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Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts
Highlights the trailers, merchandising and cultural conversations that shape our experiences of film and television
It is virtually impossible to watch a movie or TV show without preconceived notions because of the hype that precedes them, while a host of media extensions guarantees them a life long past their air dates. An onslaught of information from print media, trailers, internet discussion, merchandising, podcasts, and guerilla marketing, we generally know something about upcoming movies and TV shows well before they are even released or aired. The extras, or “paratexts,” that surround viewing experiences are far from peripheral, shaping our understanding of them and informing our decisions about what to watch or not watch and even how to watch before we even sit down for a show.
Show Sold Separately gives critical attention to this ubiquitous but often overlooked phenomenon, examining paratexts like DVD bonus materials for The Lord of the Rings , spoilers for Lost , the opening credits of The Simpsons , Star Wars actions figures, press reviews for Friday Night Lights, the framing of Batman Begins , the videogame of The Thing , and the trailers for The Sweet Hereafter . Plucking these extra materials from the wings and giving them the spotlight they deserve, Jonathan Gray examines the world of film and television that exists before and after the show.
It is virtually impossible to watch a movie or TV show without preconceived notions because of the hype that precedes them, while a host of media extensions guarantees them a life long past their air dates. An onslaught of information from print media, trailers, internet discussion, merchandising, podcasts, and guerilla marketing, we generally know something about upcoming movies and TV shows well before they are even released or aired. The extras, or “paratexts,” that surround viewing experiences are far from peripheral, shaping our understanding of them and informing our decisions about what to watch or not watch and even how to watch before we even sit down for a show.
Show Sold Separately gives critical attention to this ubiquitous but often overlooked phenomenon, examining paratexts like DVD bonus materials for The Lord of the Rings , spoilers for Lost , the opening credits of The Simpsons , Star Wars actions figures, press reviews for Friday Night Lights, the framing of Batman Begins , the videogame of The Thing , and the trailers for The Sweet Hereafter . Plucking these extra materials from the wings and giving them the spotlight they deserve, Jonathan Gray examines the world of film and television that exists before and after the show.
- GenresNonfictionPop Culture
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 11, 2013
In Film and Media Studies, scholars often focus on the text. They focus on television shows, films, and video games. However, the analysis of the text and its ‘meaning’ usually stops at that point. Jonathan Gray, on the other hand, argues passionately for scholars to consider the surrounding texts—the paratexts—and the effect they have on the main text.
The focus of Show Sold Separately is to establish a framework on which to build future understandings of a textual ecology. The main text is at the center of the ecosphere, but paratexts, intratexts, intertexts, and extratexts all populate the media landscape, each providing its own input into the ‘meaning’ a viewer imbues to that text. Indeed, paratexts “establish frames and filters through which we look at, listen to, and interpret the texts that they hype” (2010: 3). Many paratexts are often denigrated by scholars (aside from those in the marketing discipline), with advertisements (promos, billboards, and trailers) being particularly targeted as nothing more than crass commercialism. However, Gray notes that we must examine these commercial paratexts much more closely and afford them the same rigor that we do for films and television shows if we want to get a fuller understanding of each text’s meaning.
Gray acknowledges that the approach he takes in the book is a relatively new one for Media Studies. He engages in a variety of methods that cannot be summed up in a single term; he utilizes close reading, reception studies, and structural/political analysis to arrive at his conclusions. While these methods may be established individually, taken together they represent a relatively novel approach. Indeed, Gray laments that film and television studies have stagnated in their approaches to the material. He argues that the fields need an “off-screen studies” component added to them in order to remain dynamic. Show Sold Separately is a first step towards establishing such an “off-screen studies” component to the discipline.
For the most part, Gray does what he sets out to do and outlines both the functions that different kinds of paratexts serve and their importance to the central text. He also convincingly argues that paratexts can become central texts to consumers who have no encounter with the source text, such as those who see many trailers for a film on television but never see the film. The book’s points become a bit strained towards the end when Gray begins to discuss fan communities’ roles in establishing paratextual meanings. The points are taken, but they feel too tertiary (not to mention potentially too niche to have any widespread effect) to the larger goal of the book.
Show Sold Separately is a text that can be useful for undergraduate television studies classes, but probably only selected portions to introduce the concept of paratexts. Graduate students and media studies scholars should find this an invaluable text, however, because of its unique approach to texts.
The focus of Show Sold Separately is to establish a framework on which to build future understandings of a textual ecology. The main text is at the center of the ecosphere, but paratexts, intratexts, intertexts, and extratexts all populate the media landscape, each providing its own input into the ‘meaning’ a viewer imbues to that text. Indeed, paratexts “establish frames and filters through which we look at, listen to, and interpret the texts that they hype” (2010: 3). Many paratexts are often denigrated by scholars (aside from those in the marketing discipline), with advertisements (promos, billboards, and trailers) being particularly targeted as nothing more than crass commercialism. However, Gray notes that we must examine these commercial paratexts much more closely and afford them the same rigor that we do for films and television shows if we want to get a fuller understanding of each text’s meaning.
Gray acknowledges that the approach he takes in the book is a relatively new one for Media Studies. He engages in a variety of methods that cannot be summed up in a single term; he utilizes close reading, reception studies, and structural/political analysis to arrive at his conclusions. While these methods may be established individually, taken together they represent a relatively novel approach. Indeed, Gray laments that film and television studies have stagnated in their approaches to the material. He argues that the fields need an “off-screen studies” component added to them in order to remain dynamic. Show Sold Separately is a first step towards establishing such an “off-screen studies” component to the discipline.
For the most part, Gray does what he sets out to do and outlines both the functions that different kinds of paratexts serve and their importance to the central text. He also convincingly argues that paratexts can become central texts to consumers who have no encounter with the source text, such as those who see many trailers for a film on television but never see the film. The book’s points become a bit strained towards the end when Gray begins to discuss fan communities’ roles in establishing paratextual meanings. The points are taken, but they feel too tertiary (not to mention potentially too niche to have any widespread effect) to the larger goal of the book.
Show Sold Separately is a text that can be useful for undergraduate television studies classes, but probably only selected portions to introduce the concept of paratexts. Graduate students and media studies scholars should find this an invaluable text, however, because of its unique approach to texts.
October 2, 2022
Lots of great analytical branching offs regarding marketing campaigns, ancillary promotional materials, trailers, and other paratexts serving a purpose greater than that often realized by most entertainment industry execs back in the naughty aughties.
It’s a bit taken for granted now, of course, but during the period in which this book was written (the naughty aughties! Tell all your friends!) one of the most successful paratextual marketing campaigns was just debuting for The Dark Knight. Do yourself a real solid and take a peek.
Of particular interest is a subsection in one of the later chapters about the paratextual agency and legacy of the Star Wars action figures. That kids could see (or not see) the movie when it first premiered in 1977, pre-order a half-dozen or so figures (to arrive sometime after Christmas 1977), and then create their own adventures with a pre-existing text (the movie) is the most potent part of this book. But I am a strongly biased Star Wars nerd.
One of my favourite takeaways is the foreshadowing (hindsight being 20/20) of substantial increase in consumer agency: primarily through the scrutiny of blogs, fanfic, and vids; to pave the way for modern social paratextual advances via Tumblr and Instagram.
It’s a bit taken for granted now, of course, but during the period in which this book was written (the naughty aughties! Tell all your friends!) one of the most successful paratextual marketing campaigns was just debuting for The Dark Knight. Do yourself a real solid and take a peek.
Of particular interest is a subsection in one of the later chapters about the paratextual agency and legacy of the Star Wars action figures. That kids could see (or not see) the movie when it first premiered in 1977, pre-order a half-dozen or so figures (to arrive sometime after Christmas 1977), and then create their own adventures with a pre-existing text (the movie) is the most potent part of this book. But I am a strongly biased Star Wars nerd.
One of my favourite takeaways is the foreshadowing (hindsight being 20/20) of substantial increase in consumer agency: primarily through the scrutiny of blogs, fanfic, and vids; to pave the way for modern social paratextual advances via Tumblr and Instagram.
September 3, 2024
I love movie special features and the like, and probably consume more paratextual content than "main text" content in a given week, month, or year. So going back to this text (which is a bit dated as I'm reading it in 2024) and seeing some of the best scholarship on media paratexts was a lot of fun for thinking through my own experiences of paratexts and movie-watching. My main critique of the book is just that its methods are at times a little obscure or opaque, so some analyses read in a very cursory, simple manner that doesn't seem especially rigorous, but the findings and discussion in each chapter are always lively, interesting, and resonate with the types of experiences that I've typically had of media paratexts. That isn't to say they're always accurate, but they certainly feel connected and diagnostic in a way that makes a lot of sense. The examples used throughout the book are also a whole lot of fun and made for very interesting reading, particularly those that I was already familiar with but got to see in a new way through Gray's framework and analysis.
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October 26, 2021same for gray as for mittell. obviously not rating these tho
June 21, 2012
Gray's book is on pop culture, specifically, the pop culture that relates to television shows and film. But he's not looking at the films and shows themselves; rather, he's looking at their paratexts, the texts that circle around these main texts, and alter their meanings in significant ways. He looks at how a movie trailer declares the genre of a movie; how a television show's opening credits set the tone for the show. A paratext can be more distant as well--a fan fiction is an unendorsed example of a paratext, one that highlights elements of a show or film that are very important to a certain fan community, but perhaps less so to the official interpretation of text. Some of the more indepth studies really stand out, such as the discussion on how the DVD extras of the Lord of the Rings reinforced the official stance on the "fellowship"-like process that created the films. And Gray's argument that the Star Wars action figures released between the films of the original series were in large part responsible for marking Star Wars a masculine, boy-oriented universe is similarly interesting. Gray's expansion of the term paratext leaves a lot of room for expansion in pop cultures studies at large, especially since he only considers the paratexts of film and television. The circulation of a Facebook meme or the fan-remixes of a newly released single also constitute paratexts that reframe the original. And videogames are almost pure paratext, existing in a fog of previews and prelease hype that starts long before the actual game is released.
Because his topic is so potentially broad, Gray's discussion remains somewhat broad as well. It's a strength of the book--again, his goal is to open up more paratext studies in pop culture studies--but also a weakness, as it tends to lack focus beyond that general goal. All in all, it's a very useful theoretical first step, supported by some quality individual studies.
Because his topic is so potentially broad, Gray's discussion remains somewhat broad as well. It's a strength of the book--again, his goal is to open up more paratext studies in pop culture studies--but also a weakness, as it tends to lack focus beyond that general goal. All in all, it's a very useful theoretical first step, supported by some quality individual studies.
July 25, 2016
I wish I could give this a higher rating (as it is I had trouble enough assigning it three stars), as it is an impressively well-researched and convincingly argued book.
The reason I gave this book only three stars (instead of four), and seriously considered awarding it a mere two, is that I found it to be a bit dry and inaccessible at times. I can well imagine the curious cinephile reader who picks up this book only to find that satiating their intellectual hunger necessities stomaching heaping helpings of unappetizing, jargon-laden academic language; or the bewildered - or perhaps worse, bored - lay lover of popular criticism who grows groggy from imbibing too large and concentrated a dose of unfamiliar critical studies-style writing (as with Wesley and iocane powder, immunity to that particular brand of toxin takes years of careful exposure to build).
Hmmm, my metaphors inform me that I'm hungry - fie on thee, accursed review! I escape thy foetid stink and shall repair forthwith to the kitchen! Make all haste, o' fleet feet - but take care not to stumble; for the success of this most noble and necessary culinary quest depend on thy surefoo- or rather, on thy surethouedness. Success in this appetitive adventure and thee shall justly clothe thyself in gustatory glory; failure, however, and just as surely - and surely just as justly - the deluge of brutal opprobrium and harsh, censorious judgements shall be thine, instead.*
[SPOILER WARNING]
*I actually started and finished my dinner during the laborious construction of that convoluted last (of many) run-on sentences. Soooooo… yeah. Three cheers for feet?
The reason I gave this book only three stars (instead of four), and seriously considered awarding it a mere two, is that I found it to be a bit dry and inaccessible at times. I can well imagine the curious cinephile reader who picks up this book only to find that satiating their intellectual hunger necessities stomaching heaping helpings of unappetizing, jargon-laden academic language; or the bewildered - or perhaps worse, bored - lay lover of popular criticism who grows groggy from imbibing too large and concentrated a dose of unfamiliar critical studies-style writing (as with Wesley and iocane powder, immunity to that particular brand of toxin takes years of careful exposure to build).
Hmmm, my metaphors inform me that I'm hungry - fie on thee, accursed review! I escape thy foetid stink and shall repair forthwith to the kitchen! Make all haste, o' fleet feet - but take care not to stumble; for the success of this most noble and necessary culinary quest depend on thy surefoo- or rather, on thy surethouedness. Success in this appetitive adventure and thee shall justly clothe thyself in gustatory glory; failure, however, and just as surely - and surely just as justly - the deluge of brutal opprobrium and harsh, censorious judgements shall be thine, instead.*
[SPOILER WARNING]
*I actually started and finished my dinner during the laborious construction of that convoluted last (of many) run-on sentences. Soooooo… yeah. Three cheers for feet?
September 10, 2016
A strong case for taking all media--not just the titular promos and spoilers, but prequels, stars, IMDb reviews, toys, and other intertexts--as seriously as we take the "main" texts they adapt. Gray even argues, mostly indirectly, that there may not even be such a thing as a "main" text, which ends up being a more rational POV than it might sound before reading the book.
Effortlessly and never unnecessarily theoretical in its basis, the book covers hype, promotional materials, authors (not to say auteurs), sequels/prequels, spoiler culture, and fan intertexts before concluding with an especially intriguing chapter about toys and games, and their role as media paratexts (especially in the context of the Star Wars universe). A must-read for media scholars, the book also has the clarity of language and argument to avoid putting off an interested, non-scholarly reader--if you can intuit (or flat-out define) what an "intertext" is, then you'd probably be good to go. Has implications for star studies, industry studies, and especially transmedia studies of all varieties. Highly recommended.
Effortlessly and never unnecessarily theoretical in its basis, the book covers hype, promotional materials, authors (not to say auteurs), sequels/prequels, spoiler culture, and fan intertexts before concluding with an especially intriguing chapter about toys and games, and their role as media paratexts (especially in the context of the Star Wars universe). A must-read for media scholars, the book also has the clarity of language and argument to avoid putting off an interested, non-scholarly reader--if you can intuit (or flat-out define) what an "intertext" is, then you'd probably be good to go. Has implications for star studies, industry studies, and especially transmedia studies of all varieties. Highly recommended.
April 30, 2013
A solid primer to a framework for understanding textuality, audiences, and industry in an era of media convergence. Though I recognize that an argument for the (often unacknowledged) importance and uniqueness of paratexts is important, I would love to have read more critical perspectives on this development—particularly in relation to its participation in a capitalist ecosystem.
February 21, 2014
(1.4/5.0) Informative, but not particularly original; even as a synthesis of existing scholarly work in the field, Gray's work doesn't budge discourse in any meaningful or surprising directions. Read the source materials rather than this corny little survey.
August 12, 2014
A fascinating study of trailers, toys, sequels, MMPORGS and all of the 'ancilliary' bits (or paratexts) that make up a film or TV program (the text), that are often ignored and yet, as Gray argues, play a massive role in how a text is understood and consumed by audiences.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews