doxa.comunicación | nº 29, pp. 97-111 | 101
July-December of 2019
Víctor Álvarez Rodríguez
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
the same time provide the background to the story as a whole. This convergence “manifests itself in hybridizations that are expressed at the level of content and narratives” (Scolari, 2013a: 54). In this investigation, all the case studies involve a continuation and integration of the story in different digital media. This contributes in a convergent way to the main narration. Consequently, we can see how “new media technologies have made it possible for the same content to flow through very different channels and take on very different forms at the point of reception” (Jenkins, 2008: 22).
Firstly, through an analysis of the proposal and the content, the different episodes of Lost: Missing pieces have been studied. They are small audio-visual pieces starring the characters in the series and planned for online viewing. These complement scenes from the series by building the collective intelligence for fiction followers about these plots.
The second case study is the virtual experience called The Lost Experience. This is an ARG, which in the online context brought together thousands of spectators of the series to discover new details and secrets of the mythology. With this type of game, “the receivers and audiences of the digital age have greater tools to appropriate, question, discuss or negotiate the messages exposed by the media” (Corona, 2016: 33). This project functioned as an essential piece for the integrated understanding of some of the sub-plots. Thus, this case allows us to go more deeply into the participative culture of Lost’s followers.
The third and last creation for virtual worlds is the video game Lost: Via Domus. This is a game released for different platforms and has been developed as a parallel subplot of the series in which the main characters interact. This is a real complement designed especially for fans. This game offers new possibilities in the study of the collective intelligence generated around the television series exploring the narratology of its narrative conception and its connection with the viewer.
In a methodological sense, the analysis of the narrative discourse of these cases in virtual environments reaffirms, reconstructs and reflects on the unified construction of the story and its contributions. In fact, each proposal selected is one more piece in this story that composes the same plot. Also, this recognizes the analysis of the audience’s behaviour. The series “Lost involves the spectators who try to analyse the reasons behind the narrative of the story” (Mittell, 126: 2009). Carrying out this method of analysis explores this parameter in the narrative conception and in communicative tools used. Consequently, the different cases proposed address the understanding of the current model of television series viewer. We have an audience able to participate in the communicative convergence of works of fiction and productions.
3. Analysis
This television series has been characterised as being one of the pioneers in developing the current consumption model of series. For the television media, “Lost was the relaunch of the ABC channel in 2004, and has become one of the most important series in the history of television with hundreds of fan communities” (Canovaca, 2011: 860). This new model includes activities such as international viewing in the original language on Internet, participatory consumption, and transmedia narrative construction using new technologies and different media. Seen from a distance, it seems that J. J. Abrams, creator of the series, “decided that Lost was going to transcend the medium itself and become the first series to make an openly transmedia proposal that completed the main fictional work” (De la Torre, 2015: 121). The narrative