Collective Intelligence in Transmedia Storytelling 1

COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE IN TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING

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Collective Intelligence in Transmedia Storytelling

Pierre Levy coined the term collective intelligence in his book "Collective
Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace." According to Levy(2010), the
term collective intelligence refers to the cognitive capacities of society, community, or a
collection of individuals that can be used to leverage their combined expertise and talents.
Collective intelligence essentially provides content creators with an opportunity to
advance their narratives through the knowledge and talents of their audience. According
to Long (2008), collective intelligence functions as a cultural attractor that brings like-
minded individuals together, thereby creating communities or fandoms that make it easier
to share knowledge and expertise to solve puzzles or fill holes left in the narrative. To
understand the concept of collective intelligence described by Levy, we will reflect on the
Manifest Franchise, which Netflix recently renewed due to the high public outcry of its
fandom after NBC opted not to renew its fourth season.
Manifest
Manifest, a production of Warner Bros Pictures, has been one of the most
discussed shows in recent times. The show has captured the imagination of many people
who have gone as far as creating a fandom Wiki page to discuss the intriguing storyline.
Manifest initially premiered in 2018, and after three successful seasons on NBC, it was
unceremoniously canceled, leaving many of its fans in dismay. However, due to its large
fanbase, Netflix quickly took up the show and renewed it for a fourth consecutive season.
When the show first premiered, many people did not have high expectations manly
because it involved passengers boarding a plane and disappearing into the abyss, which
has been a cliché in most Hollywood films. But unlike the numerous TV shows where
survivors find themselves in an unknown island or forest and have to fend off new
enemies in the wild. Manifest passengers of Flight 828 actually returned home unharmed.
The only difference was that their flight took five and a half years instead of the regular
three hours to arrive at the designated airport.
The mystery of where the plane has been for the past five and half years
inevitably forms the basis of the show's storyline (Long 2007. The plane's return also
raises more questions than answers because while the other people in the world have aged
for more than five years, the passengers have not aged a day and still look the same and
have the same clothes they wore when they boarded the plane. More mysterious is the
fact that while the world is astonished by the arrival of people who were presumed dead
five years ago, all the passengers aboard the plane believed that their plane took the
normal time to arrive. The unexplained gaps and holes in this show essentially open new
doors for the diffusion of elements of a work of fiction across multiple channels to
achieve coordinated and coherent narration. After the first episodes, people on social
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media began to discuss the show leading the creation of virtual communities. Most of the
virtual communities have generated theories that try to explain the gaps left in the show.
Like other contemporary shows, Manifest incorporates worldbuilding strategies
where the writers gradually expand their hyperdiegesis (Stein and Busse 2014). Much of
the action focused on the Flight 828 passengers trying to get back into society during the
first episodes. The show was basically circled around the main characters discovering
that some of them came back with unique abilities. For instance, Cal learned that he
could get visions of future events, especially when it relates to the passengers of Flight
828. Michaela, on the hand, also learned that, like Cal, she could also get clues from her
visions, allowing her to solve cases at an alarming rate. To expand the hyperdiegesis of
the narrative, the writers introduced a new character called Zeke. Like the passengers of
Flight 828, Zeke had gone missing for a year while hiking on the mountain. His friends
and families relentlessly searched for him for months to no avail. However, Zeke
emerged from the mountain a year later, not having aged a day and wearing the same
clothes he wore when he disappeared. Like the Flight 828 passengers, Zeke could not
believe he had gone missing for a whole year. The emergence of Zeke essentially
introduced larger mythology to the show as it revealed that there was a connection
between a ravaging storm and the disappearance of people.
The gradual world progression of Manifest was instrumental in stimulating
viewers' imagination and enhancing their understanding. The show that had started a
small hyperdiegesis slowly started to expand its horizons giving rise to new ideas,
theories, and perceptions about the plane's disappearance (Stein and Busse 20140. To
further increase the mystery of the plane, the pilot of the plane, who was blamed for the
disappearance, started to observe weather patterns in the country, looking for storms that
had a similar magnitude to the one they encountered during their flight. When he finally
got lucky, he stole an airplane and flew right into the storm just like he had done the last
term. The pilot, accompanied by one of the passengers, disappeared in the storm, never to
be seen again. These occurrences drove the virtual community into a frenzy as people
started to share their ideas and theories on social platforms. People on social media pages
of Manifest and their chat rooms were deeply engaged in discussion. The main objective
was to try and use their individual knowledge and talents to piece together the story and
explain the puzzles in the show.
Manifest, like other mysteries, shows also uses the hierarchy of mysteries to
advance their stories. Throughout the show, the scriptwriters intentionally leave their
audience with lingering mysteries that are never answered. Even though these mysteries
play a small role in the whole narrative, they still ensure that they keep the fans engaged.
For instance, the mystery of what happened to the captain and the passenger who flew in
the eye of the storm goes unanswered, and fans are just left to postulate their own
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theories. By leveraging the collective intelligence of the virtual community, the show
manages to remain relevant and mysterious. The scriptwriters have even admitted to
adopting an ever-changing script with numerous proposed changes on the original script
to ensure that the show retains its mysteries. Additionally, the constant interaction of the
fans and the directors have essentially helped to propel the show to new levels. The
directors have been able to feed off the energy of their fans, inspiring them to implement
new puzzles and storylines along the way to ensure that the fans keep on guessing.
In its second season, a new storyline of death date is introduced. According to this
theory, each person who disappeared has the same amount of time to live on earth as the
number of days they had gone missing. For instance, all Flight 828 passengers only had
five and half years to live on earth once they landed. On the other hand, Zeke only had a
year to live since he had gone missing for just a year. The new hyperdiegesis helps to
expand the whole narrative as it also argues that if a person was supposed to die of cold,
he would eventually die of cold when their death date arrives (Smith 2009). However, a
new twist is also introduced, suggesting that a person can actually beat their death date by
obeying the callings. Zeke, for instance, was supposed to die from frostbite after a
blizzard trapped him during his hike on the mountain. As his death date approaches, he
begins to feel cold, which only intensifies as his time nears. Fortunately for him, he was
courageous enough to follow his callings, and even though the calling led him to a cold
place that would only exacerbate his symptoms, he did not shy away. In the end, due to
his courage and obedience, Zeke dies but is restored after a few minutes of dying, leading
to the rise of a new concept of hope for the passengers. Through Zeke's experience, the
passengers learn that they can actually beat their death dates, but it will require
unwavering courage. The use of the hierarchy of mysteries in transmedia is critical in
allowing fans to construct their own theories and test them when the show airs.
Another way that Manifest uses collective intelligence to advance its narrative is
through licensed novelization. Unlike other transmedia franchises that integrate novel
stories in their narrative (Voigts and Nicklas 20130. Manifest whole narrative seems to be
inspired by the real-life story of Malaysian Airline Flight 370 that disappeared with over
200 passengers on board in 2014 and has never been found to date. While the producer,
Jeff Rake, claims that he came up with the idea before, he acknowledges the
disappearance of Flight 370 has played a pivotal role in the show. The connection with
the real-world occurrence of an actual missing plane has allowed fans of Manifest to
transverse between the worlds of supernatural and science. Due to these connections, the
show has effectively managed to advance its story by creating a new storyline that looks
to merge the two worlds.
In the third season, the tailfin on Flight 828 is discovered by Cuban fishermen,
which helps expand the show's diegesis. The new discovery essentially raises more
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questions than answers because if the discovered fin is actually real, then the plane must
have crashed somewhere. Secondly, if the plane actually crashed, are the Flight 828
passengers even real, or are they are just mere manifestations of themselves. The new
discovery essentially led many fandoms to question whether the show was exploring the
idea that alternate reality exists. The idea of an alternate universe was suggested in the
season when the cast discovered the research of Al-Zurra, a renowned 16 th-century
explorer. According to Al Zurra, he saw a silver dragon flying above his ship during one
of his odysseys. The flying silver dragon was actually the missing plane which means
that the plane may be stuck in a time loop for more than five years. The new twist
essentially drove fandoms into a frenzy as they started to question the whole
In conclusion, Levy posited the concept of collective intelligence in the statement
"transmedia storytelling is the ideal aesthetic form for an era of collective" has been well
depicted in the popular TV show Manifest. Levy describes collective intelligence as the
capacity of human collectives to engage in intellectual cooperation in order to create,
innovate and invent. Transmedia franchises can therefore make use of the collective
intelligence generated by their fans by helping further their storytelling skills and
narrative. In Manifest, the collective intelligence generated by the show's virtual
community has been instrumental in propelling the show to a new height. The writers
have been forced to constantly alter their scripts to accommodate new ideas and theories
advanced by their fans on social media. Manifest has also employed numerous techniques
like hyperdiegesis and hierarchy of mystery to gradually expand its world to its audience.
The introduction of new themes and characters as the story progresses has played a key
role in challenging the critical thinking of its users. Fans of Manifest have regularly
engaged one another in constructive online discussions as they try to piece together
pieces of available information to solve the numerous mysteries and puzzles in the show.
Collective intelligence has also provided the producers of Manifest with the opportunity
to renew their contract with society and open new avenues for cultural, political, and
economic life
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References
Lévy, P., 2010. From social computing to reflexive collective intelligence: The IEML research
program. Information Sciences, 180(1), pp.71-94.
Long, G.A., 2007. Transmedia storytelling: Business, aesthetics and production at the Jim
Henson Company (Doc
Voigts, E. and Nicklas, P., 2013. Introduction: Adaptation, transmedia storytelling and
participatory culture. Adaptation, 6(2), pp.139-142.
Smith, A., 2009. Transmedia storytelling in Television 2.0. Strategies for developing narratives
across Media Platforms.
Stein, L.E. and Busse, K. eds., 2014. Sherlock and transmedia fandom: essays on the BBC series.
McFarland.