Author: RobinDaprato

Higher Education & ScholarshipLeave a comment

Poetry in Play (PIP)

RobinDaprato

Poetry in Play (PIP)  Whether you are teaching or learning in or outside of the classroom, PIP is a resource for understanding poetry, literary terms, and the devices at play. Poetry is often the subject students approach with the most apprehension. We hope situating poetry in a more playful and interactive context will lessen students’ anxiety and build their confidence in their own analytical and close reading skills. Our mission is to provide students with the tools to find their own unique perspectives on poetry and to help them feel confident and excited about studying–the often dreaded unit–poetry. We hope our initiative inspires others to contribute … Continue reading Poetry in Play (PIP)

Procedural Literacy & CreativityLeave a comment

Jonathan Gray’s Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts: An Analytical Look at the Significance of Digital Audience-Generated Paratexts

RobinDaprato

INTRODUCTION In Jonathan Gray’s Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts, he explores the increasing phenomenon of media paratexts as being critical components in shaping audience viewing practices. A “paratext” refers to media extensions for film and television including, trailers, fan-fiction, online discussion boards, bonus DVD extras, interviews, spinoffs, reviews, and other peripheral material (1).[1] In Chapter 1, “From Spoilers to Spinoffs: A Theory of Paratexts,” Gray notes how: Each paratext acts like an airlock to acclimatize us to a certain text, and it demands or suggests certain kinds of reading strategies…Thus, paratexts tell us what to expect, and in doing so, they shape … Continue reading Jonathan Gray’s Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts: An Analytical Look at the Significance of Digital Audience-Generated Paratexts

Annotated BibliographyLeave a comment

Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts.

RobinDaprato

Gray, Jonathan. Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts. New York: New York UP, 2010. Print.

Jonathan Gray’s Show Sold Separately explores how media extensions and paratextual material for television and film—and peripherally literature, music, and videogames—are used to enhance the fan experience and invite viewers to enter into a fictitious world at a deeper level. Gray states that his thesis for his book is premised on the theory that paratexts are both “distinct from” and alike—or, I will argue, intrinsically part of—the text. The book’s thesis is that paratexts are not simply add-ons, spinoffs and also-rans: they create texts, they manage them, and they fill them with many of the meanings that we associate with them” (6). Although most of Gray’s book explores the ways producers create paratextual material to increase profit and build franchises, he also explores the vitality of digitally enabled co-creation between producers (authors, producers, and media hubs) and consumers (fans) for storytelling. Gray’s argument that digital paratexts challenge traditional publishing practices is crucial when attempting to understand the ways that the digital platform has challenged and reconfigured cultures of creation.  Continue reading “Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts.”