The Extratextuals

I just finished reading Michael Kackman’s piece at Flow on quality television, melodrama, and complex narratives. One of his underlying points is that in the stampede to discuss quality television, we need to be very careful to consider what else is complex and high quality, not just The Wire, Lost, and friends.

Now, I love those two shows. But my sense is that I couldn’t enjoy them this semester. Meanwhile, though I intended to watch my way through Battlestar Galactica or Deadwood this summer, I ultimately didn’t. And while I realize that this isn’t quite what Michael was talking about, that’s because I’ve become totally obsessed with television’s grandest melodrama and complex narrative going: the election.

Talk about transmedia, this interest has overflowed into almost every spare moment on my computer, as I’ve trekked from FiveThirtyEight.com to various other blogs, to news sites, to poll trackers, and onwards. I’ve rarely engaged in creative fan exploits in my adult life (childhood and Star Wars is a whole other issue), but my computer desktop is filled with Excel spreadsheets related to the various polls and poll composites out there, some of which I update often.

Meanwhile, I haven’t been able to concentrate on television serial narratives. I’ve found myself watching procedurals, or shows in which each episode is self-contained. And more comedies. I’ve heard the many criticisms of Heroes this season, and have myself struggled with it, but that has less to do with its quality (which, due to my newfound affliction, I can’t really comment upon) than with the fact that it’s asking too much of me.

I’ve come to realize, in other words, why some soap fans can only watch one soap. And why I’ve usually allowed myself only one or two fandoms at a time. The election, and its endless attack ads, multiple plots, new characters, and transmedia presence has been exhausting. If David Simon offered a sixth season of The Wire, I probably couldn’t have managed it this semester, even if it was about academia. I’m thankful that Lost is off till January, since that too would likely prove too much for me.

My point? In part, I’m just venting that I want this to be over. Can Obama win already, and let me watch Lost or BSG or something like that? This whole ordeal has reminded me of why I don’t tend to consume much transmedia, even though I’m intrigued by it, since the overflow of melodrama is too raw, rich, and requiring. But I’d also like to reiterate Kackman’s point that melodrama and complex narratives are all around us. Here’s hoping that this one has a happy ending.

Now stop reading this, and go out and do what I as a Canadian can’t: line up and vote.

Uncategorized Lost, serial television, The Wire

I’m handing in the manuscript for my extratext / paratext book this week. Its title at present is Show Sold Separately: Film, Television, and Off-Screen Studies (I figured I might scare people away by putting “paratext” in the title). Anyways, part of submitting a book, as many of my readers will know, is submitting the Author’s Questionnaire too (which asks you to write the blurb for the back of the book, and give suggestions for marketing and publicity). One of the questions asks for ideas for the cover. I’m stumped.

If it helps, the book examines a wide range of paratexts. Trailers, websites, marketing campaigns, opening credit sequences, official websites, wikis, spoilers, DVD bonus materials, vids, podcasts, interviews, reviews, toys, videogames, ARGs, transmedia, spinoffs, sequels, etc. The argument is that most of these things have been understood and appreciated largely as selling a film or television program, but too little work exists that examines how they contribute to and create the text itself. Kind of the point behind many of my blog posts here.

Especially since I’m arguing for the importance of all those things that surround a text, it would be really really lame if my cover sucked. A book about paratexts should have a good paratext waiting to greet you at its entrance.

So, if any ideas strike you, please pass them on. Thanks.

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I was going to post something remarkably intelligent. Really, I was. But with the economic crisis, I think it’s important that I put the country, and the world, first. Thus I am suspending the blog until we can reach a deal. I will approach Congress and see if my discussion of trailers, web sites, movie posters, and other extratextuals can be of assistance.

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I just realized that The Extratextuals has been around for a year now, so happy birthday to us. You may have realized that what was a group blog has taken on a decidedly Jonathan-ish flavor, but for the record, it’s still a group blog. Derek’s been writing his dissertation, while Ivan is creating extratextuals (see here in particular), and is often in the awkward position of having a lot to say but being constricted by contractual obligations. I’m enjoying the blog, though, so I’m quite happy to keep tooling along with my own offerings, knowing that occasionally one of my colleagues may pipe in with something.

Thanks to all our readers. I still don’t have any form of stat-tracker, so I only know who you are (or even that you exist) when you tell me or post a reply, and I’m always surprised and thoroughly pleased to see that it’s not just my wife and my mother reading.

Right now, I’m finishing a book, which has made writing tough, but once it’s in to the press, I’ll have much more time to relax and write for the blog. It’s due on September 30, and it’s all about extratextuals, so once it’s closer to publication, I’ll post more about it too.

Meanwhile, congratulations are also in order to Transformative Works and Culture, a brand new journal available for free to all with Internet access or a friend with a printer and toner. TWC, says its site, “is an international peer-reviewed journal published by the Organization for Transformative Works. TWC publishes articles about transformative works, broadly conceived.” (Think fan stuff if the terminology confuses). The first issue has pieces on Hillary fans, genre, BDSM symbolism, vidding, soap operas, horror, posthuman anxiety, and, yes, what’s a good journal launch without a piece on incestuous fan fiction?   There’s also symposia, interviews, and reviews. Apparently, editors Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse never got the memo that you start small and build in size: this is a sizeable volume, rich with material that puts other journal start-ups to shame and really deserves an audience. Very well done to Hellekson, Busse, and all involved.

Uncategorized TWC

Just saw this on The Chronicle of Higher Education’s job search site. Read the UT position title closely. I’ll give them a free tip: first rule of advertising and public relations — read your copy.

Uncategorized University of Texas

Thank goodness I missed the bulk of the coverage of the Olympics Closing Ceremonies, since the bit that I caught had me gagging. NBC talks a big game of how wonderful it was to see the world brought together, as one, best friends, yadda yadda. Yet from my standpoint, the network did its best to make this about the US versus everyone else. When Usain Bolt won the 100m and 200m easily, they cast dispersion on him for dancing around in celebration and for not congratulating other athletes. Yet when the US mens 4×400m team won gold and celebrated with no congrats forthcoming to others, it was “nice to see them enjoying their victory.” When the little chipmunk that is Shawn Johnson wins, yippee. When it’s the Chinese, they must be underage. When the Korean who not only beat Paul Hamm but for a judging error four years ago, but dared to continue to believe that he beat Hamm, NBC couldn’t resist pointing out how he really didn’t do that well this year, suggesting that this was proof of Hamm’s superiority. When the US came second, third, or forth, it was because they did something wrong, hardly ever because the non-American Others were actually better. And when the Chinese won more gold, it’s because the country had a supposedly underhanded strategy to compete in sports with multiple medals and/or because the state put huge pressure on the athletes, not because those individual athletes loved what they did. Sure, there were moments when NBC celebrated foreigners, but this was too often only when an American had no legitimate shot at the gold, and too often expressed with the amazement that someone from such a supposedly backward country (because, hey, everyone but the US is backward, right?) could pull off such a coup. The norm was yet more national chauvinism.

I don’t doubt that many Olympians felt the spirit of international brotherhood, sisterhood, cuddles for everybody, and all that jazz, but NBC’s reporting frequently did its best to make this yet another venue for a story about America fighting off the rest of the world. For all the exoticized images of the Great Wall, NBC was doing their best to build one of their own around the US.

Uncategorized olympics

A quick sidetrip into the Death Star / Time Warner Building the other day found me in trouble with the law …

until I straightened things out with the charming man in charge, and he helped me put an end to the problem

Uncategorized Star Wars

A quick break in the Malawi posts (if you’re not a Feed Reader reader, scan down for parts 1-3 of those), to point out that one of CBS’s summer additions is a Canadian show, Flashpoint. I’m quite excited by this, because, hey, it’s Canadian (produced by CTV). But it’s also pretty good. On one level, yes, it’s yet another crime-based procedural on a network that really should learn to do something else once in a while. And maybe “O Canada” is blaring too loudly in my head for me to think straight. But I think its “Canadianness” is somewhat evident in its less callous attitude towards “bad guys” and the fine art of killing them.

Flashpoint is about a police team that responds to hostage situations, sniper rifles in hand. But the pilot spent half of its hour looking at the effect that shooting someone had on the sniper in question, while the second episode starred the excellent Canadian actor, Henry Czerny, as the “bad guy,” and though its script was predictable, his performance added way more layers than your average CSI: Miami, NCIS, or Law and Order episode usually musters. The urge to turn a show about snipers into a “yeah, take that fucker down with three between the eyes” hyper-masculine romp would be considerable, but Flashpoint has human characters.

And it has lots of Canadian actors: Enrico Colantoni (who some may know as Keith Mars), Hugh Dillon, David Paetkau, and pretty much everyone else except for Felicity’s Amy Jo Johnson (who IMDb tells me is from Cape Cod, where many Canadians vacation, so we’ll let it slide).

So the show’s alright, at times very good, even gripping. Structurally, let’s get behind it: Hollywood needs such things to be successes for it to try experiments in letting Canadians (or others) make its shows again, other than simply as runaways. For those counting, the last primetime network show from Canada was Due South, whereas Flashpoint is American network TV’s first Canadian show actually set wholly in Canada. If it fails, it justifies many years of refusal to bother trying again (you can hear a studio exec saying, “It was too Canadian. Not enough firing. Americans want more 24, less cumbaya”). Its pilot garnered a pretty respectable 8.23 Million viewers in the US and 1.11 Million in Canada, winning its timeslot in both countries. Check it out, Fridays and Sundays at 10pm.

Uncategorized Canada, Flashpoint

Though I may get occasional text-only access, I’ll effectively be away from Internet access for the next month. So no blogging from me. I’ll be in Malawi (the missus does research there, so I’m following in tow, and will do a little research of my own). Not Maui, as a friend misheard — the two have a slightly different vibe. But to answer the most common question I get of “where is Malawi?”, see below, and for the curious-’n'-studious amongst you, here’s the CIA World Factbook’s page on Malawi.

The country has a population of about 14 million, is just a little smaller in size than Pennsylvania (though a very different shape), it’s often listed as the poorest country in the world, it’s a multiparty democracy that was once a British colony, the key languages are English and Chichewa, it should be a nice temperature this time of year, Lake Malawi is by all accounts a beautiful sight as are the nation’s many hippos at play, and though, as in Kentucky, tobacco is a key part of the economy and Dolly Parton is one of the most popular musicians (no, seriously), with only 2.7% of the population aged 65 or older and a median age of 16.8, unlike Kentucky there probably aren’t many Hillary voters there. I’ll be back in mid-July.

Uncategorized Malawi

I always liked my name because it seemed simple enough, yet not too complex to throw people off. Grey’s Anatomy resulted in a generation of students determined to spell my last name incorrectly, agreed, and my first name is a challenge for many non-Europeans (a recent order at an Indian restaurant resulted in my name being transcribed as “Jalidin,” while the great Brit comedy Goodness Gracious Me has a skit about how poorly Brits pronounce Indian names, that uses Jonathan as the victim by flipping the tables and making him Jonavinder, Jonash, etc.). But it seems that the whole shebang is pretty darn common. Not only did I hear of a whacko Jonathan Gray who tried to incinerate a regular Extratextuals reader’s kids’ garden furniture, but here are some of my other namesakes:

Paratextual Specialist

I was most impressed to see, given my interest in paratexts and extratexts, that there is a Jonathan Gray who designs book covers. Indeed, if you’ve ever seen a Jonathan Safran Foer, you’ve seen “my” work.

Actor in Fine Films

If your tastes aren’t quite as high as Everything is Illuminated, and you prefer films such as Forbidden Lust, Babes in the Woods, Deviant Passions, or Babes 2: Lost in Beaver Creek, then you’ve seen my doppelganger.

Dodgy Musician

If the above doesn’t have you wondering about me, “my” stint with a group called Jump, Little Children, or the odd picture at “my” MySpace page, might do the trick.

Photographer

And “I” am an advertising and “glamor” photographer.

Indiana Jones’s Real-Life Counterpart

International explorer, archaeologist, and author, “I” explore ancient mysteries and then write about them. Here’s a sampling:

“Your body… my brains,” she said.
“After the experiment, that’s how we turned out!… Hey, Jonathan, don’t look so shocked.”
I must admit, Carolyn’s “news” got me thinking.
Did Space Giants Experiment With Us?

Computer Scientist

For somewhat less titillating reading, check out “my” Parallel Computing: Technology and Practice.

Comic Artist

Or check out “my” comic-drawing skills.

Advocate and Kick Ass Lawyer

IMDB writes that “I” am:

A practicing attorney since 1990, Jonathan Gray is a dedicated advocate for emerging and established directors, producers, production entities, screenwriters, investors and distributors in film, television and other media.

His diversified trial experience includes copyright and trademark actions, as well as product liability, securities, and civil rights matters. Jonathan is also an award-winning independent film producer whose films have been screened at festivals worldwide

Small Forward

Lest you be thinking I’m more of a brainiac or a nerd, though, read “my” scouting report here, should your college team be in the market for a football player.

Big City Cobbler

Moving into my fictional existence, there’s a 1915 film called The Sacrifice of Jonathan Gray, of which the New York Times writes:

Cadaverous Murdock McQuarrie plays Jonathan Gray in this tense Universal three-reeler. Country boy Gray is married to a city woman (Lydia Landowska), who deserts him when her former lover comes calling. Not wishing to make trouble for anyone, Gray stands by stoically as his wife takes their little daughter along with her. Alas, her lover turns out to be a drug addict, forcing her to “save” her daughter by abandoning the kid. Fortunately, the little girl is adopted by a wealthy family. Many years pass, and Jonathan Gray, now a cobbler in a big-city shoe store, is given the job of fashioning a pair of wedding shoes for a pretty young heiress. At this point, the outcome of the story should be obvious to anyone who’s ever seen a movie before

Big City Hotshot

“I” am also a businessman extraordinaire, known for my modesty and brilliance. A profile notes:

If Gray can’t grow a giant ego by closing the Biggest Deal Ever, what hope is there for the rest of us?
[....]
Gray’s background is almost sickeningly admirable. While he does come from finance blood and breeding—his father was an investment adviser and his step-father an executive at an investment bank, he majored in economics and English at Penn. Not finance.
[....]
So, yes. Jon Gray is simply a better person than you are. Deal with it.

And with that noble closing line, I take my leave …

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