Assigment 2: The theory of theory

A bit of theory

Gregor’s defines theory as “abstract entities that aim to describe, explain, and enhance understanding of the world and, in some cases, to provide predictions of what will happen in the future and to give a basis for intervention and action”.

Theory is:

In other words, theory is an intellectual instrument that allows us to *simplify reality* in order to understand and explain it, adapt to it using predictions or change it by new inventions. Theories justify our expectations of reality and they are subjects of verification by comparison with reality. A new theory cannot be discovered as a new galaxy, because it doesn’t exist in an “outer space”. Theory is a result of intellectual work, it contains logical arguments about what is expected to occur and why it is expected.

Theory is not:

Theory is not a mere academic formality. It doesn’t equate to any of the features of scholarly article (references, data, variables, diagrams and hypotheses), nor to their combination. Theory is not limited by referencies, it appeals to them. Theory can only be proved, revised or discredited by empirical data and only illustrated by diagrams. Theory isn’t hypotheses, because the latter doesn’t give any explanations.

How theory is used?

I’ve chosen the article “Transmedia Storytelling: Implicit Consumers, Narrative Worlds, and Branding in Contemporary Media Production” by Carlos Alberto Scolari published in “International Journal of Communication” (impact factor: 1.5).

I’ve found this article interesting and matching for our assignment because of the way how author rethinks the old theories and implies them to the new object. In the article Scolari himself reflected on this matter: “Many researchers […] consider semiotics to be an outdated or old discipline that only considers texts and has nothing to say about real subjects or processes”.

I have to admit that I was among those “many” who didn’t believe that semiotics has something to say about transmedia storytelling and offline/online branding strategies. Scolari shows how semiotics may be used as conceptual framework for the studies of multimedia production. “If the researcher is dealing with texts — for example, a transmedia narrative expressed in a collection of movies, comics, films, video games, etc. — a semiotic approach is necessary and beneficial”, argues Scolari and proves his position with various studies applying the semiotic theory.

I would say that the main theories used in the article are the narratology and the generative semiotics (structural version of semiotics), although Scolari also discuss other instruments.

Narratology (the theory of narrative structure)	Generative semiotics
Type: Theory for analyzing	Type: Theory for explaining
Benefits: the theory enables us to investigate how transmedia narratives expressed in multimedia series of comics, books, films, games, etc. (like Harry Potter series). Another problem observed in this theory is analysis of strategies of fictional world expansions.	Benefits: semiotics provides explanation of the generation of meaning in the multimodal world. Theory also explains the formation of implicit customer groups and examines brands as symbolic objects (semiotics of branding).
Limitations: Narratology implies formal methods of analysis, which doesn’t include studies of the psychology of perception, the subjective interpretation of the texts	Limitations: Sociological and ethnographic aspects of consumer behavior are not considered