Conclusion

In conclusion, through the observation of the media text ‘The Walking Dead’, with research and reading into the interactions with the audience and the media text, in comparison to the development of new media technologies, multiple arguments have been put forward and questioned. On one hand, audience participation has been key to the creation of paratexts, however it can be seen through the research that in order for audience participation to be as effective as it has been for the media text, that the new technologies such as the Internet have brought about platforms such as forums and social media sites, that have allowed the audience to participate with the text and communicate with each other a lot easier than it would have been through old media such as television alone or radio, as these mediums allow little to none interaction. The easy access to video sharing sites and forums has also allowed the audience to create and be able to view fan generated paratext’s and have begun to create online networks in which they are able to discuss through the Internet about the development of new texts and suggestions to each other about how to improve stories written by anonymous users. However, it can be found that the development of new technologies and new platforms has been key to the spread of the media text, however, most of the online forums have been created by the audience themselves, allowing the audience to create new platforms for the media text to exist on. An example of this is a proposed book by the actor Norman Reedus who plays the character Daryl Dixon, which will contain a collection fan made art, which has been posted, to him by twitter and email (International Business Times, 2014). It can be seen here that by the participation of fans with the text, a new platform is being created without the need of a new technological development. This suggests that the spread of the media text across platforms is not reliant on just one of these factors, but each allows the other to be exploited by the audience, as the participatory culture relies heavily on the technology and platforms available and the technology and platforms also rely on the audience to participate, allowing the platforms to exist and in some cases creating the platform itself.

(Reyes, 2013)