International Library of the Moving Image: To Boldly Go : Marketing the Myth of Star Trek (Hardcover)

ID: wExRJmmEEM

Manufacturer: I. B. Tauris & Company

Today s media cinema and TV screens are host to new manifestations of myth their modes of storytelling radically transformed from those of ancient Greece. They present us with narratives of contemporary customs and belief systems: our modern-day myths. This book argues that the tools of transmedia merchandising and promotional material shape viewers experiences of the hit television series Star Trek to reinforce the mythology of the gargantuan franchise. Media marketing utilises the show s method of recycling the narratives of classical heritage yet it also looks forward to the future. In this way it reminds consumers of the Star Trek story s ongoing centrality within popular culture whether in the form of the original 1960s series the later additions such as Voyager and Discovery or J. J. Abrams `reboot films. Chapters examine how oral and literary traditions have influenced the series structure and its commercial image how the cosmological role of humanity and the Earth are explored in title sequences across various Star Trek media platforms and the multi-faceted way in which Internet video game and event spin-offs create rituals to consolidate the space opera s fan base. Fusing key theory from film TV media and folklore studies as well as anthropology and other specialisms To Boldly Go is an authoritative guide to the function of myth across the whole Star Trek enterprise.