Mae Tidman LCC 3257 – Global Cinema May 3, 2010 Prof. Navarro Term Paper

World Building as Global Cinema

World building is something that has recently made it easier for films to have

more access to the world in an easily translatable and entertaining form. Over the span of

this global cinema course, we have discussed what makes films global as well as what is

global cinema. Based on our studies and class discussions, several tactics and approaches

to understanding and critiquing world cinema have been considered. Out of these, I will

discuss a few that relate to world building, including the economy of the productions, the

digital age and its affect on world building, as well as what world building has to do with

globalization. During and after that coverage, I will briefly describe some of the most

globally successful franchises/worlds: the Star Wars expanded universe, The Matrix

series, and the 2009 James Cameron film Avatar.

Intro to Global Cinema

Before trying to discuss world building as global cinema, we need a quick

introduction to the general topics covered in this Georgia Tech course. First and foremost

(yet continuing throughout the semester) we considered the question, “What is world

cinema?”. It is quite unarguably many things, and scholars use the phrase with varied

intentions; however, for the purposes of this essay we can look at the definition provided

by Lucia Nagib in our assigned reading: “World cinema is simply the cinema of the

world. It has no centre. It is not the other, but it is us. It has no beginning and no end, but

is a global process. World cinema, as the world itself, is circulation.”

This is important when considering where this essay’s arguments are arriving

from and the intended meanings’ derivation. In Nagib’s essay, she is addressing what

world cinema is as well as how it should be studied and analyzed. This definition

provided has much to say about what we are talking about. World cinema is not

everything but Hollywood but rather more simply the cinema of the world, and it

involves the circulation of not only film but also parts of the world through the film.

Fictional world building is world cinema because it circulates easily and carries with it

ideas that can be related to any person or society. It is also world cinema because of how

it ignites interest in people all over the globe who then get involved with the world and

exploring into its depths.

World Building

World building is more than just filmmaking and franchising. The worlds are

more than just backdrops for narrative timelines; they are geographical domains that can

be used for new adventures and discoveries. The characters that are developed are often

inconsequential assets to the world despite popular following; this is because the worlds

live with or without the characters and are an interest of fandom in and of themselves.

The plotline is also an add-on feature. Just consider Star Wars: is it about Anakin or

Luke? Is it about becoming a Jedi or defeating the evil empire? Typically these kinds of

questions can be found anywhere that there is a fictional world that has been built; a

whole page of questions was listed in Henry Jenkins’ chapter of Convergence Culture

regarding The Matrix series.

Henry Jenkins, in that chapter and in his other writings, explores the idea of world

building and its emotional potential for an audience, and how complex environments can

inspire a plethora of emotional responses that in turn create foundations for compelling

stories. He writes, “More and more, storytelling has become the art of world building, as

artists create compelling environments that cannot be fully explored or exhausted within

a single work or even a single medium. The world is bigger than the film, bigger even

that the franchise – since fan speculations and elaborations also expand the world in a

variety of directions.” This is a more-than-adequate summary of world building that I will

discuss further.

The most influential and important aspect of world building and its transfer to

other cultures is that it has the potential to be remade or re-envisioned within another

culture. The fan base is more important in these types of movies than any other because

their following is also what carries the film, content, and information across the Internet

and onto the screens of computers worldwide, while translating the content for different

cultures. Not only do these fans spread and relate the content, they also evolve the

fictional world as they explore the depths of the franchise.

This participatory side of film culture and media culture in general has major

implications on the future; one of which is briefly described in a Blog by Alex Leavitt:

“Companies have already started to expand the experience of films, for example, by

implementing social media strategies to extend the characters' interaction with

audiences.” Since audiences are so captivated and involved with the fictional worlds, the

next steps involve furthering people-media interactions and how people can use the

media for their own self-expression. Several authors on the topic, including Jenkins,

pointed out that the current copyright and content-use laws are merely our reaction to the

recent changes brought on by the Internet and will eventually smooth out into more user-

friendly and logical policies. This transition we are in becomes more apparent on further

consideration of the plethora of fan-generated content and the massive impact such

content has had on the media industries, which is unfortunately out of the scope of this

essay.

Another point to be considered is that world building can comprise the

experience, but only to the extent that audiences retain interest (Leavitt). In Leavitt’s

Blogpost, he makes note that the Star Wars franchise is best explored in its engrossing

Star Wars Encyclopedias. “World building, instead of actual construction, might better be

understood as the completion of a block or field of knowledge in each audience

member’s mind. Hence, different world will be built as audiences experience transmedia

in different ways.” This leads on to a discussion of world building as transmedia.

World Building as Transmedia

Developing a narrative that is capable of extending across multiple media

platforms involves creating the world as the main character, because the narratives are

not the story of a few characters but rather the story of a world. Special attention must be

paid to developing a stage upon which multiple storylines can unfurl while each story

must maintain the consistency of the world. The world must be so well thought out that it

is discoverable, which is precisely what will be done in the gaming platform if it

transcends to that medium.

There are many potential capabilities with world building on multiple mediums,

and it is hard to describe everything that is possible. However, I found Aaron Smith’s

description to be adequate and thought provoking: “Transmedia storytelling involves

incorporating spatial structures into narratives to develop a storytelling environment. In

other words, by evoking the presence of a larger spatial structure in the narrative, a

Transmedia story can support a near infinite amount of plots and characters… The

creation of a vast and detailed narrative space, only a fraction of which is ever directly

seen or encountered within the text, but which nonetheless appears to operate according

to principles of internal logic and extension”. Therefore, the consumers of the franchise

are aware that they are only seeing a portion of the actual world, leaving the rest up to

imagination and potential fan products and resulting in a more immersive experience.

There is a special relationship between what is shown and what is hidden so that

the imagination transports the viewer or player into the fictional world, giving him or her

a sense of being there or witnessing the events. This experience is created through

environmental details and textures that are in the background, like the clues hidden in The

Matrix trilogy and the unmentioned aliens standing in the background, which induce

wonder. If the producers and directors can create a world that actively invites the viewer

to explore, question, and create belief, then the fans will invest tremendous effort in

developing a written understanding of the world, logging every detail in order to flesh out

the world and make it more real (Jenkins, Smith).

Economic Incentives

World building invites and often involves franchising, which can be extremely

profitable. Well-developed worlds can and have easily resulted in toys and toy sets,

novels, video games, print media, and basically anything else worth buying. The Star

Wars franchise has made an estimated 9 billion dollars of revenue from its merchandise

(Smith). In buying these products, fans are demonstrating their fandom and feeling part

of the famous universe.

Avatar

Avatar is an interesting and most recent example of world building that has been

popular all over the world. Its attraction was of course a result of more than just the

fictional world that James Cameron created, but the vision he designed and the places he

took his audiences are important to the culture of the film. Henry Jenkins discusses this

film in a recent Blogpost on his website. He points out that in the decade it took Cameron

to make the film he was able to think through every dimension of this world. It is a

complex model involving an awe-inspiring ecological and cultural system. He also had a

language developed for the Na’Vi aliens, which is not uncommon for a fictional world of

this scale (as seen in Star Wars universe and most other franchises about space and

aliens).

The film quite apparently focuses on issues and events that occur on a global or

cosmic scale – a common thread in science fiction – that are easily translatable across the

varied cultures and politics of the real world. The events that occur on the fictional planet

Pandora are realizable no matter where the audience member is from, and the emotions

that come out of experiencing Avatar as a film, Pandora as a place, and the Na’Vi as a

culture can be risen in any human who allows feelings to emerge.

Jenkins also points out that the characters’ development is something that lacks

due to the complexities of the details of the fictional world, which is also something that

has been noted by critics; however, he says that fans who are interested in the world-

building aspect of the movie do not care for this “flaw”. These types of fans are able to

see the characters as vehicles for exploring the world rather than for telling the story,

especially when the story unfolds via the world. This is not to say that the Na’Vi are not

well developed, because they are certainly depicted in rich and vivid ways, drawing the

viewer into the culture of their alien-people; but the other characters are less developed

than would be expected of a movie without a world.

In another recent Blogpost by Henry Jenkins and his student Lifang He, the

Chinese Avatar fan culture is examined. Some, if not most, of these fan practices are

global and not restricted to China nor Avatar; however, they are interesting to consider in

how Avatar as a fictional universe has drawn so many people in. Lifang He replies to a

reader’s comment that the Blogpost is to help readers see how Chinese fans understand

the movie and what they have done with the movie. So although in the next paragraph I

say “Chinese fans”, the text actually applies to most international and American fans.

Avatar immediately developed a huge enthusiastic fan base in China as well as

other parts of the world. China is interesting though because the media there is still

restricted in comparison to American standards, and the Chinese experience an unequal

international distribution that disrupts the flow of media. Despite these hurdles, Chinese

fans are active in learning and understanding what is happening in Avatar through the

Internet and other new technologies, which are also used for self-expression and

creativity for contribution to the Avatar community.

Interestingly enough, Avatar had a huge impact on the Chinese film industry by

sparking an interest in the development of local filmmaking. A conference was held in

January 2010 to discuss how to improve Chinese movies, and it was appealed to the

Chinese government (through evidence of enthusiasm for Avatar) that China should

support the production of non-reality films that the Chinese moviegoers desire but do not

have nationally. Lifang He concludes the Blogpost with a note that China’s transition

period will eventually lead to a more transparent and open political and social policy, and

there will be more freedom for movie production and Hollywood promotion. It is

interesting that Avatar had such an impact on China this year.

Conclusion

The future only holds more for world building and audiences can expect to see

more immersive environments like the galaxy far far away and the Matrix in which to

explore and indulge. There has yet to be a transmedia franchise to utilize the maximum

potential of world building by fans through the development of a story beyond that

created by the industry, which is something to look forward to in the future.

As a last note, I would like to leave the reader with the thought that Henry Jenkins

left me in his chapter “Searching for the Origami Unicorn”, that the children today are

growing up in a culture of collaboration and exploration, and they are being prepared to

“contribute to a more sophisticated knowledge culture.” What I have discovered through

this project is that we are certainly in a transitional culture, and what lies ahead is

promising for the intellect.

Resources

Apperley, Thomas. "Citizenship and Consumption: Convergence Culture, Transmedia

Narratives and the Digital Divide." IE '07: Proceedings of the 4th Australasian

Conference on Interactive Entertainment. Melbourne, Australia: RMIT

University, 2007. 1-4. ACM Database. Web.

Freeman, Luke. "Transmedia Storytelling: The Art of World Building «." Luke Freeman

- Sydney/Vancouver Web Design, Marketing and Social Media Specialist. Luke

Freeman. Web. <http://www.lukefreeman.com.au/papers/transmedia-storytelling-

the-art-of-world-building/>.

Jenkins, Henry. "Confessions of an Aca/Fan: Archives: Five Ways to Read Avatar."

Confessions of an Aca-Fan. 01 Feb. 2010. Web.

<http://henryjenkins.org/2010/02/five_ways_to_read_avatar.html>.

Jenkins, Henry. "Searching for the Origami Unicorn: The Matrix and Transmedia

Storytelling." Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New

York: New York UP, 2006. 93-130. Print.

Jenkins, Henry & He, Lifang. "What the Chinese Are Making of Avatar." Confessions of

an Aca-Fan. 12 Mar. 2010. Web.

<http://henryjenkins.org/2010/03/avatar_and_chinese_fan_culture.html>.

Kerr, Aphra & Flynn, Roderick. “Revisiting Globalisation through the Movie and Digital

Games Industries”. Convergence: The Journal of Research into New Media

Technologies, 9:2. 2003. Web.

Leavitt, Alex. "World Building as Design: Exploratory Video Games." Convergence

Culture Consortium. MIT, 27 Oct. 2009. Web.

<http://www.convergenceculture.org/weblog/world_building>.

Nagib, Lucia. “Towards a positive definition of World Cinema”. Remapping World

Cinema – Identity, Culture and Politics in Film. Ed. Song Hwee Lim and

Stephanie Dennison. London: Wallflower Press, 2006. 30-37. Georgia Tech

Library Reserves. Web.

Shefrin, Elana. "Lord of the Rings , Star Wars , and Participatory Fandom: Mapping New

Congruencies between the Internet and Media Entertainment

Culture." Transnational Cinema: the Film Reader. Ed. Elizabeth Ezra and Terry

Rowden. London: Routledge, 2006. 81-96. Georgia Tech Library Reserves. Web.

Smith, Aaron. "The Art of Worldbuilding." The Middlebury Blog Network. 17 June 2009.

Web. <http://blogs.middlebury.edu/mediacp/2009/06/17/the-art-of-

worldbuilding/>.