10.13125/2039-6597/4274
application/pdf
2039-6597
4274
20
en
urn:nbn:it:unica-26946
Mirko Lino
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Between
The Walking Dead
The “Ontological Fibrillation” of Transmedia Storyworlds. Paratexts, Cyberworlds and Augmented Reality
Text.Serial.Journal
https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between
10
Essay
2020-11-30
2020-09-02
2020-11-30
2020-12-07
89-115
1
Mirko Lino
2020/11/30
10.13125/2039-6597/4274
89
University of L'Aquila
2039-6597
20
The Walking Dead
en
115
urn:nbn:it:unica-26946
The “Ontological Fibrillation” of Transmedia Storyworlds. Paratexts, Cyberworlds and Augmented Reality
https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between/article/download/4274/4542
10
         The “Ontological Fibrillation”
          of Transmedia Storyworlds.
            Paratexts, Cyberworlds
            and Augmented Reality

                                Mirko Lino


Abstract
In this study we shall be trying to examine in more depth the
relationships between the processes of trans-medial world-building and
their “ontological fibrillation” via the affordances of recent digital
technology. The analysis will be concentrating on the contribution from
Augmented Reality in the ontological materialization of The Walking
Dead transmedia storyworld. To this end, the dual configuration of a
narrative continuum and an interactive materialization of the make-believe
will be taken into consideration. This assumption will be backed up by
our endeavouring to update the conceptual contributions of
narratological categories, such as para-textuality, and medial categories,
such as cyberworlds and the social media; the trend towards
materialization of storyworlds, following in the tracks of a historical-
archaeological perspective of pre-digital transmediality will be traced
with reference to several scholars within transmedia studies.

Keywords
     Transmedia Storyworld; Paratexts; Cyberworlds; Augmented
Reality; The Walking Dead.

Between, vol. X, n. 20 (Novembre/November 2020)
ISSN 2039-6597
DOI: 10.13125/2039-6597/4274
                                      Between, vol. X, n. 20 (Novembre/November 2020)




         The “Ontological Fibrillation” of
            Transmedia Storyworlds.
           Paratexts, Cyberworlds and
               Augmented Reality

                                 Mirko Lino


             A Living Storyworld from a Dead World
     Among the numerous digital maps that can be explored using
Google Maps one might come across The Walking Dead Google Map1: a
collection of locations charted by one user, the function of which is to
place in order the elements in the storyworld from the celebrated comic
novel (2003-2019) created by Robert Kirkman; thanks to the director
Frank Darabont, it became a famous long-running TV series (2010 -),
produced by AMC and distributed by Fox. The path taken by the
protagonists from Atlanta to Washington is geo-localized on the map
and, thanks to the markers laid out along the route an interactive mode
is provided, for the consultation of information, images, brief synopses
of the principal facts, and numerous other allusions to events illustrated
in the comic novel and the TV series. The map becomes a file in graphic
form, with which to orient oneself within the tightly packed trans-
medial storyworld, whilst holding on to characters, environments,
events, behaviour, etc. These elements consolidate the mythologeme of
the zombie apocalypse à la Romero, within a fictional setting
transformed into real, traceable and localizable geography.



     1   https://walkingdeadlocations.com/ (last accessed: 24/08/2020).


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Mirko Lino, The “Ontological Fibrillation” of Transmedia Storyworlds



      The convergence of the fictional level in a geographical space goes
a long way towards consolidating the process of world-building in The
Walking Dead. The interactive map is a “digital paratext”, the function of
which is to place in order, in spatial and temporal mode, the information
from the narrative world and also indicate the dissemination of the
storylines on various medial supports. In the terminology of Jason
Mittell, the map corresponds to an orienting paratext (2015: 261), i.e. a
textual construct that lies outside the diegetic world, allowing fans to
build up a profound sense of the narrative through various modes of
trans-codification (graphic, virtual, interactive and material) of the
narrative elements (characters, events and settings).
      Beginning with the franchises committed to the construction of the
fictional world, Skybound for the comics and AMC-Fox for TV series,
numerous narrative spin-offs have been generated, principally
serialized and organized through different media (book-series, web-
series, game-series, etc.), which have contributed considerably to
multiplying the narratives as well as expanding the fictional space,
transforming Kirkman’s creation into a continually ballooning
transmedial storyworld. In fact, according to Matthew Freeman, The
Walking Dead is one of the most significant examples for understanding
the world-building processes of the transmedial entertainment industry:
«The Walking Dead is about searching the remains of an imaginary world,
a world of empty spaces and violent creatures. And this theme of
searching is important, since the way in which one goes about
conceptualizing an imaginary world shapes the framework and
perspectives through which it is made sense of» (2019: 2). Freeman is
referring to the capacity of trans-medial storytelling to construct
complex worlds in which, among the rich metaphors and symbology
embodied in the narratives, there emerge clear auto-referential
elements. For example, there is a narrative cycle “A Larger World”, in
which the protagonists create a network of communities linked up with
each other, in order to initiate a sort of social palingenesis from the ashes
of a by-now zombified world; this is formally paralleled by the spatial




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and temporal expansion of the storyworld via the above-mentioned
network of spin-offs2.
     In this way a breach appears in the meta-narrative, in which the
narrative also describes the storyworld’s modes of participation. For
example, the macro-theme of surviving the zombie apocalypse is
described via the themes of transit and the creation of a community
network; it becomes easy to recognise references to the fans’ long
journeys (through varying, albeit converging, medial territory) in the
actual protagonists’ journeys to meet up again with their loved ones, or
to seek safe places in which to set up new communities3.
     In the same way, in order to gather information and accede to the
important narrative contents, fans inter-react with virtual communities
springing up spontaneously in social media channels4.



     2  There are several spin-offs enhancing The Walking Dead storyworld.
Among the main spin-offs, those standing out are the two Tv series Fear the
Walking Dead (2015 - ) and the forthcoming The Walking Dead -World Beyond. In
both cases the spin-offs build two storylines parallel to the starting one: Fear
the Walking Dead takes place on the United States’ west coast; World Beyond will
focus on a group of boys and girls born after the zombie outbreak (as a sort of
zombie apocalypse natives). Beside these spin-offs there are many other
serialized narrative extensions employing different media (web-series, book-
series, game-series, etc.) and all of these aim to examine in depth secondary
narrative facts that have been left open through the main storyline.
      3 Moreover, the relationship between the contents of the fictional work


and the modality of its fruition find paradoxical confirmation in the presence
of zombies and their capacity to overturn the symbology ascribable to the
reasons for the transit and creation of the community in reverse, the only aim
of which is the dismembering of the social and moral framework of the
community of survivors.
      4 One of the most relevant examples concerns the “wiki-communities”


developed online spontaneously around the imaginary worlds of films, comic
novels, Tv series, etc, where the properties of collaborative software for user-
generated contents allow the user to cover a large amount of information
regarding the transmedial worlds (e.g. the continuity or discontinuity among


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Mirko Lino, The “Ontological Fibrillation” of Transmedia Storyworlds



      Orientation within a complex storyworld, rich in narrative
offshoots, as in the case of The Walking Dead, leads the fan towards a
sense of cognitive gratification coinciding with absolute knowledge of
the make-believe world. However, a desire for total knowledge of the
story and its parts does not proceed merely on diegetic levels, but sets
in motion a series of texts, contents, interaction and extra-diegetic
practices, strongly supported by digital technology, the specific nature
of which often consists in trans-codifying the narrative elements into
interactive constructs. In this way, the narrative is suspended in order
to leave space for medial experience in terms of attraction, immersion
and performance, which allow the fan to “explore”, “inhabit” and
interact on various levels with the diegetic world, thus renegotiating the
boundaries between narrative knowledge and interactive experience of
the storyworld. Therefore, via a series of para-textual elements, difficult
to categorize in their entirety and their material, semantic and symbolic
variety, the aficionado is stimulated to explore the thresholds where the
virtual make-believe world and the reality of his production clash5. For
example, as well-argued by Freeman regarding The Walking Dead, the
channels of social media allow one to spontaneously reproduce the
identifying values of a series (2019: 74), and to reveal the actual way in
which it was produced (e.g. backstage photos, making of, interviews on
set, etc.), reducing the distance between audience and production.
      In order to acquire an encyclopaedic knowledge of the storytelling,
there are prerequisites for intense involvement in terms of a search for


the several adaptations, the diegetic order in relation to the increase in parallel
storylines, etc.).
      5 According to Freeman (2019: 73), the Instagram contents that especially


place transmedial products on the threshold between fictional and real, are
stimulating an ontological perception of the storyworlds. On the one hand, it
is possible to organize diegetic access (into the scenes), e.g. by using contents
that confirm the storyworld values (iconic images extracted from the comic
novel or the TV series); on the other hand, by providing extradiegetic off-
shoots (behind the scenes) revealing the making of the production, or actors'
interviews and their points of view on the narrative, backstage photos, etc.


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narrative continuity, interspersed with the multiplication of stories in
the various media involved; along with these, it is possible to trace the
methods in an interactive multiplication of the storyworld, triggering a
fascinating relationship of continuity between the virtual, as intrinsic to
make-believe, and its materialization in reality via various types of
medial engagement.
     These two directions hint at the tendency to unify the various trans-
medialized narrations, in order to obtain the overall sense of the
storyworld, and to actualize the make-believe via thresholds and access-
points, by means of which a whole range of interactions with the
storyworld are carried out.
     Beginning with the brief opening example of the interactive map of
The Walking Dead, in this study we shall be attempting to examine in
depth the relationship between the diegetic and extra-diegetic
dimensions of storyworlds, studying the modes of interaction between
narrative unification and medial actualization. To this end, the analysis will
aim to trace these two elements in nuce within the historical context of
transmediality.
     On the basis of the premise that trans-medial worlds tend to build
up «a balance between fantasy and reality, between imaginary and real»
(Freeman, 2018: 126), we shall endeavour to reflect on the dimension of
the “ontological” trans-codifying of storyworld transmedia, geared
towards rendering the boundaries between the imaginary and real
worlds traversable and interchangeable, whilst exploiting the
affordances of emerging digital technology.

         Bringing a Storyworld to Transmedia Life
    To whatever extent transmedia storytelling might appear, in
evident fashion, to constitute the dominant logic in the formal
organization of communication and contents of entertainment at the
moment of medial convergence, from the technical point of view, the
deeper sense of transmediality seems to lie precisely in its fascinating




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Mirko Lino, The “Ontological Fibrillation” of Transmedia Storyworlds



indeterminacy6: the ability to cover any type of narration (Scolari,
Bertetti and Freeman 2014: 4), to evolve formally in accordance with the
various strategies within the entertainment industry, ever more
globalized and digitalized (Smith and Pearson 2015: 1), to probe the
narrative and expressive potential of emerging medial technology, and
to stimulate the fans’ active participation; all these render it a firmly
transversal phenomenon, which extends along various conceptual off-
shoots and a discursive variety that escapes the restrictions of a general
theory. In fact, transmedia studies place at the centre of their
methodology the fluid nature and continuing evolution of forms and
transmedial processes: «the very definition of transmediality might

      6 The intrinsic indefiniteness of the transmedia storytelling notion is
easily traceable in the several theoretical revisions carried out by Henry
Jenkins in a conscientious way (2003; 2006; 2009; 2011). One of the seminal
contributions by Jenkins was to start, especially in the pages of his online blog
(Confession of an Aca-Fan), a very rich debate that has contributed to improving
(and obviously to rendering more complex) the transmedia storytelling
concept, and to finally achieve some orientative principles based on dialectical
issues (e.g. spreadability vs drillability; continuity vs multiplicity; immersion
vs extractability). The debate that started from Jenkins conceptualization of
transmedia storytelling has touched on film and media studies and
narratology and literary theory scholars. One of the most stimulating
discussions is the one with David Bordwell. Signalling a little disagreement
regarding some initial theorization about transmediality, Bordwell pointed
out, in the notion of paratext, borrowed from the precise Genettian (1982)
taxonomy, the prefiguration of several formal possibilities realized in the field
of entertainment oriented towards disseminating the same characters,
contents and events through different media. As is suggested by Jenkins’
answer to Bordwell’s objections, the argument that fails in its approach
concerned the ways in which the stories circulate; this is the premise for
narrative continuity, which, according to Jenkins, proves fundamental to
distinguishing epistemologically the very broad notion of transmediality from
the formal varieties of transmedia storytelling: «a simple adaptation may be
"transmedia" but it is not "transmedia storytelling" because it is simply re-
presenting an existing story rather than expanding and annotating the
fictional world» (2009).


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remain decidedly in flux, meaning different things to different people at
different times». Transmediality is presented as a cultural macro-
phenomenon, «an interdisciplinary research object that can be analysed
from different points of views» (Scolari Bertetti e Freeman 2016: 3).
Transmediality is suited to becoming an analytical tool for intercepting
the dominant logic of the entertainment industry, in the formal
production of images and contemporary mythology: «the very nature of
a transmedia fictional world means that there are complex story
elements, such as characters, events, places, and tropes layered across
multiple independent narratives» (Branch and Phillips, 2018: 386). The
narrative complexity hints at a sensorial richness bolstered by the
immersive and interactive promise of digital technology, in such a way
as to conduct the conceptualization of storyworlds towards ontological
reflection and allusions7. A storyworld corresponds to the mental
projection of a world/system evoked from a written narrative (Ryan and
Thon 2014: 3). It is the result of a process of world-building that, in the
case of transmedial storyworlds, takes shape commencing from the off-
shoots of narrative elements on different medial levels: «the process of
designing a fictional universe that […] is sufficiently detailed to enable
many different stories to emerge but coherent so that each story feels
like it fits with the others» (Jenkins, 2006: 335). The characteristic of
transmedial storyworlds focuses on the inexhaustibility of the narrative
experience throughout a single medial text, and on the close dialogue
established between narrative theories and medial theories, within a
paradigm such as that of convergence, characterized by the instability
and rapid evolution of forms of expression, their mode of creation,
production and engagement. From this perspective, one of the points of
departure for understanding transmedial storyworlds and their success
in the contemporary medial paradigm, is the literary theory of possible
worlds, as borrowed from Thomas Pavel and Lubomír Doležel. As heir
to this tradition, Ryan (2014) insisted on the representational nature of
imaginary worlds: they exist in the perception of the consumer, in
his/her interaction with different medial texts and his/her capacity to

     7   See Branch and Philipps (2018) and Freeman (2019).


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Mirko Lino, The “Ontological Fibrillation” of Transmedia Storyworlds



arrange the contents in order. Storyworlds impose worlds, universes,
abstract systems, inhabited by virtual characters, who, nevertheless, are
perceived by fans at varying levels of veracity (32-33). This fabrication
of meaning is guaranteed by consolidating the narrative infrastructure
that triggers in the consumer a mental picture, which is occasionally
complex. In fact, for Ryan, storyworlds subsist on the interaction and the
pertinence of a series of founding elements: existents; setting; physical law;
social rules and values; events and mental events, rendering the narrative
experience more substantial in cognitive terms (34).
      Scolari, Bertetti and Freeman (2014: vii) try to move beyond the
narrative component, detecting in their perception of the storyworld the
influence of a series of productive aspects conveyed by the configuration
of an extra-textual order, the fruit of a convergence between media,
industry and technology, into which the contributions from any
participating culture insert themselves (in accordance with – or without
– the institutional interactions between fandom and media franchises).
However, in analysing a transmedial world, being able to separate the
narrative components from the productive becomes difficult, since
storyworlds, albeit the fruit of narrative processes, are, as Mark Wolf
(2012) promptly points out, themselves mediatized constructs. It is
precisely this intersection between narration (virtuality of mental
representation) and production (industrial materialization) that
provides transmedial storyworlds with ontological fibrillation, which
emerges in the reciprocal innervations between the fictional-imaginative
and experiential-interactive dimensions.
      The innervations between the virtual and the real are sustained by
a series of extra-diegetic extensions, para-textual constructs that, by
operating outside the textual nuclei of reference, take the transmedial
world beyond the limits of narrative spaces, hinging on ways of
engaging the interactive components of the media in question. In other
words, the (hyper)-real perception of a storyworld is triggered starting
from medial practice and transcodifying, which, transcending in part
the narration and the media that have generated it, address simulative
and explorative assets, both interactive, ludic and performative; these
are provided, for example, by medial technology, which, because it is


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still institutionally unstable8, is geared towards illustrating and
exhibiting, in spectacular fashion, its technical and representational
properties, as in the case of Virtual Reality (VR) and, as we shall be
seeing, more specifically, Augmented Reality (AR).

  Extradiegetic Circulation: Paratexts and Cyberworlds
      Several scholars have contributed to broadening the horizons of
research regarding transmedial storyworlds, focussing on the
relationships between diegetic and extra-diegetic elements, whilst
endeavouring not to create hierarchies among the various medial texts
(Klastrup and Tosca 2004; Jenkins 2006; 2009; Gray 2010; Hills 2016;
Freeman 2018). Within this stimulating sphere of transmedia studies, we
started to reflect on the transcodifying of constitutive narrative and
thematic elements of a storyworld in formats that favour interaction,
games and performance. We might conceive of these ancillary formats
as para-textual extensions, geared towards stimulating in the consumer
a sort of digital astonishment; these extensions range from the proteiform
galaxy, composed of peripherals (Gray 2010) to complex, inter-semiotic
transfers to video-ludic worlds and to immersive virtual set-ups, such
as cyberworlds (Klastrup and Tosca 2004).
      Updating Genette’s theory regarding the paratext (1982), Jonathan
Gray insisted on the need to include in the analysis of transmediality all
the elusive, hybrid textual forms taken into consideration in screen
studies, as well as surplus material (trailers, teasers, ads, etc.)
subordinated to a textual and narrative nucleus perceptible as central;
these elements are conceived to enhance the horizons of expectation and
economic goals. «When I call for an “off screen studies”, I call for a
screen study that focuses on paratexts’ constitutive role in creating
textuality, rather than simply consigning paratexts to the also-ran
category or considering their importance only in promotional and
monetary terms» (Gray 2010: 7). In this way, within the phenomenon of

     8On the ways and aesthetics of media transitions, see Thorburn and
Jenkins (2003).


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transmediality, on the one hand the centrality of a media text of
reference is deconstructed (films, novels, TV series, comics, etc.), and, on
the other hand, the narrative text is pre-eminent. The traditional medial
formats thus become conceivable as inner workings of a complex
fictional machine arranged in a network of texts of a varying nature,
albeit linked to each other. Transmediality is not built solely on narrative
continuity, but also on the same level as a narrative ecosystem (Innocenti
and Pescatore 2017), in continual and unpredictable expansion, it is
more and more often geared towards the attraction dimension, the
emotional-sensorial stimulation of users interested in interacting with
imaginary worlds:

         Film and television shows, in other words, are only a small part
      of the massive, extended presence of filmic and televisual texts
      across our lived environments […] any filmic or televisual text and
      its cultural impact, value, and meaning cannot be adequately
      analyzed without taking into account the film or program’s many
      proliferations. (Gray 2010: 2)

     Gray’s theoretical reflection focuses on the textual constructs that
proliferate around the narrative hub of a storyworld (from advertising
to merchandising, video-games, web-sites, wikis, etc.), which can be
catalogued as peripherals: «A core entity with outliers that might not
prove “central” and that might not ever be doing the same thing as the
entity, but that are somehow related» (5). One of the interesting aspects
of these reflections lies in the various modalities by which the fan’s
access to, and participation in the transmedial storyworld is
guaranteed9. The transmedial experience, in its narrative and interactive
entirety, emerges in the dual function of threshold, as carried out by the



      9In relation to the source texts, Gray (2010: 36) distinguishes two
functions of the peripherals: one that anticipates-introduces the storyworld, in
such a way as to enhance the consumers’ expectations (entryway); the other,
which fills the gap during, or after, the fruition of the source text (in medias res).


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paratext10: on the one hand, it smooths out access to the various narrative
twists; on the other, it permits a series of immersive access-points
through medial technology that materializes and spatializes the virtual
dimension of make-believe, or which replicates the narrative spaces
within digital environments. Since every textual proliferation contains
the capacity to influence, or even to change, however subtly, the forming
of the meaning of storyworlds, then the conceptual territory of
transmediality must necessarily also include those barely narrative (yet
strongly interactive) spaces; it must also integrate in their
phenomenology the eclectic extra-diegetic dimension.
      The notion of paratext therefore advances the dialogue between
different worlds and transforms the storyworld into an accessible,
explorable and immersive fictional structure. Thus, from a narrative
concept the paratext readily becomes a hyper-diegetic tool, which
balances the narrative dimension with interactive and immersive spaces
and practices, mobilized by digital media. In this way, digital
paratextuality aims to enliven storyworlds, taking the notion of
transmediality beyond the mere narrative experience, and indicating the
relevance of further complex experiences in terms of cognitive and
sensorial involvement. This happens in contexts where storyworlds are
localized in time and space (Hill 2018: 224), via the infrastructure of
attraction, in which the precedence of the narrative experience leaves
space for the idea of interactive exploration. Theme parks, fan
conventions, cosplaying, fairs, etc., namely, a series of phenomena that
Freeman, for example, defines as leisure-time media (2018), mean that the
fan’s involvement lies precisely in crossing the boundaries between the
imaginary and the real, proposing various levels of storyworld
materializations, such as the acquisition of constitutive elements: e.g.
action figures and games that materialize and provide the make-believe
of virtuality with performativity; or, through transcodifying of contents,
environments and actions characterizing the storyworld, in a video-

     10 To Genette (1997:3) the paratext is: «an airlock that helps the reader
pass without too much difficult from one world to the other, a sometimes
delicate operation, especially when the second world is a fictional one».


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Mirko Lino, The “Ontological Fibrillation” of Transmedia Storyworlds



ludic and interactive key. The latter issue is at the crux of Klastrup and
Tosca’s research (2004; 2014; 2018), geared towards examining the
experiential dimension of transmediality. Their line of thought
transcends the centrality of narrative texts in transmedial constructs; in
fact, the two scholars favour the elision of the prefix “story”, in order to
concentrate, instead, on the notion of worldness, which is more complex
and comprehensive: «The [transmedial world] is not defined by the
material entity of any particular instantiation (the media platform) but
by the shared idea of the world, a sort of platonic approach that situates
the ontological status of the [transmedial world] in a disembodied
plane» (Kastrup and Tosca 2014: 297).
       The creation of settings, characters and events at the centre of
fictional transmedial worlds, in forms such as computer-games, to
which we might add experiences in VR and AR, contribute to
transcodifying mental images of transmedia storyworlds in cyberworlds,
i.e., interactive medial constructs that vie with each other to allow an
ontological dimension to emerge forcibly at the heart of the make-
believe:

         [Cyberworlds] contain the possibility to interact in real time with
      other users and to actively interact with and influence the world
      itself. They can be game worlds or entertainment world or social
      worlds, but most cyberworlds provide all three opportunities
      (gaming, being entertained, socialising) in some form. Cyberworlds
      offer some interesting opportunities for the actualization of a
      transmedial world. They left the user of the world become and act
      as character in the world, not just experiencing the world from the
      outside, but actually being transported inside it. (Klastrup and
      Tosca 2004: 5)

     In line with the various functions of a digital paratext, cyberworlds
contribute little to the principle of continuity and narrative unification,
focussing principally on the interactive components that provide the
consumer with access to the world of make-believe, and, at the same
time, the materialization of make-believe in the experiential fabric of the



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real world. Cyberworlds enliven transmedial worlds, respecting their
graphic fidelity, and confirming the founding elements, which, in the
words of Klastrup and Tosca, were mythos, ethos and topos (2004); they
promise the fan active interference, at the expense of a suspension in
narrative continuity, thus positioning themselves at the pinnacle of
reciprocal interaction between the virtuality of transmedial worlds and
the materiality of the real world, conceptualizing transmediality as a
total experience.

      Narrative Continuity and Media Actualization
     As previously stated, the all-encompassing experience of a
transmedia storyworld takes the shape of a condensed series of cross-
references between diegetic order and extra-diegetic interactivity. For
the sake of a theoretical description of transmediality as an all-
encompassing experience, it might prove useful to trace certain
developments in the forms of entertainment in the past, which, in some
way, anticipated the development of contemporary transmediality,
especially with regard to the pervious nature of the boundaries between
imaginary and real worlds.
     For Freeman, the way in which the stories are redistributed through
different media, is historically conditioned (2016): it reflects a series of
transformations, up-dates and transversal dialogues between cultural,
communicative and industrial branches. Within transmedia studies,
especially the contributions of Scolari, Bertetti and Freeman (2014),
Freeman (2016) and Bertetti (2018), have shown how transmediality is
not at all a new phenomenon, thus sparking a lively debate on a possible
formal origin of pre-digital transmediality. The conceptual crux of
transmedia storytelling deals with the transmission of content using
various supports, in accordance with the principles of sameness, variation
and extension. As several scholars have correctly pointed out, these
principles hint at phenomena of transmission of knowledge that is ever-
present in the various forms of culture, (e.g. in biblical stories [Bordwell
2009], [Johnson 2013]) and epic sagas [Evans 2011]) and in emerging
medial forms, when old media were “new”, such as the case of Don


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Quixote (Scolari 2013), a text characterized by a marked predisposition
to self-referentiality with which to exhibit the expressive possibilities of
the “new” narrative form of the novel. The question of the origin of
transmediality is difficult to resolve and also not very useful if examined
from a historical perspective lacking a benchmark and the prerogative
of “metaphysics of the original”; however, the utility of these lines of
thought lies in the subsequent enlivening of the general debate,
continuing beyond affirmations of unbiased rhetoric regarding the
“new”, which has characterized certain attitudes in the study of digital
narration11. In this sense, an archaeological perspective allows us to curb
any enthusiasm triggered by novelty wrapped up in interactive digital
contents, anchoring these phenomena between the continuity and
discontinuity that can be traced between the past and present of media,
and in the contribution of digital technology in its configurations
between audience and production in today’s entertainment industry.
Historicizing transmediality means drawing on the intrinsic tendencies
of stories to overreach their own semiotic boundaries (transtextuality)
and to observe the discursive fields (industry, media, technology,
consumption) implied in the modalities with which cultural production
takes place: «transmedia entertainment is intellectually useful as a
concept not for its newness but because it can help articulate a longer
history of production and consumption from socialized exchange of
culture» (Johnson 2013)
      Following the archaeological evidence traced by Scolari, Freeman
and Bertetti in Transmedia Archaeology (2016), we can single out the
emergence of a trans-textual predisposition in affirmation of the
entertainment industry, influenced by the evolution of mass media. The
three scholars have tackled diverse case studies over a period of time,
addressing the redefinition of trans-textuality, and focussing their
analysis on aspects regarding the narrative continuity in nuce, that is to


       I refer to the enthusiastic rhetoric of novelty that has characterized
      11


some of the initial academic research about the innovations carried out with
computerization and digitalization within the cultural processes; e.g. see
Laurel (1993) and Murray (1997).


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say, around the configuration of those concepts that, right in the era of
cultural convergence, will lead to the Jenkinsian notion of transmedia
storytelling. The analysis by the three scholars singles out, in the field of
production of pulp fictions, a reference model (transmedia pulp) for
observing the systematic nature of adaptations and other modes of inter-
semiotic transfer, for example, from comic strips to radio-drama, novels,
films, etc., fantasy and science-fiction products.
     In these adaptations there is a recognizable trend towards mass-
medial ubiquity of the heroes (character centered approach) and their
world (storyworld centered approach), i.e. those approaches to the
generative process of a more complex transmedial structure organized
on the principle of narrative continuity between the various medial texts
in question. Narrative continuity between one medium and another
becomes systematic with the gradual serialization of the entertainment
content: from dominant industrial model (especially in the 1930s and
1940s) serialization becomes an expressive cultural form, a model for the
organization of the contents of stories and entertainment. The formula
for serialization has its origins as far back as the second half of the 19 th
century at least, with Charles Dickens’ novels in instalments, and the
cinema of the 1910s; this permitted the intensification of formal artifices
in narrative continuity, proposing long story arcs, secondary, parallel
and alternative off-shoots, but also greater complexity as regards
characters, and other expedients as prerogative of the persistence of
stories in the fan’s memory: «Seriality has become a conscious part of
creating immersive story worlds [...] these properties have a serial
storytelling structure, multiple creative forces which author various
parts of the story, a sense of long-term continuity, a deep character
backlog, and a sense of permanence» (Ford 2007).
     If the pulp fiction industry, thanks to medial ubiquity and
serialization, can be thought of as a workshop for the formal
development of transmedia storytelling, the imaginary worlds that
focus on the clash between reality and fantasy, readily become fields of
investigation for the analysis of the ontological dimension of
transmediality and its realization as all-encompassing experience.



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      As noted by Wolf (2012; 2018), Freeman (2014), Bertetti (2018), and
others, the imaginary world of Oz created by Frank Baum, is one of the
case studies par excellence for understanding the immersive dimension
of transmediality in nuce (as yet unaware of its role), but in which the
coincidence of serialization, narrative continuity and multimedial
materialization of the imaginary world, appears quite evident. From the
point of view of content, the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900),
focuses on access to a parallel world, arranging the narrative precisely
on the basis of Dorothy’s capacity to traverse two diverging ontological
regimes (the reality of Kansas and the virtuality of the land of Oz).
Under a formal aspect, Baum’s original project adhered to the idea of
serialization, arranging the narrative into a further thirteen books. In
parallel to the planning of a long narrative cycle, Baum and other
authors multiplied the world of Oz into numerous transpositions in
diverse expressive codes, rendering it an imaginary experience entailing
the use of different media12: theatrical musicals, radio, comics, video-
games and numerous cinematic adaptations, including the 1939 film
version, The Wizard of Oz, in technicolour, directed by Victor Fleming
and the 2013 “prequel”, Oz the Great and Powerful, directed by Sam
Raimi. Many of these adaptations have contributed to enhancing, if not
intensifying, the perception of the existence of an imaginary world,
inserting new details, shifting to periods before and after the incipit of
the original novel.
      Michael O. Riley (2018), for example, identifies the publishing
success of Oz in Baum’s descriptive ability and the wealth of details and
information about the secondary world; to this perception we might add
the contribution of the medial ubiquity of various adaptations in
consolidating perception of the imaginary world in terms of a mappable
space.
      The Fairylogue and Radio Plays (1908) stands out among these
adaptations, a complex staging (of which there seem to be no remaining
traces) that exploited cinema’s meta-medial capacity in the first decade

       To examine in depth the multifarious adaptations of Baum’s novel, see
      12


Riley (2018).


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of the twentieth century, in terms of its elasticity in imposing and
integrating diverse expressive languages in order to create a total
experience generated by the co-presence of multiple expressive forms:
live performance, proto-filmic images of magic lanterns, music played
by a live orchestra, presence of an external narrator (Baum himself).
Baum’s multi-medial arrangement of the installation makes use of the
attractive power of the moving image, emphasizing the ability of the
emerging cinematographic medium to confuse the boundaries between
virtual and real in intriguing ways, and via the exchanges between
various techniques, to build up around the viewer the imaginary world
described in the book.

    Augmented Storyworlds: The Walking Dead – Our
                       World
     The archaeological example of the wizard of Oz indicates the
mighty capacity of stories never to burn themselves out and to build up
their transmedial dimension by providing revelations and access to
imaginary worlds13. Various strategies intercede in the sphere of media
franchises, or great media conglomerates, issuing paratextual extensions
to create and reinforce models of consumption and brand loyalties.


     13 It is fascinating to note how along his prolific literary production Baum
had intensified the tendency to figure ontological realms collapsing on each
other. Although The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is Baum’s most successful novel,
the following year he published The Master Key. An Electrical Fairy Tale (1901),
a novel in which the technology of Augmented Reality seems to have been
prefigured, especially its function in opening passages to other worlds and to
making the invisible visible. In the novel, the protagonist wears a pair of
glasses incorporating an odd technology allowing him to gather visually
information about the surrounding people, especially if their intentions are
kindly or spiteful. Therefore, it seems easy to recognise, in the glasses
envisaged by Baum, the technological ability of contemporary extended
reality devices (e.g. Google Glass and Microsoft HoloLens) to visualize virtual
information directly from reality and to interact with it.


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These strategies multiply the methods geared towards transforming the
narrative knowledge of a storyworld into an “economy of experience”
(Hills 2016): for example, through the total merchandising of simulacrum
objects (such as action figures, or board games14) procured from the
virtual dimension of the fictional world; or honing the immersive
techniques that contribute to the ludic conversion of the storyworld –
gamification of the storyworld (Freeman 2018). The utilization of
interactive paratextual forms can be seen to be more and more relevant
in the economy of transmedial experience, since it sets in motion the
intrinsic ontological fibrillation of imaginary worlds.
      As previously mentioned, in the initial example in this article, the
storyworld The Walking Dead proves to be an interesting workshop for
observing this fibrillation. Pertinent to the theory of other possible
words, the zombie apocalypse at the centre of the storyworld, allows us
to configure a parallel world, which appears as the dreadful reverse of
the known world. This world is totally zombified, where humanity
shows up in its most searing and perturbing deviation, in terms of
horror and violence. Furthermore, based around a long-standing
cinematographic myth, the narrative nucleus of The Walking Dead
retraces and takes to extremes certain established stratagems (e.g.
humanity’s ways of surviving), organizing them into a network of
storylines parallel in time and space (q.v. various official spin-offs), thus
creating a world in continuous evolution and paradoxically “alive”.
Alongside the narrative extensions, an interactive dimension is laid out;
this is based entirely on the interference of the fictional zombified world
with the real one: from the dissemination of promotional contents in the
social media, to theme parks and guided tours to Sonora, the place
where most of the TV series was shot, to various types of video-game,
from the “classics” such as First Person Shot, to those involving strategy


       For example, within the official merchandising of The Walking Dead
      14


franchise, it is worth noticing the publishing of a cookery book for survival in
the        case        of        a      “real”        zombie        apocalypse:
https://www.shopthewalkingdead.com/products/the-walking-dead-the-official-cookbook-
and-survival-guide?variant=44002701074     (last accessed: 24/08/2020)


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(“platform games”), to those with more narrative (“point and click
games”) where the player reproduces the philosophy and basic morals
of the storyworld15 ‒ a virtual staging of the outstanding places in the
make-believe world (exploration in VR16 of Alexandria, the capital of the
“new world” of the survivors) which consent a cognitive and spatial
extension of the storyworld (Atkinson 2018: 23).
      I would like to conclude by analysing the applications of
technology in Augmented Reality (AR), in order to illustrate the
intensification of interference between the make-believe zombified
world and the real one. AR is a medial technology, the spectacular
nature of which hinges entirely on the close dialogic relationship
between the real and the virtual. In his pioneering study Ronald Azuma
(1997) noted the basic differences between definitions of virtual
environments, where perception of the real world is suspended, and
augmented environments, in which data and information are
superimposed directly on to the physical world, without substituting
the latter with a simulation of the action space in computer graphics:

        Virtual Environment technologies completely immerse a user
     inside a synthetic environment. While immersed, the user cannot
     see the real world around him. In contrast, AR allows the user to
     see the real world, with virtual objects superimposed upon or
     composited with the real world. Therefore, AR supplements reality,
     rather than completely replacing it. Ideally, it would appear to the




     15 For instance, in The Walking Dead: The Game, a serial “point and click”
videogame produced by TellTale Game, the player is stimulated to make
tough decisions as if he were a character in the storyworld (e.g. the preventive
use of violence; which character to try to save form the zombies; suspicion
regarding other survivors, etc.). The interesting result is the emotive
enrichment of the gameplay with doses of positive and negative feelings of
empathy toward various characters.
     16 At the time of writing this article, the release of a new VR video game


had been announced: The Walking Dead – Saint & Sinner.


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Mirko Lino, The “Ontological Fibrillation” of Transmedia Storyworlds



      user that the virtual and real objects coexisted in the same space
      (356).

      The Walking Dead – Our World is an app-game in AR that allows one
to transform real space into a zombie apocalypse, to create extended
reality, i.e. a hybrid, unmappable space, where cyberspace and physical
reality, human interaction and machine-interface renegotiate their
borders17. In the game, the smartphone’s nomadic screen along with the
technology of the global positioning system (GPS) reveal the presence of
living dead in the surrounding urban spaces, thus impelling the player
to eliminate his enemies, collaborating with copies of the storyworld
characters in computer graphics. Moreover, the player can enter virtual
groups of survivors, extending the gameplay to socialization practices
implemented by the online dimension and by multi-playing. In this way
he/she will manage to emulate, in immersive and faithful manner, the
worldness in The Walking Dead: reproducing the pop myth of the zombie
apocalypse (mythos), configuring a hybrid space for action (topos) and
killing the zombies, emulating the ways of survival at the centre of the
ethos of the storyworld. All these elements lead to the transfiguration of
real space into the imaginary space of a post-apocalypse, and the
transformation of the player into one of its inhabitants. In this way an
intriguing ontologization of the storyworld is set up, in which the
zombie apocalypse is projected forward into the space of reality,
mediated with devices (smartphone) that configure the experience of the
everyday: «The Walking Dead – Our World is a mobile game that
encourages users not to escape from reality by entering a fictional
storyworld […] but rather to believe in the imaginary world as itself
reality by traversing the line between real and virtual» (Freeman 2019:
103).
      Finally, the technological affordances of AR, together with the
overlapping between the virtual dimension of fictional space and the


       To examine the media concept of Extended Realty in greater depth,
      17


using a semiotic approach, see, Biggio, Dos Santos, Giuliana (2020).



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real space of everyday experiences, emphasize the symbolic link
between the world of the living and that of the living dead; this is at the
heart of the thematic approaches, not only in The Walking Dead, but in all
medial mythology regarding zombies.




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                                      The Author
Mirko Lino

       Senior lecturer at University of L’Aquila – Department of Human
Sciences, where he teaches “History of Cinema” and “Cinema and
Media”. Among his publications the monography L’apocalisse
postmoderna tra letteratura e cinema (The Postmodern Apocalypse between
Literature and Cinema 2014). He is one of the editors of Imaginary Films in
Literature (2016) and Sex(t)ualities. Morfologie del corpo tra visioni e
narrazioni (Sex(t)ualities. Morphologies of the Body between Visions and
Narrations 2018).

        Email: Mirko.lino@univaq.it




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                               The Article
Date sent: 15/07/2020
Date accepted: 20/10/2020
Date published: 30/11/2020



                       How to cite this article
Lino, Mirko, “The “Ontological Fibrillation” of Transmedia
Storyworlds. Paratexts, Cyberworlds and Augmented Reality”,
Transmediality / Intermediality / Crossmediality: Problems of Definition, Eds.
H.-J. Backe – M.Fusillo – M. Lino, with the focus section Intermedial
Dante: Reception, Appropriation, Metamorphosis, Eds. C. Fischer – M.
Petricola., Between, X.20 (2020), www.betweenjournal.it




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