Lost vs Arrow: transmedia strategies to create a connected audience MA Thesis Television and Cross-Media Culture Michella Wessels, 10003156 Jonckerhof 4, Nijmegen 0622900630 [email protected] First Reader: Toni Pape Second Reader: Sudeep Dasgupta 25-6-’15, Universiteit van Amsterdam 22.691 words Index 1. Introduction_________________________________________________________________3 2. Strategies to create an connected audience________________________________________6 2.1. The connected audience_______________________________________________ 8 2.2. Transmedia strategies_________________________________________________12 2.3. Social media strategies as transmedia strategies____________________________16 3. Lost: the narrative strategies for fan engagement___________________________________22 3.1. Narrative mysteries and gaps___________________________________________24 3.2. Non-chronological narration___________________________________________ 28 3.3. Cliffhangers_________________________________________________________32 3.4. Parallel realities and possible worlds_____________________________________ 33 4. Arrow: the (online) strategies for fan engagement __________________________________37 4.1. The narrative strategies _______________________________________________ 37 4.2. The online strategies _________________________________________________ 41 4.3. Connected through Facebook___________________________________________43 4.3.1. Activating fan creativity__________________________________________ 44 4.3.2. Connecting with the audience_____________________________________ 47 4.3.3. Promoting through Facebook______________________________________48 5. Conclusion__________________________________________________________________ 51 6. References__________________________________________________________________ 53 1. Introduction Henry Jenkins introduced the term transmedia storytelling. He meant it as a 'creation of a storyworld through multiple documents belonging to various media' (Jenkins, 2006). From this moment on transmedia storytelling is a commonly used term within the television field and is understood as extensions of a narrative across different media. But as we live in a world full of convergence between different media, it is not only about stories (anymore). The relation between television and other media is based on so much more than only extending the narrative. The function of transmedia extensions of a certain television program, is to either reach a broader audience or to activate the existing audience. This audience does not necessarily consist of viewers who watch a show because of the narrative. A viewer, for example, can watch a show because his or her favourite actor plays a big role in it. If we take this example, a certain appearance of this actor on other media can form a transmedia strategy to attract viewers to watch the show. The narrative here, roughly speaking, might be just a detail that comes with the show. With my research I would like to give attention to an understanding of this concept of transmedia adjusted to the cross-media era that is taking place nowadays by showing that the understanding of it as transmedia 'storytelling' is too restrictive and that it should be considered a much broader concept. For this I will use the television series Lost (ABC, 2004-2011) and Arrow (CW, 2011-2015) and two of their connected online platforms as my corpus. Lost is striking with its complex narrative that is deeply connected to the activity of viewers on different media. By looking at this show, in connection to two related online platforms: Lostpedia and the official Facebook page of the show, I can set out how storytelling can be an important aspect of transmedia strategies. However, it is not directly about extending the story on different media, more about the activity amongst viewers that is created through the storytelling strategies within the show itself. In comparison to this, Arrow is a series with an active fan community, but where the storytelling might not be that important for creating this activity. To make the same connections as with Lost, I will look at this show in connection to Arrow & The Flash Wiki and the Facebook page of lead actor Stephen Amell. I will look at how the strategies to create fan activity with Arrow are more focussed on social media. With this, I want to position the broader concept of transmedia strategies within the field of television and the active audience. I am proving my understanding of transmedia strategies by asking the question: how do the transmedia storytelling strategies of Lost compared to the social media strategies of Arrow represent a transformation in strategies to create fan activity with television shows in general? My research can be innovative by showing a transformation or difference in the strategies to create fan activity with television series and in this way setting out a new and broader understanding of 3 transmedia strategies. Why these particular case studies form my corpus, will get more clear in the next paragraph. To see how the concept of transmedia strategies is broader than described mostly in theories, I will first set out my own understanding of the concept based on other theories. I will do this by looking at the main goal of transmedia strategies: creating an active audience. I will describe the different understandings of active audiences and how different developments have changed these understandings through time. Following this, I will describe how transmedia strategies are used as a term and how I will use the concept in my research. With my understanding of transmedia strategies then, taking the developments of active audiences into account, I will analyze the transmedia world of Lost. I will look at how these series has used transmedia strategies to create a certain viewer activity. This series is relevant here, because it can be seen as one of the first series which turned the narrative into 'a fictional brand'. The storyworld of Lost is extended on so many different media, that it has already been a very popular case study for many researchers. What I will focus on, however, is not particularly how the show uses a form of branding, but what kind of process there is taking place that extends the story to other media and at the same time makes the viewers active on other media. Because Lost can be seen as a 'traditional' case of transmedia storytelling, and because I would like to see how my more contemporary understanding of transmedia strategies might be applied, I will compare these findings to the transmedia strategies around a more recent series: Arrow. This show seems to have a comparable amount of fan activity as Lost, but is not particularly characterized by the same transmedia extensions as Lost. What is striking about this show is that the fans of the show have set up similar platforms as the fans of Lost, a wiki page. To see how this show has made their viewers so active in a different way than Lost did, I will look at the particular transmedia strategies this show used. I will first look if there are strategies recognized within the narrative that create this activity, which I will do in comparison to the narrative strategies found in Lost. Then I will look at the narrative structure reflected on the wiki page, again in comparison to Lost, to establish compatibility. What is striking about Arrow is that the use of social media seems to have much to do with the popularity of the show and the activity of the viewers. One of the most popular social media pages connected to the show is the personal Facebook page of lead actor Stephen Amell. Therefore I will look at this page and see how there are strategies recognized that are causing the viewer activity and how these strategies differ from the transmedia strategies used around Lost. With this corpus, I can show how my understanding of transmedia really works. Next to this, it will show how there can be a big difference in using transmedia strategies to eventually create the same amount of fan activity. I will also look how the developments within the media and the television audience might have something to do with this difference, which I can feed back into the 4 earlier described theories about the active audience and transmedia strategies. I think in most theories about transmedia strategies evolving television, there still is a one-sided view on what transmedia strategies really are. Many theorists point at actual transmedia products that extend the narrative when talking about this concept. With this research I want to show that the concept of transmedia strategies should be understood within a much broader field, it is not only about extending the storyworld, it is much more about extending the 'playing field' of the viewers. 5 2. Strategies to create a connected audience If we look at the understanding of television in 2015, it is no longer the simple piece of furniture that shows a program on its screen at a certain time and turns to an image of 'snow' when there is no program being aired. The entertainment experience is changing, and with this the television experience in particular. We can speak of a convergence culture where all different forms of media are connected to each other. With this, not only the different media are more connected to each other, the viewer is also more connected to the media. A television viewer is not limited to a remote control anymore, as the only way of controlling their own viewing experience. Through