Session 9

This week’s readings all discuss the extra textual materials that have become available because of the new digital technologies (e.g., DVD). Brookey and Westerfelhaus discuss how DVD format allows a new viewing experience. This experience is new for media theory (classis film theory) that assumes films are consumed in darkened theaters and in the presence of strangers. Brookey and Westerfelhaus  (2002) argue that the extra textual content makes it possible for producers to direct the viewing experience in specific ways. Using Fight Club’s “extra text” present in the film’s DVD as an example, they show how such extra text works: in this case, the text has been constructed to prevent the audiences from interpreting the homoerotic components of the film as representing homosexuality.

In another study, Brookey and Westerfelhaus (2005) show how the termination of a business partnership between two important media companies could have been anticipated by analyzing the content of the extra textual materials in DVDs.  In this case, they demonstrate how Pixar excluded Disney from such textual materials at the same time that they promoted themselves as a unique “corporate auteur” with the talent to produce what Disney would like to have (content popular with families).  They also examine how such materials are commercial factors for these companies.  

Parker and Parker also discuss the extra textual materials accompanying the release of films on DVD. They are interested in how these texts impact the experience of the film by audiences. Additionally, they discuss how these texts allow critical commentary and how audiences might react or appreciate such commentary.

All of these studies in their own ways show various implications of the extra textual materials made available by the new digital technologies. One of the most interesting aspects of these studies in my opinion is the way they reveal the importance of such technologies for scholarly analysis. The notion of authorial intention, for example, is much easier to discern and discuss with such technologies.