Key Principle
Transmediality grants imaginary worlds a kind of ontological independence from any single medium. Every medium constructs world-experience through some combination of five elements -- words, images, objects, sounds, and interactions -- and the more media windows a world appears through, the more it resembles our experience of the Primary World through multiple senses. "Transmediality implies a kind of independence for its object; the more media windows we experience a world through, the less reliant that world is on the peculiarities of any one medium for its existence" (Chapter 6). Growth adds new canonical material expanding the world; adaptation re-presents existing material in a new medium.
Why This Matters
The distinction between growth and adaptation clarifies persistent confusion in franchise discourse. Every adaptation inevitably adds something (even an audiobook alters emphasis and pacing), but not all additions constitute genuine growth. The distinction hinges on canonicity and authorship. Meanwhile, transmedial transformation is never neutral: five processes occur when material crosses media -- description, visualization, auralization, interactivation, and deinteractivation -- each with characteristic gains and losses.
The problems are especially acute for secondary worlds because "the use of Primary World defaults are not relied upon to the same degree (since so many of them have been reset)" (Chapter 6). A story set in New York can leave most of its world implicit; a story set on an alien planet cannot. Every medium change exposes new gaps and demands new solutions. Commercial forces compound these constraints: Tolkien's publisher demanded more hobbits; studio desire for romance expanded Arwen's role in Jackson's films.
Good Examples
- Words vs. images generate different kinds of gaps: Tolkien's descriptions of Saruman's voice focus not on physical qualities but on the experience of perception -- "those who heard him could seldom report the words that they heard" (Chapter 6). Concrete visual depiction would diminish the attributed power. Conversely, visual media present dense scenes with unexplained detail that demand viewers figure out purpose, function, and history (Chapter 6).
- Sound as transmedial continuity: A lightsaber hum or Chewbacca's roar invokes the Star Wars world with an immediacy that transcends visual style differences between films, cartoons, and games. Iconic sounds bind worlds across media more effectively than visual consistency (Chapter 6).
- The interactivation-deinteractivation tradeoff: Deinteractivation (game to film) collapses first-person agency into third-person observation -- a categorical shift, not a compensable loss. The Myst novels sidestep continuity conflicts by setting narratives in different time periods from the games. Interactivation (film to game) generates alternate histories better understood as parallel worlds than extensions (Chapter 10).
Counterpoints
- Tolkien was hostile to dramatized fantasy: "Fantasy is a thing best left to words, to true literature" (Chapter 6). His underlying principle holds: the more literal the physical incarnation of fantasy, the more vulnerable it is to falling short of imagination. But Wolf pushes back -- "seeing things does not reduce the need for imagination; it merely makes different use of it" (Chapter 6).
- Encounter order is a design variable, not an accident: Six ordering types (public appearance, creation, internal chronological, canonical, media preference, age-appropriate) shape how suspense and revelation function. By courting younger audiences through sanitized versions (LEGO Star Wars replaces executions with slapstick), world-builders may permanently alter how their worlds are experienced across generations (Chapter 6).
- Openness and depth are inversely related in interactive worlds: "If there are doors that can't be opened, then the player is going to step back from really being there. It breaks the spell. On the other hand, if any door can be opened, the world is going to have to be pretty straightforward" (Chapter 10). Non-interactive media conceal incompleteness through selective depiction; interactive media cannot.
Key Quotes
"Words, images, objects, sounds, and interactions, then, are the five elements that make up the windows through which we experience imaginary worlds." -- Mark J. P. Wolf, Chapter 6
"Literature works from mind to mind and is thus more progenitive. It is at once more universal and more poignantly particular." -- Tolkien, quoted in Chapter 6
"Transmedial growth and adaptation enrich an imaginary world beyond what any single medium could present, and also make the world less tied to its medium of origin, giving it greater independence as more media windows are available through which to experience it." -- Mark J. P. Wolf, Chapter 6
"The growth and adaptation of a world, however, goes beyond narrative, and may even have very little to do with narrative." -- Mark J. P. Wolf, Chapter 6
Rules of Thumb
- Each medium has a natural density for world information; crossing media requires adjusting that density (novel-to-radio compresses; film-to-radio expands)
- Time is the primary tool for managing continuity across media boundaries -- set adaptations in different time periods from canonical events
- Any world element whose power resides in its effect on perceivers (rather than physical properties) is better served by words than images
- In interactive media, sound shifts from atmospheric to informational -- it orients, warns, and contextualizes beyond the visible frame
Related References
- Subcreation within Subcreated Worlds - how in-world creation mechanics mirror real production technology
- Circles of Authorship and Degrees of Canonicity - canonicity determines whether adaptations constitute genuine growth
- A 3,000-Year History of Imaginary Worlds - the historical shift from text-originated to image-originated worlds