Response to Jenkins

I found Jenkins’ article to be very interesting. There are some franchises, such as the ones he mentions: Harry Potter, Twilight & Star Trek, that have picked up a large number of devoted fans. But while some franchises have successfully used transmedia narrative practices, the majority of films and television shows that exist do not. Even shows such as Friends or Frasier may have had devoted fans who would never miss an episode, but they were not looking into the histories of the characters on the show.

Today, this seems to have become so much more common that it seems as though every movie or TV show that comes out has transmedia practices, audiences really do not want any secrets or unanswered questions. Looking at the Harry Potter franchise that Jenkins brought up, one can see that fans enjoyed the anticipation of waiting for new books, and new films, but when the series ended there was nothing left to wonder about. Harry Potter has achieved successful transmedia practices, but the ending left little to the imagination—a drastic change from the rest of the series.

It would be interesting today to see films leave information and parts of the story up to the imagination, and only use the transmedia practices to enhance what is already known in the films.