Showing papers by "Marie-Laure Ryan published in 2014"

Storyworlds across Media

Abstract: principles implemented by the computer through calculation; yet unless the rules allow for fascinating gameplay (as in chess), it is the imaginative act of locating oneself in a fictional world that makes many games exciting. While in novels and films immersion in the fictional world is a sufficient source of satisfaction, in games it must be complemented by a sense of achievement that the ability to play the game efficiently provides. In order to develop this ability, the player must be able to detect the abstract structure determined by the rules, a structure that attributes strategic significance to certain aspects of the fictional world and treats others as decorative, immersionenhancing features. While Hallet’s and Juul’s contributions focus on the narrative affordances and limitations of two multimodal media that could hardly be any more different from each other, Jared Gardner’s “Film + Comics: A Multimodal Romance in the Age of Transmedial Convergence” examines the relationship between graphic and audiovisual narratives from a more historical perspective. Tracing the history of the intermedial relationship between comics and film from their birth at the end of the nineteenth century and their rise in popular demand throughout the twentieth century to the current situation, where film often appears to be the dominant partner, Gardner combines an encyclopedic knowledge of both film and comics history with an acute awareness of the institutional and economic contexts of convergent media culture in order to paint a precise picture of how the texts of each of these media are shaped, at least partly, by their longstanding intermedial relationship. According to Gardner, certain changes in the ways contemporary Hollywood cinema narrates its stories can be explained by the influence of comics’ conventions on both directors and spectators, as the advent of dvds increasingly taught the latter how to “read” films closely, engagedly, and repeatedly— that is, how to “read” films as comics readers tend to read comics. While comics have proved to be one of the media most resistant to digitalization, they also seem, at least to Gardner, to be the form most capable of teaching us how to explore the multimodal narratives of the twentyfirst centu-

The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media

Abstract: The study of what is collectively labeled "New Media" - the cultural and artistic practices made possible by digital technology - has become one of the most vibrant areas of scholarly activity and is rapidly turning into an established academic field, with many universities now offering it as a major. The Johns Hopkins Guide to Digital Media is the first comprehensive reference work to which teachers, students, and the curious can quickly turn for reliable information on the key terms and concepts of the field. The contributors present entries on nearly 150 ideas, genres, and theoretical concepts that have allowed digital media to produce some of the most innovative intellectual, artistic, and social practices of our time. The result is an easy-to-consult reference for digital media scholars or anyone wishing to become familiar with this fast-developing field.