Sam's written here before about the 'Whedonverse' and the group of pioneering writers, directors and producers in the US, such as JJ Abrams, Tim Kring and the master himself, Joss Whedon, who are changing the shape of entertainment by creating fully immersive worlds out of their properties such as Lost, Heroes, Buffy, Firefly and so on.
This collection of self-styled geeks have realised that, in this age of 'democratic' distribution, their goal should be to build the sorts of obsessive fan bases who will not only contribute to the stories themselves, but pay handsomely to indulge these obsessions.
And very successful it's proved.
So successful, in fact, that ITV are getting in on the act, creating ranges of products off the back of Emmerdale and Coronation Street.
What are we to make of this? Well, it's certainly an interesting development. The big difference between what they're doing and the concept of the Whedonverse, is that the products they are licensing do little or nothing to advance the 'story' of Emmerdale or Coronation Street.
That said, they have not gone as far as, say, George Lucas (the master of licensing), who slapped Star Wars logos over everything on its initial release. Putting Luke Skywalker on duvet covers, pencil cases and lunchboxes makes lots of money, but doesn't really advance the story of Star Wars.
It looks to me like they've steered a sensible middle ground. Licensing the Newton and Ridley beer (from the Rovers Return), still preserves the illusion that Coronation Street is 'real' - which is, of course, the strength of these 'stories' - people want to belive in them. The Corrie themed tea sets and restaurants I'm a little more sceptical about.
(Thanks to Ghazi for the tip)
-- Toby
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