Transmedia Storytelling, Adaptation and the Cult Culture
Transmedia Storytelling, Adaptation and the Cult Culture

Summary/Abstract: This essay discusses some of the most popular theories about adaptation and transmedia storytelling and argues that the two terms have come very close to meaning the same thing in the contemporary era of fiction and filmmaking. This relation becomes especially significant at a moment in time when arts require to be perceived from a hybrid perspective. They interact with one another through the adaptation of the same text in different media. The main ideas stated in the paper contradict the false perception of many critics that have analyzed adaptations strictly in relation to their original source and that have theorized that adaptations should remain the same in all types of media in which they are adapted.At the same time, the essay is also focused on the implication of this hybridity upon the cultification of specific cultural materials or objects such as films, books, manga or video games – depending on the socio-cultural context of the audience. By using specific examples both contemporary and from the past, it becomes easier to support the theory that there is indeed a tight relation between the notion of a “cult classic” and those of transmedia storytelling and adaptation.

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