Transmedia story telling seems to have become a global trend, penetrating all levels of the daily life of contemporary readers and viewers of all ages. Today people can enjoy a multi-sided experience; no longer do people simply read a book, they get involved with the lives of the characters as they visualize in front of them in various forms, be it through comic books, movies or miscellaneous merchandise or online. TV series take this experience even a step further.
When considering this bombardment of media marketing one cannot help but question its usefulness and simple necessity. Is what is happening today under the label of transmedia storytelling a beneficial thing? Or is it simply a way of marketing and money making?
On the one hand, it is easy to understand why people, especially the younger generation, would want to get more out of a story, to see it come to life in various forms, have it seem more believable, to involve themselves in it. It gives them an interest, a hobby, perhaps, and an incentive for further interest. But does it leave the needed room for imagination? For creative thinking? Does everything these days need to be multimedia, have an extended version to it? And in fact, does every story need to be converted into this multi-experience? And furthermore - can it? Not every story can combine the aspects of story telling and technology and still keep the real life aspect to it.
As it seems, from what I was able to gather, transmedia storytelling is a “Western” phenomena, so to speak. Perhaps, more so American than any other. Spreading as part of a pop culture throughout the world, one can witness signs of only imported Transmedia storytelling in those what are labelled “non-Western” countries. Coming from one of these (Ukraine), I began thinking of whether any of this is present in my home country.
The answer would be yes and no.
Of course, Ukraine is still a part of the world, it is involved in receiving western media and actively enjoying it. We do have Matrix, Harry Potter and Lost fans who enjoy the story at more levels than one. The participate in online and real life discussions, fan clubs, etc. Merchandise of the different stories is present in the country as well, though not nearly as much as in the West, where they originate. Perhaps this has to do with the country wanting to westernize, the people wanting to be more modern and a part of a global culture, and shed the legacies of the previous somber era. Generally, younger people are very active online, participating in forums and creating blogs not only in their native language but also in English as they are interested in sharing and receiving thoughts and ideas, be it on the story line that interests them, or for any other matter. There are Ukrainian websites dedicated to virtually any popular movie, TV series or book. It is mainly the younger population that involves itself in the online collective intelligence.
But what about stories originating in Ukraine? Here the situation is close to zero. Overall, the country lags behind in the production of creative material. The number of movies produced each year is minimal and the number of published Ukrainian books yearly, although rising, is quite low on average. Regardless of quantity, the storytelling media that comes out has potential to become popular among the population. Yet, that is simply as far as it will go. There are no further marketing incentives that take place, no multilevel merchandising and no transmedia storytelling involved. There are simply popular stories, yet they keep their original, single medium. Books stay books while TV series and movies keep their film medium. Answering the question whether this is a good or bad thing, the answer is quite complicated. Perhaps there is no clear definite answer at all. Maybe it is because the stories in question do not have the potential to evolve further into another form; maybe the population does not have the interest to involve the stories into their lives; maybe the people are simply too involved with the imported stories that there is no need to further create our own.
This brings me back to my initial question of whether transmedia storytelling is good or bad. Clearly, it has a great money making potential and spreads globally. Yet it seems that it is only the creation of a few countries. The rest of the world simply accepts what is being offered to them and involves themselves in the lives of the popular foreign fictional characters.
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