Transmedia Paratexts: Informational, Commercial, Diegetic, and Auratic Circulation

This chapter considers how transmedia paratexts can operate in a variety of ways, sometimes being targeted at fan subcultures, and sometimes reinforcing the cultural value of a media franchise. Specific paratexts can offer informational functions for fans, guiding them across other paratexts, and can also respond to fan criticisms. Although transmedia paratexts have often been viewed as diegetic, this downplays an “auratic” role, e.g., museum exhibits aimed at legitimating media properties. The chapter concludes by addressing how commercial paratexts such as merchandise and reviews aggregators have become sites of audience struggle rather than merely brand/narrative extensions or textual framings.