Some people say this is the golden age of television. Netflix Hulu and Amazon are developing their own original series to much critical acclaim and much of what spring-boarded them into success was adapting pre-existing works from other formats. House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, and Hemlock Grove, some of Netflix’s earlier and more successful series were all based on books, and more and more cable networks are optioning scripted series to compete with streaming services and the likes of HBO and Showtime. Others say that we’re in an endless age of recycling the same thing over and over. That the lack of originality is killing more creative works by sucking all the oxygen out of the room. When Disney, a company already astute at milking series for all they were worth, acquired the mega-franchises of Marvel Comics and Star-Wars, they guaranteed that both creative universes would live forever. This is great news for the fans, who can now look forward to reboot after reboot of their favorite stories, but when theaters have to compete for every hard-earned dollar an increasingly selective audience will spend at the box office, rehashing the same blockbusters repeatedly means that other, more esoteric movies will not even be shown. Despite the challenges these trends present for new writers, I feel that overall, the proliferation of adaptations and the fragmentation of the media market are good for creators.
When I was growing up, three media franchises had a profound effect on me. Looking back on them now, I realize they each had their own unique gifts to give me, not only as a consumer of stories but as a student of storytelling.
FRANCHISE 1: Pokémon - Video Games and World Building serve as a springboard for fiction.
Featuring a video game world of lavish detail and intricate mechanics for its time, the Pokémon franchise was created by a game journalist named Satoshi Tajiri as a passion project. Pokémon has turned into one of the most successful video game and media franchises in the world.
The concept of the games is simple, Tajiri wanted to capture the spirit of insect collecting that he had enjoyed as a child, but with a fantasy angle. In the game, children go on quests to capture and train “pocket monsters.” Elemental beasts that inhabit the world instead of wild animals. Pokémon trainers can trade their Pokémon with each other or pit them against one another in (kid friendly) gladiatorial battles. The battles are turn-based and much of the strategy, like in other RPGs requires you to play to the monsters’ strength or weakness types and stats. For example, Fire beats Grass, etc.
My first experience with Pokémon though was not the video games, but with the Trading Card Game, which brought the idea of strategic collecting and battling to the real world. I became interested in the show and games shortly after that, but if it weren’t for adaptation of the Pokémon games into other media, my experience would have been different.
The exploration of the created system inspires the player to imbue the tasks they undertake with added meaning or drama. Building on the fundamental plot of the video games, the player enhances the addictive gameplay with personal meaning. Fans of the series, loving the world, creatures and concepts Tajiri created, went on to adapt the world of Pokemon into Manga (comics), Anime (animated TV series), Feature Animated Films, a Wildly popular Trading Card Game. The scaffolding provided by Tajiri provides the basis for players, myself included, to attach their own epic quests to the repetitive strategic tasks of the gameplay. The video game mechanics lend themselves to replay value and inspire storytelling through other media, in the same fictional world.
FRANCHISE 2: Harry Potter - Addictively good fiction leads to empire building franchises; If you tell a good story, they will come.
I don’t need to tell you what Harry Potter is, or how huge a phenomenon it is. Really, Harry Potter and Pokémon need little to no introduction. Still, the fictional world of Harry Potter is compelling on multiple levels. It’s compelling because it follows the typical hero’s journey in a unique and more modern way, drawing on other classic fantasy works already in the collective cultural deposits and making them accessible to everyone. It’s compelling because author J.K. Rowling’s world-building is as in-depth as Tajiri's, allowing fans to immerse themselves in her created space and stake out their own nooks to explore through fanfiction, and cross-media adaptation. Third, the story of Harry Potter is compelling because, in many ways, it mirrors the journey of its creator. Harry Potter is a rags-to-riches, coming-of-age story about a young boy who rises out of a lowly situation to become famous and beloved. Similar to the eponymous hero, J.K. Rowling brought the story of Harry Potter to life as a struggling single mother who was rejected by multiple publishing houses, only to turn it into one of, if not THE most successful book series in the world. The smash success of the books spawned adaptations to film, video games and various additional merchandise, such as board games, clothes and toys inspired by the “Wizarding World.”
Rowling’s modern-fantasy reimagining of the Hero’s Journey has captured the imaginations of millions. Like Pokémon, Harry Potter is an excellent example of world building. Unlike Pokémon, the mechanical structure of media like video games was not the main driver of its success but contributed to that success and was further built upon as created works proliferated, inspired by the excellent fiction writing skills of J.K. Rowling.
FRANCHISE 3: Middle Earth – World building at an unparalleled level, coupled with excellent fiction writing and adaptation skills, leads to the creation of a classic.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s story-universe Middle Earth, the setting of famous The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings tales as well as many other stories is one of my most beloved worlds to explore. I first encountered Middle-Earth because of adaptation. I was first introduced to The Hobbit through a radio dramatization of the book. After that, I read the novel and later, The Lord of the Rings. I listened to the audiobooks, watched and own all of the movies, and have played several of the video games. The video games that I felt were the worthiest contributions to the franchise were the ones that were either direct adaptations of the source material or entirely new works based on the same world. In recent news, Amazon will be creating a new series based on the world of Middle Earth.
Tolkien’s world-building has inspired many. Aside from the various adaptations mentioned already, it is also credited as the inspiration of the popular tabletop RPG Dungeons & Dragons, not to mention the countless “high-fantasy” or “sword and sorcery” titles that have followed and owe it a debt. Tolkien did not create The Lord of the Rings in a vacuum, however; he borrowed heavily from Anglo-Saxon mythology, Norse Mythology, and Judeo-Christian Mythology. Interpreting and compiling them with his love of languages, Tolkien labored to create his own languages and build the world and peoples that would have created them. The point is, that Tolkien himself was an “adapter,” in fact, he translated one of the versions of Beowulf that we have today. Tolkien’s adaptations spawned other adaptations of his work and inspired many others. The reason his works are so beloved and of such high quality is because of his fantastic world-building abilities, his ability to spin a tale, and his own skills at riffing on the cultural heritage available to him. This combination ensures stories that a wide audience can engage and explore.
The idea that this increase in rebooting or adapting of existing works is a new problem, or even a problem at all, is a fallacy. There is “nothing new under the sun,” as the saying goes. The increased reimagining of work is to be welcomed. It provides an opportunity for new creators to flex their muscles while paying tribute to the works they admire. It could be a problem if, as stated previously, adaptations were all that was being created at the expense of all other content. Fortunately, though, the media market is shifting, and there are now more ways than ever to produce and publish content. So, let the major production companies rehash the stories that we already know and love. They have money to do it right and to do them justice. The rise of new streaming services and original television or web-series programming empowers creators to produce their own original works and expose them to the public eye in due time. I, for one, am glad to be along for the ride.
