The Story Is Never Over

Pretty much everything now has adapted to the transmedia model of storytelling. It's a concept that I feel like most people have never even thought about until they investigate the definition, myself included. It wasn't really until the Intro to New Media class that I really understood how long transmedia storytelling has been happening.

Growing up I was a huge fan of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and yes, I admit it, even Pokemon. I owned the movies, CDs, watched the shows, and played the video games. I was immersed in the stories and characters and just couldn't get enough. Sure, kids TV shows and movies have been making toys to go along with them for years but it hasn't really been part of the transmedia experience. It wasn't really existent until the 90's, with the rise of the Internet and video gaming devices that media content creators took advantage of the concept. Looking back at it now, I understand how much profit there was to be made and why the ship has started sailing this course. I think its only one of the ways that companies have started prepping children to become product consumers.

The main argument for transmedia storying telling is that building a world and its characters takes a lot of time and money. So why not create the story's universes to be never ending instead of subject to a linear plot? Great argument, but I'm sure it's truth lies behind the amounts of money to be made off of it. Not saying it's a bad thing, but I think some TV shows and movies don't really deserve this sort of legacy treatment because in most cases stories need an end. Leaving everything open to interpretation and expanding the story will just become an obvious gimmick to get people to buy more, which I think could end up turning off consumers if the quality of storytelling starts to dwindle.

Overall, I think transmedia storytelling is very interesting. I think it is a great way to get media consumers to become more active in the discussion. I hardly enjoy it now than the way I did when I was a child, but that won't keep me from shouting, "it's morphin' time!"