Chuck Tryon - 'Reinventing Cinema: Movies in the Age of Media Convergence'

Chuck Tryon (2009) Reinventing Cinema: Movies in the Age of Media Convergence. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, pp149-173.

In this article Tryon examines how video sharing websites like Youtube enable film fans to engage with films and connect with each other in order to form a community. He focuses primarily on 'spoof trailers' created by amateur film makers in order to twist an already established media text to give it an entirely new meaning. However, spoof trailers can also be seen as promotion for Hollywood films, that turns the fans into labours due to video sharing and creating a 'hype' towards certain films. He uses the example of Robert Ryang's version of 'The Shining', which uses film footage from 'The Shining' but manipulates it into appearing to be a heart-warming family drama film. 

Fans engaging with spoof trailers give audiences the opportunity to respond to the film industry and depict positives and flaws within the films that are produced. Spoof trailers often mock the marketing conventions of Hollywood cinema which encourages viewers of spoof trailers to see films critically. This can be described as ‘critical intertextuality’. Tryon uses the example of ‘The Simpsons’ as using intertextuality for humorous purposes. Intertextuality can also be uses in order to critisie social and political practises. However, many intertextual texts sit in the industry that they are satirising. Jonathon Gray describes this as “economic complicity”.

Tryon discusses post-modern ideas during this article by exampling that Wired Magazine ran articles describing how the boundaries between TV/Film and the internet are becoming blurred due to bloggers being “internet famous” and consumers being able to broadcast themselves through Youtube and various other websites.  He also discusses an article written by Nancy Miller that labels Youtube videos as “snack culture” due to the videos short length. She explains how they are used to break up mundane parts of life, digested quickly and forgotten about.

Due to copyright laws and Google being unable to create revenue from amateur film makers, the history of spoof trailers still remains unsure.