Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 7-13-2020 10:00 AM The Networked Fictional Narrative: Seriality and Adaptations in Popular Television and New Media. Nandita Dutta, The University of Western Ontario Supervisor: Suárez, Juan Luis, The University of Western Ontario A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Hispanic Studies © Nandita Dutta 2020 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Digital Humanities Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Other Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature Commons, and the Television Commons Recommended Citation Dutta, Nandita, "The Networked Fictional Narrative: Seriality and Adaptations in Popular Television and New Media." (2020). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 7287. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/7287 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract From creating elaborate fan-worlds to driving large amounts of revenue into the economy, popular culture has proved to be the motivation behind, as well a reflection of, large scale acquisitions of conglomerates that have governed popular interests since the mid-20th Century. If its movements across geographic space, time, and media can be traced, popular cultural production is an apt subject of research into how a cultural entity is conceptualised, transported and appropriated within another. In this study, adaptations of fictional products in the 20th and 21st Centuries are considered as manifestations of neobaroque forms of cultural production and consumption. Some key questions that drive this research are: what makes a product popular; what are the significant markers of its popularity; who is the audience, and how does the product reach its audience; how does a product evolve from the original to its adapted and vastly popular entity; and, what does this evolution entail? Online platforms like Wikidata.org and Reddit serve as resources for case studies in popular television, namely Betty, la fea and its adaptations, and the Star Trek franchise. Angela Ndalianis’ neobaroque theories of seriality that have emerged from synergies of modern economics and cultural production form the theoretical base for my thesis. The evolution of a story into different cultures, media formats, and indeed, hybrid formations as a new type of narrative, are explored as the multiple ways adaptation and seriality occur. The gap between the producer and consumer of a cultural entity is seen to blur, with every instance of popular cultural production explored here. i Keywords Neobaroque. Seriality. Adaptation. Television. Film. New Media. Star Trek. Yo soy Betty, la fea. Reddit. ii Dedication To Lt. Gen. Harish Chandra Dutta, PVSM – stalwart of the Dutta family and loving Dada Ji – who believed in my writing before I ever did. Thank you. iii Acknowledgments No words are enough to truly convey my gratitude, but I would briefly like to thank everyone that has kindly given me their support over the years, and without whom I would not be where I am today. With thanks to, My professors in Delhi University – Vijaya Venkataraman, Maneesha Taneja, Vibha Maurya, Rama Paul, Perry Zutshi, Pablo Brotons, Maribel Diaz -- who first showed me a window to the larger world and encouraged creativity in my higher education. My supervisor, Professor Juan Luis Suarez, from whom I learned that no idea was unfathomable and that approaching the challenge was already a step in achieving a solution. Your fearless drive and endless capacity for knowledge are an inspiration, and have changed my way of thinking. My professors and mentors at Western University – Ana Garcia-Allen, Alena Robin, Angela Borchert, Yasaman Rafat, Victoria Wolff, and Sylvia Kontra. My examining committee members – Nandi Bhatia, Constanza Burucua, Rafael Montano and Michelle Leigh Farrell. You challenge me to be better, and have instilled a higher degree of professionalism and skill that I bring to my work today. Thank you for all the opportunities, the mentorship, and the friendship. My amazing friends from back home and the Dutta-Shahpuri families who are in my heart and on my WhatsApp every day. You are the little piece of home that I take with me everywhere and I cherish you for that. iv My first friends in Canada – Kuna, Mara, Nav, Tipper – who taught me so much and quickly became like sisters to me. It has been an amazing journey sharing our lives and watching each other grow. My friends and coworkers in London city – especially, Dorothy Downs – who inspire me to take on new challenges and open my world to incredible possibilities. You have been so welcoming and patient, and I appreciate your openness to my half-cooked ideas and your guidance. My powerhouse friends from the CulturePlex Lab and Western University, who are more like family now – Itziri, David, Aikaterini, Ben, Adriana, Antonio, Javi, Elika, Jamil, Roberto, Ramanpreet, Chiquita, Jimena, Adam, Diana, the Anas, and last but certainly not the least, my personal life guru, Natalia. Thank you for including me in your lives and for dealing with my daily dramatics. You will never get rid of me. My dear friend Sanstav, who is always in my heart and an inspiration to me every single day. My beautiful parents, Sarita and Subhash – truly the Vikrams to my Betaal, and my best friends in the whole world. Thank you for your endless patience, guidance, giggles and paranthas. And now, on to our next adventure. v Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ i Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... ix List of Appendices ............................................................................................................ xii Introduction ...................................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................. 1 1 Neobaroque, Narrative, and Evolving Media Ecology .................................................. 1 1.1 Early Mass Culture and Popular Production ........................................................... 3 1.2 Neobaroque Aesthetics and Popular Patterns of Consumerism ............................ 10 1.3 Popular fictive worlds: Television and Narrative ................................................. 13 1.4 Conventional Scholarship on Adaptations ............................................................ 15 1.5 Neobaroque Seriality in Popular Television ......................................................... 27 1.6 New Media, Convergence, and Cultural production ............................................ 33 1.7 Hybrid Narratives - Fan-created Content .............................................................. 38 Chapter 2 ........................................................................................................................... 46 2 The Neobaroque Within A Cross-cultural Adaptation: The Case Of Betty ................. 46 2.1 The Worlds of Betty.............................................................................................. 48 2.2 The Neobaroque-ness of Betty .............................................................................. 67 2.3 Marketing and the Audience ................................................................................. 68 vi 2.4 Serialization and mass production ........................................................................ 72 2.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 83 Chapter 3 ........................................................................................................................... 85 3 Transmedia Adaptations as NeoBaroque Seriality: The Franchise and Phenomenon of Star Trek: ...................................................................................................................... 85 3.1 Star Trek: the Franchise and the Phenomenon ..................................................... 85 3.2 The subculture of Star Trek .................................................................................. 88 3.3 Criticism of the term subculture in connection with Star Trek ............................. 90 3.4 The fandom of Star Trek - "The Mother of All Fandoms" ................................... 93 3.5 Star Trek: A networked fictional narrative ........................................................... 99 3.5.1 Methodology ............................................................................................