Intermediality in theatre and performance / edited by Freda Chapple & Chiel Kattenbelt. [9042016299 ] Amsterdam ; New York : Rodopi, 2006.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN2193.E86 I58 2006

 

Intermediality in Theatre and Performance is basically a book about theatre and its various interactions with other forms of media. Most of the essays discuss theatre as the main focus, and thus have no relevance for my argument; however, one essay discusses small screens in relation to television texts, and thus was somewhat of find for me in an otherwise very random source. Robin Nelson notes here an intermediality between television, theatre, and “PC culture,” which essentially marks the creation of self-aware participants who experience and perceive images differently based on their absorption of these interlocking media. I especially like the concept of “hypermediacy” presented in this book: the idea that we can recognize and even enjoy the realization that the images coming to us are mediated in one way or another. The author claims that both older and new media evoke some degree of hypermediacy, and strongly suggests that new media tend to hold a greater degree of hypermediacy. The author’s discussions on narrative temporality displacement in hypermediacy hold little value for me here, but the pages devoted to screen space and time provide good basic examples for my inquiry.

One thing that seems to be missing from this exploration is a thorough discussion on the implications of intermediacy. The author describes it to us, and it’s not a difficult concept to understand; but, fundamentally, what does it mean for the interaction between old and new media? What’s at stake here? Nelson admittedly backs away from a discussion of what will happen to TV in the future, aside from meekly stammering that TV will probably still thrive after the boom of the Internet/computers had died down; yet why not debate what intermediacy could do to/for television, in relation to new media? The discussion was definitely lacking in this area, and I would have liked to see Nelson do more than just describe a difference between television and new media.

Ultimately, I think this source can prove useful, but it won’t be a major source for my investigation. The concept of hypermediacy holds some interest for me, and I believe is worth exploring in different contexts. I also plan to utilize the brief discussion on small screen manipulation (the idea that we can take our iPods, iPhones, etc., and watch a movie in the palm of our hand, thereby greatly altering how we consume that screen and interact with it) that Nelson employs.