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  2. Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts

Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts

Jonathan Gray
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It is virtually impossible to watch a movie or TV show without preconceived notions because of the hype that precedes them, while a host of media extensions guarantees them a life long past their air dates. An onslaught of information from print media, trailers, internet discussion, merchandising, podcasts, and guerilla marketing, we generally know something about upcoming movies and TV shows well before they are even released or aired. The extras, or “paratexts,” that surround viewing experiences are far from peripheral, shaping our understanding of them and informing our decisions about what to watch or not watch and even how to watch before we even sit down for a show.

Show Sold Separately gives critical attention to this ubiquitous but often overlooked phenomenon, examining paratexts like DVD bonus materials for The Lord of the Rings, spoilers for Lost, the opening credits of The Simpsons, Star Wars actions figures, press reviews for Friday Night Lights, the framing of Batman Begins, the videogame of The Thing, and the trailers for The Sweet Hereafter. Plucking these extra materials from the wings and giving them the spotlight they deserve, Jonathan Gray examines the world of film and television that exists before and after the show.

  • Cover
  • Title Page
  • Copyright
  • Dedication
  • Contents
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction: Film, Television, and Off-Screen Studies
  • 1 From Spoilers to Spinoffs: A Theory of Paratexts
  • 2 Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings
  • 3 Bonus Materials: Digital Auras and Authors
  • 4 Under a Long Shadow: 117 Sequels, Prequels, Pre-Texts, and Intertexts
  • 5 Spoiled and Mashed Up: Viewer-Created Paratexts
  • 6 In the World, Just Off Screen: Toys and Games
  • Conclusion: “In the DNA”: Creating across Paratexts
  • Notes
  • Index
  • About the Author
Citable Link
Published: 2017
Publisher: New York University Press
ISBN(s)
  • 9780814731949 (hardcover)
  • 9780814731956 (paper)
Subject
  • Cultural Studies
  • Media Studies

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  • Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings15
  • Chapter 3: Bonus Materials: Digital Auras and Authors4
  • Chapter 5: Spoiled and Mashed Up: Viewer-Created Paratexts2
  • Chapter 6: In the World, Just Off Screen: Toys and Games2
  • Conclusion: "In the DNA": Creating Across Paratexts2

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A poster for the film, Walking Tall, depicting actor The Rock, a large, muscular man, dressed in dark clothing and holding a large piece of wood in his right hand with the tag line "One man will stand up for what's right."

Walking Tall advertisement, image

From Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings

A poster for the film Walking Tall featuring The Rock. Design by Diane Reynolds-Nash.

A film poster for the film, Baby Mama, with actress Tina Fey looking skeptically at actress Amy Poehler, who is wearing pigtails and drinking a soda, with the tag line "Would you put your eggs... in this basket?" The poster also lists other actors in the film, including Greg Kinnear, Dax Shepard, Steve Martin, and Sigourney Weaver.

Baby Mama advertisement, image

From Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings

A poster for the film Baby Mama, featuring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Design by Crew Creative Advertising. Photography by Mary Ellen Matthews.

A film poster for the 2010 remake of the film Nightmare on Elm Street, with a close-up of the ominous character Freddy Krueger, reflecting firelight with a large claw-like metal hand with knives for fingers. The numbers "2010" and the website "www.nightmareonelmstreet.com" appear in red at the bottom of the poster.

Nightmare On Elm Street advertisement, image

From Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings

A poster for the 2010 remake of the film Nightmare On Elm Street. Design by Ignition and LA. Photography by Peter Tangen.

A film poster for the film Bachelor Party, showing a group of seven men coming through a door overflowing with streamers, carrying beer and champagne, who see a woman's leg in fishnet tights, a red garter, and black heels with the tag line "Shocking. Shameless. Sinful. Wicked. And the party hasn't even started." Underneath the title of the film is the additional tag line, "A man's tradition every woman should know about."

Bachelor Party advertisement, image

From Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings

A poster for the film Bachelor Party. Design by B.D. Fox Independent.

A film poster for the film Serendipity, of a man and a woman (John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale) embracing in front of a city-scape superimposed with an image of a clock with the tag line "Destiny with a sense of humor" at the top of the poster and "Can once in a lifetime happen twice?" at the bottom.

Serendipity advertisement, image

From Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings

A poster for the film Serendipity, featuring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale.

A film poster for the film Home Alone, of a young blonde boy in a red sweater (Macaulay Culkin) holding his hands to his face, yelling, with two men in black learing over his shoulders and the tag line "But don't worry. He Cooks. He Cleans. He kicks some butt" above the movie title and the line "A family comedy without the family" underneath the movie title.

Home Alone advertisement, image

From Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings

A poster for the film Home Alone, featuring Macaulay Culkin.

A film poster for Steven Spielberg's film E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial, of a child's index finger touching a scaly alien's index finger with the starry night sky behind them and the planet earth below them with the taglines "His adventure on earth" and "He is afraid. He is totally alone. And he's 3,000,000 light years from home."

E.T. advertisement, image

From Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings

A poster for the film E.T.. Design by Intralink Film Graphic Design. Artwork by John Alvin.

A film poster for the film Jaws, with the words "JAWS" in large red letters at the top and a young woman swimming across the ocean beneath the letters. A large, great white shark, jaws open, comes up at her from below with the caption "The terrifying motion picture from the terrifying No. 1 best seller." The poster lists the actors in the film, including Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss.

Jaws advertisement, image

From Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings

A poster for the film Jaws, featuring the classic illustration of the great white shark. Artwork by Roger Kastel.

A film poster for the film The Blair Witch Project, of a woman's scared, watery eyes in front of a black forest with the words in white "In October 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary...A year later their footage was found." On the bottom of the poster in white letters below the woman's face are the words "The Blair Witch Project."

The Blair Witch Project advertisement, image

From Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings

A poster for the film The Blair Witch Project.

A photo of an advertisement on a New York City subway train that says in capital purple letters "You and the woman in red have a shared secret." Beneath those words is the website "u-r-connected.com." Another ad on the subway features the tag line "Everyone is Connected. From JJ Abrams, Producer of Lost" with a graphic of 6 degrees beneath that includes images of 6 actors. Below are the words "Six Degrees. Premieres Thursday September 21 10PM. ABC 7."

Six Degrees advertisement 1, image

From Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings

An advertisement for the television show, Six Degrees on the New York City subway.

A photo of an advertisement on a New York City subway train that says in capital purple letters "The man by the door will someday be your boss." Beneath those words is the website "u-r-connected.com."

Six Degrees advertisement 2, image

From Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings

An advertisement for the television show Six Degrees on the New York City subway.

A screen grab from the Six Degrees website with the words "The guy at the coffee shop will soon be your good friend" written in white letters on top of a blurry, purple image of various people hurrying along a city street.

Six Degrees teaser 1, image

From Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings

Screen grab from the Six Degrees teaser website.

A screen grab from the Six Degrees website with the words "Tell us a little bit about yourself and discover a new connection" written in white letters on top of a blurry, purple image of various people hurrying along a city street.

Six Degrees teaser 2, image

From Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings

Screen grab from the Six Degrees teaser website.

A screen grab from the Six Degrees website with the words "Question one Who are you? I am my Work. I am the sum of my experience. I am my future. I am my contribution" written in white letters on top of a blurry, purple image of various people in downtown New York City on the corner of Fifth Avenue.

Six Degrees teaser 3, image

From Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings

Screen grab from the Six Degrees teaser website.

A screen grab from the Six Degrees website that shows a small screen with a partially played "character video" next to an image of a woman dressed in business clothes, arms crossed, with a brown pontyail, looking into the camera. The Six Degrees logo is at the top of the image, following by the tagline "Everyone is connected." At the bottom of the image there are 5 other actors, two women and three men, and the words "Make another connection."

Six Degrees teaser 4, image

From Chapter 2: Coming Soon! Hype, Intros, and Textual Beginnings

Screen grab from the Six Degrees teaser website.

A crowded webpage offering the following options/sections: a "Free Profile" section which states "Enter information below to get started and get a free diet profile," a "The Biggest Loser Club" section which states "Be part of the NBC Phenomenon" and shows various other club members (both show contestants and others) advertising how much weight they lost and thanking The Biggest Loser for their success, a "What you get" section that lists the benefits of becoming a club member (including daily meal plans, personal progress journal, newsletter, and more), and an "Exclusive Video" section with a video ready to play titled "Say 'Basta' to Pasta!" The main colors used are The Biggest Loser brand blue and yellow.

The Biggest Loser's website, image

From Chapter 3: Bonus Materials: Digital Auras and Authors

A page from The Biggest Loser's website.

A DVD box set made to look like two framed pictures, one of three cloaked travelers walking through a wooded glen towards a figure shrouded in mist and the other of a hand-drawn map featuring mountain ranges and many circuitous roads and dashed lines.

The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers box set, image

From Chapter 3: Bonus Materials: Digital Auras and Authors

The box set for The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers Platinum Series Special Extended Edition DVD box set

A menu screen elision overlaid on top of a hand-drawn map showing where in New Zealand certain aspects of the fictional "Middle Earth" were filmed. The menu allows the watcher to choose "Play all," or to pick from the following options: Emyn Muil, The Dead Marshes, Rohan, Edoras, Ithilien Fangorn Forest, Helm's Deep, or Main Menu.

A Two Towers DVD, image

From Chapter 3: Bonus Materials: Digital Auras and Authors

A Two Towers DVD elision of New Zealand and Middle Earth showing where in New Zealand certain aspects of the fictional "Middle Earth" were filmed.

A split-screen image, the top of which features actor Andy Serkis crouching in front of a rocky background wearing a white body suit with his face exposed in a Gollum-esque expression. The bottom image shows the CGI-created Gollum character who looks remarkably like Andy Serkis.

Lord of the Rings Split-Screen DVD Feature, image

From Chapter 3: Bonus Materials: Digital Auras and Authors

A split-screen feature shows how Andy Serkis's performance determined the CGI Gollum's performance, further suggesting that special effects following human ability, not vice versa.

A page from the Wikiality website dedicated to Fox News. The page includes a lot of satirical, fictitious information about Fox News, including describing Fox News as "Our Leader's Glorious Official Republican Government News Network," stating that it was founded "one day after Rupert Murdoch became a US citizen," and that the CEO is "the holy ghost." The Wikiality logo also features a circle made out of puzzle pieces that form Stephen Colbert's face.

Wikiality website, image

From Chapter 5: Spoiled and Mashed Up: Viewer-Created Paratexts

A page from the Wikiality website featuring Fox News.

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