Transmedia Storytelling
Transmedia Storytelling
I think Jenkins’ views on transmedia storytelling
is absolutely correct (although this felt more like a discussion than an
argument, but I digress). Today’s generation of storytelling has become as
immersive, detailed, and varied as those who make it can imagine and those who
consume it choose to see. One of my favorite things about transmedia
storytelling is how creators can take different avenues to tell different
stories. Some stories work in one media where in others they would just flop.
Sometimes fans like just passively experiencing a story while others like to
dig deep. It’s amazing really, and as someone who loves exploring the plot, backstories,
and ‘technobabble’ of just about anything I watch/read/listen to it has really
enriched many of the universes I like to immerse myself into.
I actually wrote a post about Halo’s transmedia
storytelling right before this prompt was created (although I’ll be posting it
with this one, oops) so you can check that out here. For now, however I’d like
to explore a different example of transmedia storytelling. Pokémon.
Gotta tell them all...
As I’m sure you know, Pokémon is a franchise about catching weird creatures and
making the fight each other in what I’m sure are totally PETA friendly
encounters. (It’s bizarre to think about how Pokémon works as an adult.) It
started as a video game and over the years has become everything from collectable
cards to anime and even just received its first LIVE-ACTION MOVIE.
This is the world we live in people.
What’s really fascinating
about all these different avenues, however, is how a different type of story is
told in each based on how the user interacts with it, specifically the life-action
movie. When I first heard word that the movie was a real thing that was going
to happen, I was both stupidly excited, and concerned. Why? Because a game
based solely on the video games would kind of suck, and the anime kinda went
down the toilet for me after Diamond and Pearl… uh… like a decade ago.
If it was going to be
based on just about anything already in the franchise, I was scared it was
going to suck. The games only had fairly ambiguous characters, hours of
gameplay, and multiple playstyles. There’s absolutely no direction for a movie
to work with.
That said, not long
after the first inklings of a life-action movie being made was released to the public,
Nintendo had released a game called Detective Pikachu. Sound familiar?
Well this was probably the creators testing the water before the movie’s name was
released. It was about a kid whose dad, a detective, went missing and ended up bumping
into a Pikachu he could understand who used to work with his dad. Probably also
a bit familiar if you know anything about the new movie.
This game, and its movie,
had stories with an actual narrative and as such, worked perfectly as a real
movie. It’s got mystery, fun characters, a much shorter plotline, 10/10 would
make a movie again.
Yet, both the normal original
games and the movie do an excellent job telling their own stories in the same
universe. It’s a great example of how transmedia storytelling brings new life
and new avenues for stories. 
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