Analysis: Name That Event!
Written on Sunday, March 23, 2014 by Unknown
Before I finish up my litvestigation (yes, I did just make up an awesome new word) I'd like to play a little game. Well, in a minute.
Right now, I have basically hit a wall. And that's bad. Really bad. Because it is almost the end of the semester which means that this thesis needs to be done. Soon.
I'm not really sure what to do at this point. It's frustrating. And I am verging on disaster mode.
Whoever told you senior year of college is a breeze is a big fat liar. I don't remember who told me this, but I'm certainly not happy with them. It was probably someone who didn't have a required thesis project. Damn those lucky stress-free people.
So here is my problem: Even though my analysis section has been started, I haven't actually analyzed anything.
Which is why I'd like to get back to this fun little game. I'm making it up right now, and it shall be called "Name That Event!" I was thinking about going with "Name that kernel/satellite!" but I didn't like the slash.
Goal: I need to identify some kernels and some satellites.
In a previous post I showed you a timeline that a fan had created. This timeline basically made it clear to me that it will not be easy to identify kernels and satellites because there are far too many pieces of media. But if I had to try, here are a few ways I might name some events. (For a review about what events, kernels, and satellites are, check out this video!)
Name That Event!
Option 1:
KERNEL - Lizzie's Videos
SATELLITE - Everything else
Option 2:
KERNEL - Lizzie's Videos
KERNEL - Certain twitter accounts of major characters
SATELLITE - Everything else
Option 3:
KERNEL - All videos by all characters
SATELLITE - All social media accounts
Option 4:
KERNEL - All videos by all characters
KERNEL - All twitter accounts
KERNEL - Lydia's sex tape website
SATELLITE - Everything else
Option 5:
KERNEL - Certain videos by Lizzie, Lydia, and any other character that explicitly moves the story along
KERNEL - Certain tweets, pinterest boards, or other social media content that explicitly moves the story along
KERNEL - Websites that explicitly move the story along (such as Lydia's sex tape website)
SATELLITE - Videos that do not do much or forward the story and only provide fluff
SATELLITE - Social media that does not do much nor does it forward the story along
SATELLITE - Websites that have no function other than to exist and sometimes re-post information that can be found elsewhere
Option 6:
Some other combination of previous pieces of previous options
Or make something else up on the spot
Or make something else up on the spot
_______
Yea guys. This is irritating. You with me now?
But in general, if the game continued and someone were to ask me about specific episodes or something, I could play like this...
Name That Event!
Q: Episode 1
A: Kernel!
Q: Collins and Collins + Maria of the Lu videos
A: Satellite!
Q: Episodes 60 and 98
A: Kernels!
Q: The San Francisco Photo/Twitter Adventure
A: Tough one. It could do either way. Leaning more towards satellite?
Get the idea?
And do you also get the problem? How do I know what is significant and what isn't? Would twitter be the main social media kernel in the social media realm, but a satellite in the greater transmedia story? And what does this tell us?
My conclusion is that this tells me that kernels and satellites cannot be the primary form of identification. Even if I were to use the Scene Function Model (which would make this process a lot easier), that is only actually supposed to be used for television. I need a new model. The Transmedia Function Model or something.
And then there are a whole bunch of other questions about fan participation and such that I just don't even know what to call, let alone whether or not they should be considered. I mean is a fan's question canon if Lizzie responds to them on twitter? What is that! I don't know!
This whole transmedia form is entirely different than what narrative theory usually deals with. But that doesn't mean I'm abandoning narrative theory all together. It just means I need to use it in a new way and possibly change some of the rules to suit my project.
How I do that, I have no idea.
-Danny
UPDATE (4/18/14): I found some YouTube playlists that people made. One is called "The Essentials" and I swear to god it's almost like this person found all of the kernels for me. If only I had found it sooner! The other one is called "The Darcy Heavy Episodes" which could also be considered a kernel playlist for those only focused on the romance as the driving force of the show. I don't really think that would be accurate, but whatever.
