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

Jonathan Gray 2017

Read the book on NYUP's Open Access Books portal

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.

ISBN(s)

9780814731949 (hardcover)
9780814731956 (paper)

Subject

Citable Link

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A satirical video from Onion News Network between newsroom anchor Michael Bannon and reporter Rorey Covey, discussing the 'controversy' around Paramount Pictures' plan to adapt the beloved Iron Man trailer into a full, feature-length motion picture.

Iron Man trailer Onion News Network Story, video

From Introduction: Film, Television, and Off-Screen Studies

A satirical video from Onion News Network about plans to adapt the Iron Man trailer into a feature-length film.

A video trailer for The Simpsons Game from 2007, parodying WWII war game trailers like those for Medal of Honor, in which various Simpsons characters fly planes, drop bombs, and shoot guns.

Medal of Homer advertisement for The Simpsons Game, video

From Introduction: Film, Television, and Off-Screen Studies

Medal of Homer, a trailer for The Simpsons Game that parodies WWII video game trailers.

A video trailer for The Simpsons Game from 2007, parodying Grand Theft Auto video game trailers, showing scenes of various Simpsons characters committing criminal acts while the song "Rock You Like a Hurricane" by Scorpions plays in the background.

Grand Theft Scratchy advertisement for The Simpsons Game, video

From Introduction: Film, Television, and Off-Screen Studies

Grand Theft Scratchy, a trailer for The Simpsons Game that parodies Grand Theft Auto video game trailers.

A video trailer for The Simpsons Game from 2007, parodying EverQuest video game trailers, depicting various Simpsons characters in a fantasy world fighting dragons and magical creatures.

Neverquest advertisement for The Simpsons Game, video

From Introduction: Film, Television, and Off-Screen Studies

Neverquest, a trailer for The Simpsons Game that parodies EverQuest video game trailers.

A video trailer for The Simpsons Game, parodying Pokémon and other Japanese games, depicting Homer and Lisa Simpson in a Japanese cartoon-style land, fighting various enemies.

Super Happy Fun Fun advertisement for The Simpsons Game, video

From Introduction: Film, Television, and Off-Screen Studies

Super Happy Fun Fun, a trailer for The Simpsons Game that parodies Japanese-style video game trailers.

A mock movie trailer that uses scenes from Stanley Kubrick's classic horror film The Shining starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd and reframes it as being a feel-good, father-son bonding movie called Shining instead of The Shining. The voiceover introduces Jack Torrance as "a writer looking for inspiration" and Danny as "a kid looking for a dad," all while Peter Gabriel's upbeat song "Solsbury Hill" plays in the background. Shots show a woman kissing a man, Jack Nicholson's character playing with a tennis ball, the family driving together in a car, and other such family-oriented scenes.

Mock trailer for Shining, video

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

A mock trailer for the 'feel-good comedy,' Shining, reframing the classic horror film.

A mock movie trailer that takes scenes from Jerome Robbins' and Robert Wise's classic musical West Side Story and reframes it as being a zombie thriller using quick shots of dancers jumping, running, and crying to look like zombie attacks.

Mock trailer for West Side Story, video

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

A mock trailer for a zombie-fied version of the classic musical, West Side Story.

The American trailer for the film The Sweet Hereafter in which images from the film flash past (snowy mountains, small town, various characters, etc.) while a voiceover states: "In a town where no one is a stranger, in a place where everyone feels like family, something has happened that will change their lives forever. Now, one man must find the truth. But who can you trust when everyone has a secret? Who can you blame when no one is innocent?"

The Sweet Hereafter, trailer 1, video

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

The American version of the trailer for the film The Sweet Hereafter.

The Canadian trailer for the film The Sweet Hereafter in which images from the film flash past, this time including shots of a school bus filled with children and then shots of the same school bus empty and destroyed. Rather than a voiceover, this trailer uses title cards that read "Sometimes the past can't be forgotten. Sometimes justice can't be found. And sometimes the truth is just the beginning."

The Sweet Hereafter, trailer 2, video

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

The Canadian version of the trailer for the film The Sweet Hereafter.

The opening credit sequence to the animated show The Simpsons. First, the show's title appears through an opening in the clouds. Then the shot settles in the fictional town, Springfield, zooming in through the window of a school where Bart Simpson is writing lines on a blackboard (this time the lines read "I will not pledge allegiance to Bart") until a bell rings and he leaves the classroom, zooming out of the front door of the school on his skateboard. The shot cuts to the inside of a Nuclear Power Plant where Homer Simpson is wearing a suit and using tongs to handle a stick of plutonium, which, after a bell rings, he drops and it falls into the back pocket of his suit as he leaves the room. Next we see Marge Simpson reading a magazine in the checkout line at a supermarket where her baby, Maggie, is traveling down the conveyer belt at which point the supermarket checkout worker accidently "rings her up," puts her in a shopping bag, and puts the bag in the cart. Maggie pops her head out of the shopping bag and Marge looks relieved. In the next shot we see Lisa Simpson playing saxophone at a band rehearsal, but as her conductor calls for the students to stop playing Lisa instead plays a solo and slowly dancing backwards out of the classroom door. Next we see Homer driving home in his car, reaching down the back of his shirt, removing the stick of plutonium and throwing it out the window, at which point Bart zooms by on his skateboard, rushes past people, and illegally skates through a crosswalk as a policeman yells at him. A car then drives erratically through that same intersection and we see a closeup of baby Maggie at a steering wheel. As the shot zooms out, however, we see that Maggie is only pretending to drive, whereas Marge is, in fact, driving the car. They both honk the horns on their respective steering wheels. Homer now pulls up in the driveway of a house, opens the garage door remotely, Bart rides his skateboard over the roof of Homer's car, Homer gets out and slams his car door, Lisa zooms by on her bicycle, almost hitting Homer, and then Marge's car pulls into the driveway as Homer runs out of the way, screaming, trying to avoid being hit. They all run into the living room to go sit on the couch, but, in this particular opening sequence, the couch is gone and they all look around confused. The shot then moves to an animated television screen which reads "Created by Matt Groening," and then "Developed by James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Sam Simon."

The Simpsons opening credits, video

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

One of many opening credit sequences to The Simpsons, in this case, the twist being that the couch is missing from the very end.

The opening credit sequence to the show Dexter. The screen starts black with white letters that read "Showtime presents," at which point the shot changes to the image of a mosquito crawling along a hairy arm. A hand slaps and kills the mosquito and a man's face appears in the background, grinning maliciously. The word "Dexter" then appears in red letters on a cream background, with drops of what appear to be blood spreading across the page. The shot changes to a blurred image of a man in front of a mirror as actors' names begin to appear on screen. We then see the man's oily finger move down his stubbled face, after which he begins to shave, nicking himself, a line of blood falling down his cheek and landing in the white sink. The man then uses a piece of paper to dab at his cut face and the blood soaks into the paper. The shot changes to a close-up of a knife cutting through meet (what turns out to be bacon, but it is unclear at first). The meet is cut, lifted, and dropped into a frying pan to be cooked. The shot changes to a close-up of a man's mouth chewing the bacon. We then see an egg being broken and cooked in a pan and then the egg being cut up on a plate and some sort of red sauce dripping onto the plate. The shot then changes to a close-up of coffee beans being ground. The man then uses a french press to brew his coffee. The shot then changes to a close-up of a blood orange being cut in front of a red background. The blood orange is then squeezed, looking very meaty and bloody. We then see dental floss being tightly wrapped around the man's fingers and the man flossing his teeth. The man then ties his shoes in a violent, creepy manner and then puts a white shirt tightly over his face. Finally, we see the man's entire face as he looks into the camera. He then locks his door, walks out of his house wearing a polo shirt and khaki pants.

Dexter opening credits, video

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

Opening credits for the television crime drama, Dexter.

The Sopranos opening credits, video

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

Opening credits for the television drama, The Sopranos.

A compilation video of the opening credit sequences of 7 seasons of the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In each opening credit sequence the main actors/characters in the show are seen first in a close-up of their faces and then fighting various evil characters as the actors', producers', creators', and other workers' names flash across the screen. Notable is the way in which new characters' from other seasons are added into the original opening credit sequence seamlessly and how newer shots of the characters are used as the seasons progress.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer opening credits, video

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

A compilation of seven seasons worth of Buffy the Vampire Slayer opening credits.

A short clip from the documentary "J.R.R. Tolkien: Origins of Middle Earth" that cuts between various old photographs of Tolkien and his friends/contemporaries and the Eagle and Child Pub in Oxford, England and the talking-head style interviews of Rayner Unwin, Tolkien's publisher, and another scholar.

J.R.R. Tolkien: Origins of Middle Earth, clip 1, video

From Chapter 3: Bonus Materials: Digital Auras and Authors

Musical cues in the J. R. R. Tolkien: Origins of Middle Earth documentary draw from the film's score to elide Tolkien's and the Fellowship's respective journeys.

A short clip of a talking-head style interview from the documentary "J.R.R. Tolkien: Origins of Middle Earth."

J.R.R. Tolkien: Origins of Middle Earth, clip 2, video

From Chapter 3: Bonus Materials: Digital Auras and Authors

Musical cues in the J. R. R. Tolkien: Origins of Middle Earth documentary draw from the film's score to elide Tolkien's and the Fellowship's respective journeys.

In this film clip from the movie Batman Begins Bruce Wayne (played by actor Christian Bale) and Ducard (played by actor Liam Neeson) are fighting on an iced-over lake in the mountains using swords. Ducard knocks Bruce Wayne down multiple times as Bruce Wayne fails to adequately defend himself until finally he succeeds in knocking Ducard down and Ducard is pleased.

Clip from Batman Begins, video

From Chapter 4: Under a Long Shadow: Sequels, Prequels, Pre-Texts, Intertexts

Bruce Wayne is laid low and punished by Ducard in Batman Begins, paying for the crimes of Batman and Robin while earning his right to be Batman.

This video edits together footage from the Lord of the Rings trilogy of a beautiful blonde-haired character, "Éowyn," and her uncle, an older long-haired character, "Théoden." The video shows many tender moments as she tends to her uncle, leaning over his dying body, stroking his old, wrinkled hand, bringing him drink, etc. The video also shows her mourning her dead brother and various scenes in which she is alone and upset. We also see her preparing to battle, unsheathing a sword, riding into battle, and killing another character by thrusting the sword into his helmet. The video ends with a shot of a falling white flower.

Winter, video

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

Winter by Wolfling and Magpie.

This video edits together footage from the Star Wars films that involve Obi-Wan Kenobi's relationship with both Luke and Anakin Skywalker. Such clips involve both a young Obi-Wan and the older version of him talking and fighting with Anakin (later Darth Vader), Luke, and other villains. There is also a compilation of death scenes from several of the films.

Sick Cycle Carousel, video

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

Sick Cycle Carousel by Wolfling.

This video combines many clips from the end of the first season of the television show Dexter. Important clips include a man in a hazmat suit entering a hotel room that is covered in blood, he then falls down and splashes into a pool of blood on the floor, multiple people being murdered, Dexter solving criminal cases, various disembodied Barbie-doll body parts found in random places (a drawer attached to a set of keys, in a fridge, etc.), someone's chopped off fingers, a child covered in blood screaming and crying, male friendship, and blood falling as rain.

Blood Fugue, video

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

Blood Fugue by Luminosity.

This video combines moving-sketch animation and film clips from famous movies and television shows to play with movement, colors, and video. The clips come from movies and shows such as The Matrix, Startrek, Pirates of the Caribbean, Batman, Lord of the Rings, V for Vendetta, and others.

Us, video

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

Us by Lim.