Reading Contemporary Serial Television Universes provides a new framework-the metaphor of the narrative ecosystem-for the analysis of serial television narratives. Contributors use this metaphor to address the ever-expanding and evolving structure of narratives far beyond their usual spatial and temporal borders, in general and in reference to specific series. Other scholarly approaches consider each narrative as composed of modular elements, which combine to create a bigger picture. The narrative ecosystem approach, on the other hand, argues that each portion of the narrative world contains all of the main elements that characterize the world as a whole, such as narrative tensions, production structures, creative dynamics and functions. The volume details the implications of the narrative ecosystem for narrative theory and the study of seriality, audiences and fandoms, production, and the analysis of the products themselves.
Acknowledgements
List of Figures and Tables
List of Contributors
Editors' Introduction
Part I - Theory
Chapter 1: New Paths in Transmediality as Vast Narratives: The State of the Field
Matthew Freeman
Chapter 2: Crossing the Boundaries: Narrative Ecosystems as Semiospheres
Marta Boni
Chapter 3: Evolution in Vampire-Centered TV Ecosystems
Héctor J. Pérez and Fernando Canet
Chapter 4: Audiences and Fan Studies: Technological Communities and Their Influences on Narrative Ecosystems
Paul Booth
Chapter 5: Spin-offs, Crossovers, and World Building "Energies"
Derek Johnson
Chapter 6: The Evolution of Characters in TV Series: Morphology, Selection and Remarkable Cases in Narrative Ecosystems
Veronica Innocenti and Guglielmo Pescatore
Part II - Analysis
Chapter 7: An Italian Ecosystem: Gomorra
Ilaria A. De Pascalis
Chapter 8: Thank God I'm a Country Series. Interacting Environments and Networks in Nashville
Paola Brembilla
Chapter 9: You're Sherlock Holmes, wear the damn hat! Character Identity in a Transfiction
Roberta Pearson
Chapter 10: The Specificities of the North-European Seriality: Strong Local Voices in a Global Media-World
Heidi Philipsen
Chapter 11: Event TV Drama within Narrative Ecosystems: Extended Seriality and Differing Paratextual Orientations in the 50th Anniversaries of Cult TV
Matt Hills
Chapter 12: The Game of Game of Thrones: Networked Concordances and Fractal Dramaturgy
Andrew Beveridge and Michael Chemers
