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Anania, Valentina (2025) Transmedia authorship as a media industries practice. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

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Abstract

This thesis offers an analytical framework to investigate transmedia authorship within the context of the media industries. Through the case studies of the Wizarding World and Star Wars, it transcends the dichotomy, prevalent in media authorship research, between viewing authorship as tied to individual genius or to the collaborative effort of numerous contributors. Challenging current understandings of transmedia authorship as relying on a central authorial figure (Jenkins, 2006; Evans, 2011; Freeman, 2016), the case studies demonstrate that transmedia authorship is mutable, like the texts to which it relates.

The thesis uses paratextual analysis (Genette, 1997 [1987]; Gray, 2010), as well as the concept of performance in linguistics (Austin, 1975) and media authorship (Gray, 2010; Hadas, 2020), to show how a ‘transmedia author-function’ emerges from the performed relationships between a primary authorial figure and the other contributors to the fictional universe, as mediated through officially-branded material and public commentary by key creatives.

The crux of the study lies in recognising the media industries as a key player in the construction of authorship and its fluidity. Accordingly, the thesis demonstrates that the performed relationships serve as a mechanism through which authorial authority can be bestowed or limited. The case studies show how media corporations contribute to shifts in the transmedia author-function; by showcasing or sidelining different authorial figures, IP owners can encourage a more or less collaborative conception of authorship, with the aim of pursuing different strategic objectives for the future of the transmedia universe as brand.

Item Type:	Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Supervisors:	Pearson, Roberta Evans, Elizabeth
Keywords:	Transmedia, transmediality, transmedia worlds, transmedia storytelling, authorship, fictional worlds, media industries, screen industries
Subjects:	P Language and literature > PN Literature (General)
Faculties/Schools:	UK Campuses > Faculty of Arts > School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies
Item ID:	80810
Depositing User:	Anania, Valentina
Date Deposited:	28 Jul 2025 04:40
Last Modified:	28 Jul 2025 04:40
URI:	https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/80810

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