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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 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.

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ISBN(s)
  • 9780814731956 (paper)
  • 9780814731949 (hardcover)
Subject
  • Media Studies
  • Cultural Studies
Citable Link
  • Table of Contents

  • Resources

  • Stats

  • 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

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This screen grab from the website for the show Heroes offers many options to travel to different areas of the site. The main section of the screen grab is dedicated to a section titled "Evolutions," which includes an image of 4 characters in a luminous bubble and the text "Go beyond your television screen and take the next leap foward with Heroes Evolutions. Dive into the Heroes universe with interactive mysteries, games, puzzles, character websites, and new stories you will only discover in the world of Heroes Evolutions. Online, offline, and on your phone, Heroes Evolutions brings the adventure into every corner of your world." Other links seen in this screen grab include "Heroes: Istory Interactive Series!" "Full Episodes," "Heroes Wiki," "Graphic Novels," "Heroes Rewind," and "Evolutions Official Sites."

Heroes "Evolutions" website, image

From Conclusion: "In the DNA": Creating Across Paratexts

The Heroes "Evolutions" website offers a portal into some of the show's many transmedia platforms.

This 5 panel, top to bottom, image shows, in the first panel, a woman's hand on top of a series of black and beige maps and graphs with two text blocks, which read, in order, "Once Bennet sent me the specs on the satellite, I heard it--faintly whispering. It was encrypted. It was lousy with security, passwords and firewalls." In the second panel we see a woman's face from a window on a train. She has long brown hair and a thin, glowing face. Two texts blocks read, in order, "I had to go where I could talk to it. Where I could bypass the security." In the third panel we see a city street with various neon signs covered in what seem to be Chinese characters and a woman with short, dark hair and a leather jacket carrying a backpack. The text box reads "Like the arctic tundra, there are places where communications are easier." In the fourth panel another dark-haired woman is sitting on a small boat floating on a lake with a mountain and pasture behind her. The text box reads "And I had to make sure that this satellite heard my orders loud and clear." In the fifth panel we see a close-up of a woman's face, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, against a red, cloudy background. The text box reads "And for that, I'd travel as far as I would need to go..."

Heroes graphic novel, image

From Conclusion: "In the DNA": Creating Across Paratexts

A page from the Heroes graphic novel following the adventures of the transmediated hero Hana Gitelman.

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