Lostology: transmedia storytelling and expansion/compression strategies

The objective of this article is to analyze Lost from the perspective of transmedia storytelling and to propose a taxonomy of transmedia expansion/compression strategies. In the first section, the article presents the basic components of transmedia storytelling from a theoretical point of view that...

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Bibliographic Details
Author: Scolari, Carlos Alberto, 1963-
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2013
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repository:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/26243
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/26243
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/sem-2013-0038
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:User-generated contents
Strategy
Narrative
Storytelling
Transmedia
Lost
Description
Summary:The objective of this article is to analyze Lost from the perspective of transmedia storytelling and to propose a taxonomy of transmedia expansion/compression strategies. In the first section, the article presents the basic components of transmedia storytelling from a theoretical point of view that combines narratology and semiotics. After describing the most important components of Lost's transmedia fictional universe in the second section, the article presents a general description and taxonomy of expansion/compression narrative strategies based on traditional rhetorical categories. The article also analyzes “compressed texts” – like recapitulations – and their role inside the expansive strategies.