Transmedia characters: additionality and cohesion in transfictional heroes

Pearson, Roberta

Abstract

This chapter offers some tentative hypotheses concerning producers’ strategies for additionality and cohesion for transfictional characters in different types of fictional storyworlds, using as its case studies Sherlock Holmes, Batman, and Star Trek. It argues that (1) additionality does not necessarily imply a narratively meaningful expansion—that is, one that enlarges or reworks a transfiction’s previously established settings, events and characters, and (2) cohesion depends upon points of contact between the addition and the transfiction, but there is a spectrum between strongly and weakly cohesive transfictions. In addition, the chapter presents a taxonomy of transfictional characters and worlds.

Citation

Pearson, R. (2018). Transmedia characters: additionality and cohesion in transfictional heroes. In M. Freeman, & R. Rampazzo Gambarato (Eds.), The Routledge companion to transmedia studies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351054904-17

• Online Publication Date: Oct 8, 2018
• Publication Date: Sep 25, 2018
• Deposit Date: Oct 12, 2020
• Publisher: Routledge
• Book Title: The Routledge companion to transmedia studies
• Chapter Number: 16
• ISBN: 9781138483439
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351054904-17
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1285597
• Publisher URL: https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781351054904-17