The Extratextuals

Hot on the heels of my latest edited collection, I’m happy to announce that I got a contract today for the next book. It’s a bold project (if I might say so myself), given that I plan to write four volumes, each of 300-400 words. The topic? ABC’s According to Jim.

At the 2008 Flow Conference, several commentators bemoaned the lack of work on such classics as AtJ. I’ve heard these complaints before, but everyone nods their head and looks to someone else to write it. Well, enough. Jim Belushi and the creative masterminds that are Tracy Newman and Jonathan Stark will finally get their day in the media studies sun.

At the moment, I plan for the volumes to break down this way:

• Welcome to the JimVerse: World Building in 22 Minutes aims to bring my growing interest in transmedia storytelling and world-building to a head, by examining the most complex transmedia entity known to modern television
• A Genealogy of Genius, Or, Dude, Where’s My TV Show? will chart how AtJ came to be, examining the thought that went into the series. This will be the shortest volume in the collection
• A Thousand Plateaus: Of Said, Lacan, and Belushi will offer a host of theoretical approaches to understanding the show. I am particularly intrigued by the text as a mouthpiece for a new postcolonial sentiment that is sweeping across television
• Finally, The Man With No Surname: Jim and the Dickensian Aspect will study the depths of Jim, the character. Amidst excited discussion of an age of complex male leads, and with the general hoopla surrounding the multi-dimensionality of Tony Soprano, Dexter Morgan, and Horatio Caine, Jim eclipses them all. Belushi’s performance is revolutionary in style, and well worth its own volume

I’m also in the process of applying for NSF funding for an According to Jim conference, and have received early commitments from such luminaries as bell hooks, Rob McChesney, Rob Schneider, Raymond Williams, Judith Butler, and Homi Bhabha (all of whom are big fans) to offer keynotes.

It’s a wonderful day, one I will circle in my calendar and long remember.

book reviews According to Jim