Topic > Fantagonism - 1716

Fans may have strong responses to both narrative and production events that influence their favorite television shows. A wall used to mourn Ianto Jones after his death in Tortchwood: Children of the Earth. 50,000 pounds of peanuts shipped to CBS' New York bureau to show support for Jericho when he was canceled (Elber 2007). Hate and threats aimed at writers, producers, actors and their families who protested Castiel's prominence on Supernatural. These reactions are tied to fans' emotional investment and the connections they've made by expanding beyond what's seen on screen. A sense of justification for actions taken comes from the unfulfilled promise of shared production in a participatory culture. Where diegesis is the narrative world seen by the audience, Matt Hill's hyperdiegesis is “the creation of a vast and detailed narrative space, only a fraction of which is directly seen or encountered within the text, but which nevertheless seems operate according to principles of internal logic and extension” (2002: 137). This vast world is built over the course of the series by accumulating and reiterating details. Mentions of people (The Federation in Star Trek), places (maps included in the Lord of the Rings books), and events ("Vatican cameo!" in Sherlock Holmes) suggest an entire world with a story that can be explored from the main text in future episodes or through fan productions. It provides a coherent world and the operating rules by which it works, rules that fans must abide by when they choose to explore the world on their own. Although a show's hyperdiegesis must remain consistent to maintain the trust of its audience, Hill believes that producers must “play within their own established rules and norms… in order to maintain the audience's interest” (2004:511 ). Similar to hyperdiegesis, Henry Jenkin's (1992) metatext also expands the information provided