H M H W U N M V N R G R and Selling! 2 x 3.5" ad S U H I A V E E V C A V X A R L C O O R L P A B E N N S C I Elfman found N F A H Y E L F V Y C K Z O K E R L R D E V M D A V A Q O I R I U N R O M N E I L M U M M W E I R R W A V J W I S A B S challenge in U N S C H N E I D E R D W E T Y D O O Z V O N F U L O O P S O M U N H I N G E D U F G R V ‘Imaginary V A H C H V I A H R T H U R A “Imaginary Mary” on ABC (Words in parentheses not in puzzle) Alice (Jenna) Elfman Independent Place your classified Mary’ Solution on page 13 Ben (Stephen) Schneider Unhinged ad in the Waxahachie Daily 2 x 3" ad Mary (Rachel) Dratch (Imaginary) Friend Light, Midlothian1 xMirror 4" ad and Andy (Nicholas) Coombe Upheaval Ellis County Trading Post! Jenna Elfman stars Word Search Dora (Matreya) Scarrwener Family Call (972) 937-3310 in “Imaginary Mary,” © Zap2it premiering Wednesday on ABC.
    [Show full text]
  • The L Word Menace: Envisioning Popular Culture As Political Tool
    THE L WORD MENACE: ENVISIONING POPULAR CULTURE AS POLITICAL TOOL Marnie Pratt A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2008 Committee: Ellen Berry, Advisor Susan Peet Graduate Faculty Representative Bill Albertini Jonathan Chambers ii ABSTRACT Ellen Berry, Advisor This dissertation interrogates the intersections that may occur between media, culture, and politics through a case study of the audiences surrounding the popular television drama The L Word. While much of the press discourse related to the series is positive, often labeling it as groundbreaking television, the viewer response is much more diverse. Many individuals are deeply invested in the show and the ability to witness visual images of queer women in mainstream popular culture. However, other viewers are unsatisfied, if not angered, by The L Word’s representations and storylines. I investigated these varied responses and the ways in which audiences have made use of the series. My methodology was mainly comprised of participatory ethnography, but was also complimented by an online survey, which generated over 100 responses. These were placed in conversation with a historical narrative of queer women’s social and political interactions with popular culture, the economic framework that has been labeled the gay marketplace, and a theoretical framework comprised of several scholars. Employing Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s theories of the closet, I argued that queer individuals may have deep investments in visual representations because of the unique nature of their oppression, which is centered on invisibility. José Esteban Muñoz’s work on disidentification presented a possible rationale for audiences that continue to interact with the show, despite its unsatisfactory aspects.
    [Show full text]
  • Settlement of the Spanish Fiction Series Abroad (2005-2017)
    RLCS, Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 73 – Pages 828 to 844 [Research] | DOI:10.4185/RLCS-2018-1284en | ISSN 1138-5820 | Year 2018 How to cite this article in bibliographies / References P Diego, M M Grandío Pérez (2018): “Settlement of the Spanish fiction series abroad (2005-2017). The case of the North American adaptation of Los Misterios de Laura from the perspective of its creators”. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 73, pp. 828 to 844. http://www.revistalatinacs.org/073paper/1284/43en.html DOI: 10.4185/RLCS-2018-1284en Settlement of the Spanish fiction series abroad (2005-2017). The case of the North American adaptation of Los misterios de Laura from the perspective of its creators Patricia Diego [CV] Professor of the Department of Culture and Audiovisual Communication of Universidad de Navarra, [email protected] María del Mar Grandío Pérez [CV] Professor of the Department of Information and Documentation of Universidad de Murcia, [email protected] Abstract Introduction. The main objective of this paper is to reflect about the success of Spanish TV adaptation abroad. This paper collects the Spanish television series that have been adapted in other markets in the time of consolidation of this phenomenon (2005-2017), and there is an analysis of the production values of the RTVE Spanish series Los Misterios de Laura (La 1, 2009-2014), adapted in USA by NBC under the title The Mysteries of Laura (NBC, 2014- 2016). Methodology. For the empirical part of this research, we have analyzed the production of Spanish TV adaptations, and an in depth interview to the Spanish writers of Los Misterios de Laura’ creators was conducted, as well as the analysis of chapters and the bible of the program.
    [Show full text]
  • Why Good Games Go Bad: Exploring Consumer Engagement in Video
    WHY GOOD GAMES GO BAD: EXPLORING CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT IN VIDEO GAME COMMUNITIES A Dissertation by KATHARINE CONNOR HODGDON Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Sherry J. Holladay Committee Members, W. Timothy Coombs Patrick Burkart Hart Blanton G. David Flint Head of Department, J. Kevin Barge December 2018 Major Subject: Communication Copyright 2018 Katharine Connor Hodgdon ABSTRACT This dissertation examines consumer perceptions of the engagement practices of the AAA video game industry, consumer perceptions of engagement with the AAA video game industry, and consumer perceptions of engagement with other consumers. Engagement is a strategic function encouraging organizational relationships with consumers. Though industries may develop approaches for engaging their consumers, these engagement practices may not match consumer perceptions and expectations., thus creating expectation gaps. Moreover, expectations of different consumer groups may be mutually exclusive. As industries continue to seek ways to engage consumers, engagement practices can present opportunities and risks. The dissertation consists of three separate studies. Study One examines self-identified casual, average, and hardcore video game consumers’ perceptions of ideal engagement with AAA publishers, attitudes toward publishers, the likelihood of engaging with AAA publishers, and their consumer behaviors. Study Two examines the promotional texts produced by AAA publishers and journalist critiques of three negatively-reviewed video games. These video games are Electronic Arts’ Mass Effect: Andromeda (2017) and Star Wars Battlefront II (2017), and, in collaboration with Sony Interactive Entertainment, Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky (2016).
    [Show full text]