Abstract
Transmedia fictions in Asian countries such as China and Japan are continually improving, and related research is multifaceted and cuts across disciplines. Transmedia websites are the main communication channel for this fiction, and this article seeks to promote an improved understanding by engaging with them in more depth and detail. It does this by exploring cultural participation in transmedia fictions and analyzing the message content in the comment area of China’s largest related website, which allows users to leave messages and engage in free and open discussions, opening up a range of typesetting possibilities. The book review section of the transmedia fiction Lord of the Mysteries, which has been read by tens of millions provides 1000 book reviews, is then used to analyze topics that most interest users. It is concluded that users are most interested in novel types, characters, and plots and orientate towards social and cultural content and some popular science knowledge. When they are part of a community, meanwhile, they gravitate towards transcultural issues, niche knowledge topics, and peer culture. This article makes an important contribution by clarifying the participation, communication, and learning potential of transmedia fictions and also shows how transmedia fictions can improve cultural learning and communication.
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Notes
The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.
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Ph.D. Han Xu is the only author involved in writing the manuscript. Professor Javier Gonzalez Patiño and Professor José Luis Linaza , these two authors revising it critically for important intellectual content, contributed equally to this work and jointly supervised this work.
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Xu, H., Patiño, J.G. & Linaza, J.L. The Phenomenon of Cultural Exchange and Learning Reflected in the Transmedia Fiction Comment Area: Taking Lord of the Mysteries as an Example. Hu Arenas (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42087-023-00387-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42087-023-00387-x