CCT 300: Critical Analysis of Media

1. CCT 300:Critical Analysis of Media Class 6: Economic Factors: Reinventing Comics

2. Administrivia • Catching up to schedule (still…) • Do note - media genre research due next week • Groups for final assignment to be set today

3. Rise and Fall of the Hit • Mass media having trouble maintaining mass market domination • NSYNC as last “hit”? 50 Cent vs. Kanye West proved still some value in “hit” model, but that had to be engineered some…

4. The Long Tail • New media - digital distribution is no longer a zero-sum game • Potential for equal access to all sorts of media product equally • Niches and word of mouth drive content sales and production • Result - a lot of potential niche success stories, but less “hits”

5. Adaptation • Mass media has already begun to adopt to this - e.g., creating content aimed at specific audiences, going for quality vs. quantity • Examples? • Mass “hit” model not fully dead - American/Canadian Idol example - but itself a niche audience of sorts

6. Reinventing Comics • 9 basic elements • 3 components focused on potential of digital delivery

7. Reinventing Comics (1): Creation as Art • Comics as Literature • Comies as Art • Creators’ Rights

8. Comics as Literature/Art • Many of you have already discovered this in writing the paper - examples? • Comics can be both literature and art if properly done

9. Comics as Literature • Storytelling and narrative • Gets more complex than simple serialized strip - a full story from beginning to end (or a serialized strip that takes months/years to tell story?) • Examples?

10. Comics as Art • No longer simply “men in tights” • Japanese influence - a range of interesting non-action transitions, new forms of expression

11. Creators’ Rights • Reaction to similar battles between creators/publishers (examples?) • Full ownership and control • Fair share of profit • Challenges coming from this?

12. Reinventing Comics (2): Industry and Audience • Industry Innovation • Public Perception • Institutional Scrutiny

13. Innovation in Industry • Creators’ rights require innovation in industry model - and sometimes drive it • Simple model of “getting into the business” - photocopy a drawing and sell it yourself - trite but true - but it’s more complicated in practice

14. Steps in Traditional Publishing • Author • Publisher • Accounting • Marketing • Printing • Distribution • Warehousing • Retail • Transportation among above

15. Creation and Distribution… • Many will sacrifice control over non-creative tasks to gain broader market • That’s often a good idea. Why? • Sometimes not a good idea. Why?

16. Public Perception • Comics as kid-lit - why? • What effect does stereotype of comics have? • What effect does traditional model of production have on enforcing this stereotype?

17. Comics and Censorship • Emergence of comics in US history - tainted by censors who lamented the debasement of culture, perversion of youth - pretty much everything • Ironically, drove comics underground where they became even more debased (e.g., R. Crumb and other alt comics of 60s) • Driven by perception - if comics were seen as valued art, would this happen?

18. Reinventing Comics (3): Audience/Creator Diversity • Gender Balance • Minority Representation • Diversity of Genre

19. Comics and Gender • Traditionally creators and audience were male - leading to particular gender stereotypes of both genders • Creators have been female - but still expected to follow expectations of audience • To what effect? • Alternatives?

20. Minority Comics • Stereotypical audience, and many creators (even if they aren’t) - white, male, straight, Christian, young, physically able, middle class • To what effect? • Alternatives?

21. Diversity of Genre • Superhero domination of shelf space via perception, creation and audience - a vicious cycle • Non-traditional graphic novels - breaks through ideas of what a comic “must be” • Required breaking through comic store as core distribution channel

22. Reinventing Comics (4): Digitization and the Internet • Digital Production • Digital Delivery • Digital Comics

23. Digitization • Production of comics digitally - including McCloud’s two last books, but others - examples? • What does digital production do to creation of the art?

24. Digital Delivery • Like other media, removes steps in production process - ideally funneling consumer money to producer with fewer middlemen • Middlemen role - still useful - why?

25. Micropayments • Addition to Reinventing Comics as technology improved to make it plausible • General principle re: chains of distribution - consumer fairness (rel. to creative rights) but audience fairness as well - rights to sample, test and pay fair prices

26. Micropayments (2) • Consumer obtains product from source (whatever source may be) • Consumer values product • Consumer wishes to compensate producer directly - but how? • Still an open problem - why?

27. Digital Comics • Adds a new dimension to creation • Dependent on tools - tools to create Reinventing and Making Comics • Other options?

28. New Directions: WebComics • Can include immersive and interactive environments • Not as bound to page requirements (e.g., I Can’t Stop Thinking scrolling example) • May even include games (e.g. Myst as interactive picture-dependent webcomic?) • Can even be more traditionally framed comics simply distributed via web • Diversity of genres, explosion of options (http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/)

29. Related Direction: Flash-based Animation • Why Flash? • What does Flash contribute to visual and experiential effect of animation? • Why is it still comical in nature?

30. Examples • Weebl’s Stuff/Weebl & Bob • Homestar Runner • Alternative financing strategies? • New/Mass media issues (esp. around the Quizno’s ads?) • Other examples?

31. Next week… • Reinventing Comics and Micropayments • Formation of groups - be in the right lab! • Work time on media genre research assignment