Comunicación Audiovisual - Teoría dels Llenguatges

PROFILES AND CHARACTERS:
EVOLUTION OF THE REPRESENTATION OF THE USER IN SOCIAL
NETWORKS AND ROLE-PLAYING GAMES
ABSTRACT
Role-playing games -along with social networks- have become the most popular  leisure activity online. This paper locates the origin of these web platforms in the  digital evolution of collaborative narratives and role-playing games. In order to do so,  it studies the evolution of the role-playing game through its different digital adaptations and presents the evolution of other narrative forms through the introduction of hypertext. To end up, it analyzes the image projected by the user in these narratives, where a social network profile is considered as a character itself.

The Indiana Jones series is on the foundation of the so called «blockbuster» phenomenon, a cinema that represents huge financial investments for the studios every year but is usually disregarded by scholars as empty. Despite that, it would be fair to ask if blockbuster movies can transmit a given «ethos» beyond entertainment. The movie «Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull» is analyzed here to show that, along with the pursuit of economic profits, it is possible to find more complex intentions. In this specific case, education is fostered as an essential human value that must be cultivated.

This article explores the Science Fiction crossmedia television narratives and their key uses for the promotion and the creation of entertainment in the current television system. Henry Jenkins and others have pointed out to the genre of science fiction as the most suitable for crossmedia narratives (Tulloch and Jenkins, 1994; Hills, 2004; Jenkins, 2009). This article will examine the specific case of Battlestar Galactica, which is considered a paradigmatic example of transmedia narrative, taking its starting point with the original television series in 1978. Following the contributions to the field of three authors (Beeson, 2005, Davidson 2008; Scolari, 2009), this paper proposes a methodology for analyzing the crossmedia narratives based on four vectors: 1) The relationship between story and medium 2) Narrative aspects (setting, characters, theme and plot), 3) Intertextuality and 4) Distribution and accessibility. The analysis of Battlestar Galactica will show the encouraging future of the transmedia narratives in the current television industry, while concluding that the effectiveness of the expansion of the fictional universes will appear finding a balance between the diversity and autonomy of the plots in several media and formats, and the complementarity and narrative unity to build solid and strong universes that contribute to the creation of fandom.

Rather than the simple adaptation of a story across different media, cross-media narrative should be defined as that which is transformed by virtue of use a medium and its different languages (film, comics, video games, etc.). This article extends and updates the dimensions of previous cross-media analysis models by underlining narrative aspects of the different products discussed and examining the influence of generic conventions along the way. To test this methodology, the article focuses on a product from the ‘‘adventure’’ genre— the Indiana Jones franchise—, which it argues should be seen as a benchmark in the history of this kind of narrative. Special attention is given to the treatment of the character of Indiana Jones, who is the true focal point of the narrative, and to other underlying thematic features.

Animation Studies has provided an interesting example of how the concepts of genre and authorship can usually be considered as antithetic, and how these concepts might be discussed for a better understanding of modern Media Industries. In this sense, Walt Disney (1901-1966) is probably one of the most important figures in the history of cinema, and also is one of the most criticized ones. Disney Criticism has been reviewed and discussed through different dimensions, including Political Economy and Ideology, Gender Studies, Historical Revisionism, Narrative, etc. Taking into consideration the case of International Animators –most of them working within the European or Asian film industries– it can be observed how common it is to refer to their work as appreciated forms of authorship. This is particularly the case when one looks at auteurism within animation in relation to the American Majors productions, which, in contrast to European and Asian animation, tend to be seen as “merely” mainstream. This criticism creates an almost “mythic figure” -opposed to Disney in narrative quality but equal in technical achievements- that can be observed, for example, in the Western reception of the work of Japanese animators such as Mamoru Oshii,  Mamoru Hosoda, Satoshi Kon and especially Hayao Miyazaki who is the most likely candidate for this anti-Disney label.

A characteristic feature of Japanese Cultural History might be the admiration with which the authors are treated, even long before the emergence of the Author Theories. A recurring example might be that of Osamu Tezuka (1925-1989) who is considered sensei of all other masters of the medium and known as God of Manga (Manga kamisama). Tezuka's legacy is prolific and of a high quality. Besides, he has been immensely influential in the consolidation of the Japanese entertainment industry. More than a decade after the first Tezuka anime, two of the most important figures in Japanese animation History started working on Toei-Doga studios. They were Isao Takahata (1935) and Hayao Miyazaki (1941). Their role as Authors, although significant of itself, is secondary in comparison to their roles as the main proponents of anime in the international market. Here, I will focus on Miyazaki (1941), whose success among international audiences has made him the better known. As main exponent of anime cinema and ambassador of Japanese culture in Western countries, he is the one whose work has been more engaged to Film criticism and auterism theories. He has been also subject of several studies through this perspective. As with Tezuka, Miyazaki's biography has been the main tool for Western critical reading of his work. Moreover, in the case of this author, a personal or 'mask' has been crafted for him that resembles other forms of authorial mythic criticism. Through the paper, I will compare this ‘mask’ with the Tezuka cross-cultural reading and the documentary evidence about the relationship of both filmmakers. Finally I will examine Miyazaki figure through the same dimensions used for the critical reading of the "Manga Kamisama".

It´s well known that the major global comic producers are Japan and U.S. There are not so many countries where this medium has achieved this importance not only as high-quality producers but also as powerful creators of contents. In fact, there is also a long history of mutual influence between media and their narratives within these countries. Sequential Language -that in Japan mainly corresponds to manga medium-, has been influenced by other western serial media, especially TV and comic. This may be particularly the case of manga beginnings as well as other related media such as kamishibai (Nash, 2009) and e-monogatari (Holmberg, 2011).
In its constant search of new themes, Japanese manga industries have invaded some fields that were exclusive of American market many years ago. On the second half of the last century, the popularity of comic-book characters motivated the adaptation of their stories to manga medium (Jiro Kuwata´s Batman, Ryoichi Ikegami´s Spiderman...). The creation of these products is the next logical step following the transnationalization of capital between Japanese and American industries. We refer to the transnationalization of narrative elements, which are gradually forming a shared international scale image, very similar to that defined as ‘Global Cultural’ (During, 1997).
One of the most popular approaches to this subject has been the creation of Mangaverse. These series are an alternate to the traditional Marvel fictional universe that re-imagine the traditional Marvel characters as manga archetypes while employing manganime aesthetic codes, also known as ‘Japan Visual Language’ (Cohn, 2010, 2011). For some scholars, Mangaverse is just a mere fusion of cultural elements, a new manifestation of the ‘Convergence Culture’ (Jenkins, 2006) but the Mangaverse has been openly criticized by both critics and fan audiences indicating that there may have been a decoding problem, that is, narrative elements are not easily recognized nor adopted so they are considered as ‘fake manga’. This criticism has been focused primarily on the way that Marvel´s imprint has evoked stereotypes of Japanese popular culture to create his ‘Marvel-Manga’.

Other manifestations of this ‘Culture of Convergence’ -or this ‘Thematic Transnationalization’- are the anime adaptations of charismatic characters from the Marvel Brand made by Madhouse studio (Wolverine, X-Men, Iron Man and Blade) between 2010 and 2012. These products are not quite different from other Japanese-American co-productions in the past, which has been very often in the industry since its inception (Speed Racer/Mach GoGoGo, 1968; Kimba the White Lion/Jungle Taitei, 1965) and that has been developed in Japan for the distribution in both Japan and American markets. The difference this time is that the narrative of these products is not inspired by traditional manganime nor American cartoon but by the quintessential American genre which is the ‘super-hero’ genre.
In this chapter, we introduce a brief history of the relationship between Marvel and enterprises that form the Production Committees in Japan, especially publishers. These collaborations have been carried out by adopting two different strategies. On the one hand, we have the adaptation by transposition from Marvel narrative formulas to Japanese standards such as shōnen and shōjo. This is the case of the anime adaptations. On the other hand, the creation of Mangaverse could be considered as a misunderstanding of the prescriptive form of Japanese manga genres. Thus, the reading of Mangaverse can´t be performed as the mere transnational adaptation from superhero genre to shōnen, but as the transposition of a Japan Global image. This reflection may be easily confused with the stereotypes of Japan and its culture that arise from the global popular culture (video games, movies, TV series, etc..)