Approaching Transmedia through Lost

Ended in 2010, Lost reached a worldwide cult status, combining a mainstream success  with a fandom-like audience engagement,  and representing a turning point on what a television text should be in the age of convergence Tv (or of connecting tv, or expanded tv, or tv 2.0 or whatever you want to call it).

This success was (and still is), accompanied by a plethora of academic analysis,  most part of which focusing on the transmedia expansions of the tv series (the alternate reality games, the video games, the mobisodes…) making Lost one of the most investicated case study in this research area.

This post is aimed to recommend some of the most interesting (often free readable online) academic (or non academic) essays regarding Lost as an expanded television text. I find them useful for those interested in looking at Lost through a transmedial perspective and, at the same time, for those who wants to better understand several transmedia storytelling strategies and tools through the creative solutions used in Lost.

Here they are:

Television 2.0: Reconceptualizing TV as an Engagement Medium
by Ivan D. Askwith
The textual extentions of Lost viewed as part of an overall strategy to turn Tv in ad engagement medium.

Deconstructing The Lost Experience. In-Depth Analysis of an ARG
by Ivan D. Askwith
The title says it all

Lost and Long-Term Television Narrative
by David Lavery
Lost as an example of Long Term Television Narrative and its bond with the ancestral father of modern seriality, Dickens…

Lost in an Alternate Reality
by Jason Mittell
An analisys of The Lost Experience arg, seen as an instructive failure both in being an enjoyable game experience, and in giving meaningful insights into the narrative world of Lost.

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Lost in a Transmedia Storytelling Franchise: Rethinking Transmedia Engagement
by Michael Graves

A stimulating insight in the recent evolution of the audience-producer relationship viewed through The Official Lost Podcast and the sad destiny of Nikki and Paulo, most hated series’ characters.

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Complex Television: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Narrative
by Jason Mittell

Lost as a seminal, quintessential example of complex television…

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Transmedia Storytelling and Lost path to success
by Daniella M.Sasaki

Here you can find, in chapter 3, a comprehensive overview of every single Lost’ transmedia expansions (6 arg, mobisodes/webisodes,  a web mockumentary, Lost Via Domus videogame, the Official Podcast, DVDs and merchandising…)

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Transmedia Storytelling: What we learned from ‘Lost’
by Michael Niederman

If you are looking for a concise but complete summary of the ‘transmedia lessons’ learned from Lost.

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Enjoy the read.

Cor.P

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