In the last decade or so it has become not so unusual for mockumentary-style paratexts to be created for non-mockumentary animated features. For instance, to promote the home media release of Wreck-It Ralph (2012, by Rich Moore), the Walt Disney…
One of the most durable images that recurs throughout critical histories of Classical Hollywood is the studio system’s evocation of factory principles of corporate standardization. Writing in 1927, William A. Johnston argued that “from manufacturer to consumer it [cinema] functions…
Computer-animated films are emblematic of the intensification of what Thomas Schatz calls the “franchise mentality” in the conglomerate era of Millenial Hollywood.[i] Indeed, a computer-animated film rarely exists in isolation. Most have theatrically-released sequels and prequels (and in some instances…
E-books, paperback, hardback… books come in all shapes and sizes, yet publishers are turning to short form audio-visual texts to promote products. Variously called booktalks, vidlits, book trailers, and commercials, these texts conceptually if not technically, animate the product within…
It’s summer 2012 and you’re in the supermarket checkout line. You see a DVD for a new animated film. A courageous red-headed princess from a far-away kingdom goes on a magical journey to save her parents. You’ve heard of this…
In his book, Show Sold Separately (2010), Jonathan Gray’s notion of ‘offscreen’ studies has paratextuality at its heart. Simply put, paratexts are simultaneously a part of the text and apart from the text. They are the constellation of material that…
