tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15191330.post1073008765289716402..comments2023-11-28T05:28:18.563-05:00Comments on All Things Ken: Paratextually LostKenneth R. Morefieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02492954693818444648noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15191330.post-87877744948264662882008-02-16T17:02:00.000-05:002008-02-16T17:02:00.000-05:00I saw the first five minutes of that episode of Lo...I saw the first five minutes of that episode of <I>Lost</I>, Ken. The reason the show is such a phenomenon is because the show is capable of being compulsively talked-about and speculated-about. What does this new development mean? What were the Dharma people doing? Are the rescuers good or bad? Of course, the internet creates all new outlets for this endless jibber-jabber, and that pop-up episode basically just inserted a bunch of internerd theories and tried to point out a bunch of clues, the meaning of which still hasn't been explained. <BR/><BR/>I started watching the show again after last season's finale, which showed that at least the show was going to go one better than <I>The Prisoner</I>, but it's just not a good show. It's intricately plotted for the sake of being intricately plotted, and without a single insight into the human condition.Russell Lucashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11819923803855144915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15191330.post-20923688166213196172008-02-14T16:21:00.000-05:002008-02-14T16:21:00.000-05:00Well I wasn't dissing Buffy so much as the awed to...Well I wasn't dissing <I>Buffy</I> so much as the awed tones in which its fans speak of it, but point taken.Kenneth R. Morefieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02492954693818444648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15191330.post-10166302432215130522008-02-14T13:31:00.000-05:002008-02-14T13:31:00.000-05:00I agree that "Lost" has seemed to lack direction, ...I agree that "Lost" has seemed to lack direction, but the recent announcement of a definite end to the series (2010) gave me some hope that the writers/producers would create a more coherent plot.<BR/>And no dissing <I>Buffy</I> until you've actually watched it.Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18122934646158331635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15191330.post-17005350625411484322008-02-10T23:55:00.000-05:002008-02-10T23:55:00.000-05:00OK, now I understand what you mean. However, if th...OK, now I understand what you mean. However, if this sort of thing becomes routine, I certainly hope they'll adopt something like the SAP function on the TV to turn it off!<BR/>You've probably never spent any time watching the music video channels (the ones that still actually show music videos, that is). One of them has a show where they run popular videos and superimpose email or phone text messages from viewers around the edges of the screen, apparently in real time, but probably edited on a short delay ("Lisa G., I love you! Foo Fighters Rock!", etc.) My great fear is that sooner or later narrative TV will take what Lost did to this next, odious, viewer-dictated level.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15191330.post-11967054715417870112008-02-10T22:44:00.000-05:002008-02-10T22:44:00.000-05:00Peter,Certainly one function of the gloss on this ...Peter,<BR/>Certainly one function of the gloss on this episode was/is to initiate the unread and bring the poor reader/viewer up to speed. So I don't think the Cliff's Notes analogy an entirely poor one. <BR/><BR/>But unlike some, these paratexts were never meant to become independent texts. (Genette distinguishes in definition between external texts that are at some point folded back into the text, such as, say Mary Shelley's introduction to the second edition of Frankenstein, and peritexts that always exist in the text, such as titles, introductions, footnotes, etc.)<BR/><BR/>It is the inclusion, then, of the explanatory gloss into the "text" of the television show that fascinates me. To use your literary metaphor, the "Lost" example seems to me akin not to the teacher saying it is okay to read the Cliffs Notes or even the teacher teaching the Cliffs Notes, but to the author or editor including the Cliffs Notes in his second edition, maybe in a page by page, side by side edition. Perhaps we might see something like this in a Norton Critical Edition...actually what it reminds me of is reading a critical edition of some article that has footnotes by the author and so the editors will have explanatory footnotes and then there will be a an explanatory footnoe and in brackets the editor will say something like ["author's note."]<BR/><BR/>On the television, it isn't even clear to me if this is the author's note or the editor's (i.e. studio's). I presume the latter. But then again, if the director/writer doesn't have final cut, then the question of whether or not the editor's footnotes are part of the text is pretty fuzzy.Kenneth R. Morefieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02492954693818444648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15191330.post-49286048156176189452008-02-10T21:18:00.000-05:002008-02-10T21:18:00.000-05:00Ken, Is it possible these paratexts are no more ...Ken,<BR/> Is it possible these paratexts are no more than Cliff's Notes for the Wikipedia generation? Can they really become independent texts or are they merely a crutch for those who need to be spoon-fed subtexts or complicated ideas? I don't mean these questions to sound combative; I'm genuinely interested in your take.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com