To Boldly Go

Marketing the Myth of Star Trek

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by Djoymi Baker

Type: Essays
Subject: One Film > Star Trek (TV Series)
Keywords: Star Trek, marketing, sociology
Publishing date: 2018
Publisher: I.B.Tauris
Collection: International Library of the Moving Image
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 320 pages
5 ½ x 8 ½ inches (14 x 21.5 cm)

ISBN

978-1-78831-008-6

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Book Presentation:
Today's media, cinema and TV screens are host to new manifestations of myth, their modes of storytelling radically transformed from those of ancient Greece. They present us with narratives of contemporary customs and belief systems: our modern-day myths. This book argues that the tools of transmedia merchandising and promotional material shape viewers' experiences of the hit television series Star Trek, to reinforce the mythology of the gargantuan franchise. Media marketing utilises the show's method of recycling the narratives of classical heritage, yet it also looks forward to the future. In this way, it reminds consumers of the Star Trek story's ongoing centrality within popular culture, whether in the form of the original 1960s series, the later additions such as Voyager and Discovery or J. J. Abrams' `reboot' films. Chapters examine how oral and literary traditions have influenced the series structure and its commercial image, how the cosmological role of humanity and the Earth are explored in title sequences across various Star Trek media platforms, and the multi-faceted way in which Internet, video game and event spin-offs create rituals to consolidate the space opera's fan base. Fusing key theory from film, TV, media and folklore studies, as well as anthropology and other specialisms, To Boldly Go is an authoritative guide to the function of myth across the whole Star Trek enterprise.

About the Author:
Djoymi Baker is Lecturer in Screen Studies at the University of Melbourne. Her research includes genre and myth in popular culture. She is the author of The Encyclopaedia of Epic Films (2014), with Constantine Santas, James M. Wilson and Maria Colavito.

Press Reviews:
"In this ground-breaking exploration of the Star Trek universe, Djoymi Baker demonstrates the way mythologies emerge in and through a range of textual, commercial, and paratextual relationships. Beautifully written and full of innovative readings, To Boldly Go challenges us to see myth in new and exciting ways." - Sean Redmond, Deakin University

"A welcome addition to the scholarship on the Star Trek franchise. Baker's detailed analysis reveals the contemporary implications of myth as a combination of cultural descriptor and canny marketing strategy." - Stan Beeler, University of Northern British Columbia

"This is lively, engaging academic writing at its very best, and the volume is a necessary resource for anyone interested in science fiction, cultural anthropology, popular culture, or, of course, Star Trek... Highly Recommended" - G. A. Foster, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Choice

See the publisher website: I.B.Tauris

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