Convergence: Cowabunga Dude!!!

Recently in a number of my courses the issue of convergence culture or transmedia has been raised. At first I did not truly understand what this term meant but as I did a bit of independent research and learned from my classes I realized thatI have known about transmedia since I was born. I am of course talking here about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; the turtles are one of the most successful examples of transmedia franchises in our history. Spanning from comic books to video games the turtles have crossed numerous media platforms to tell the story of genetically mutated turtles who fight crime in the streets of NYC. The site http://www.ninjaturtles.com/ provides a great history of the TMNT explaining how the story was created in a small apartment and ended up becoming a pop culture phenomenon that is still popular to this day.

The issue of transmedia and convergence culture is most famously discussed by Henry Jenkins. Essentially Jenkins argues that transmedia / convergence is the art of telling a story across a variety of media platforms. The success of convergence culture and transmedia rests upon the active participation of citizens. This is because with the proliferation of new media technologies based upon interactivity, such as the internet and video games, consumers have become active creators of meanings. The process of production no longer rests solely upon mainstream media producers, but rather relies upon the active involvement of fan communities who take the story into their own hands and create new and exciting scenarios for the characters. Jenkins example of this transmedia phenomenon is Star Wars, he uses this example because fans are particularly active in creating stories that are separate from the traditional story universe of Star Wars. This article can be found here http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/starwars.html. While Star Wars is an excellent example of a story that has managed to spread across a wide variety of media outlets, I feel that the TMNT have been far more successful in reaching every available media platform. Before I continue my discussion of the TMNT there is one example of Star Wars transmedia that I cannot leave out, George Lucas in Love. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5058529870025933880# this movie was created by former USC film students and parodies how George Lucas created the media spectacle that is Star Wars.

There are numerous fan fiction videos that have been made surrounding the turtles this is one example which I found particularly funny http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D9p-wmtIJc. There is also a website committed to ninja turtle fan fiction, where fans actually write scripts that include themselves in the ninja turtle universe http://www.fanfiction.net/cartoon/Ninja_Turtles/ .It is not only fan fiction that makes the TMNT a perfect example of transmedia, although it is a great example of active fan participation utilizing the interactive nature of new media, it is the fact that this supersystem of entertainment has reached every media outlet available. The series began as a comic book, evolved into a television, which later evolved into a video game, this led to the creation of a movie, on top of this the turtles have numerous action figures and have appeared in anti drug public service announcements. This PSA may seem comical now but back then it showed the influence that the TMNT had over the youth of the day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMfWMS9zgAo .

Overall the turtles exemplify what we are talking about when we discuss convergence culture. The reach across various platforms to effectively tell a story and invite audience participation is the defining feature of transmedia. The entertainment industry should look to the turtles on tips of how to create a truly successful transmedia story that can endure the ages.

Until next time stay Extremely Super Radical, as the turtles would say: Cowabunga dude!!!

- The Ubiquitous Civilian