Transmedia storytelling e webtoons: velhos mundos em roupagens novas
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Transmedia storytelling is often presented as a product of the new millennium, though it has
been around ever since people communicate their “narrative[s] through a multitude of
integrated media channels” (Kalinov & Markova, 2016). A straightforward example could be
the case of cinema (in whatever genre) that combines a multitude of semantic channels
merging into one single event, as Jenkins (2007) puts it: “multiple delivery channels for the
purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience”. But we need not
restrict these examples to the 20th century or its whereabouts: medieval jugglers or jesters
were performers who blended oral skills for reciting poetry, telling stories and humouring
noblemen and the royalty with those of dancing, music-playing and singing. The bottom-line
resides in the enjoyable experience, conveyed either by reading or by listening to stories, that
has become nowadays commodified, not only since the invention of the printing press and its
dissemination in generally available books, but also, and, more recently, by means of the
internet as the disseminator par excellence of stories from all corners of the world. This brings
us to the issue of the multiple platforms where nowadays readers can access stories latu
sensu, ranging from blogs and websites to podcasts, YouTube or comics on the web, the latter
also known as webcomics, digital comics or the Korean term webtoons. According to Cho
(2016), the webtoon “is a complex system created by the distinctive combination of two media
(comics and the digital)”. Methodologically speaking, we aim to apply a textual analysis
approach so as to pinpoint the differences between traditional comics (on paper) and current
comics on the web, examine the mainstream platforms that make this transmedia storytelling
mode available and reflect upon the extent to which storytelling has become a commodity for
present time users.
Transmedia storytelling is often presented as a product of the new millennium, though it has been around ever since people communicate their “narrative[s] through a multitude of integrated media channels” (Kalinov & Markova, 2016). Cinema is an example, but we need not restrict these examples to the 20th century: medieval jugglers or jesters were performers who blended oral skills for reciting poetry, telling stories and humouring noblemen and the royalty with those of dancing, music-playing and singing. Since the invention of the printing press and its dissemination in generally available books, as well as by means of the internet as the disseminator par excellence of stories from all corners of the world that these experiences have becomes commodified. This brings us to the issue of the multiple platforms where nowadays readers can access stories latu sensu, ranging from blogs and websites to podcasts, youtube or webtoons (i.e. comics on the web), ”a complex system created by the distinctive combination of two media (comics and the digital)” (Cho, 2016). Methodologically speaking, we aim to pinpoint the differences between traditional comics (on paper) and current comics on the web, examine the mainstream platforms that make transmedia storytelling available and reflect upon the extent to which storytelling has become a commodity for present time users.
