Constructing a metadata model to capture the deconstruction of literary characters: Remediation of evil

Abstract

This study explores the prospects of constructing a metadata Omeka model to capture the transformation of four classic evil characters through various media adaptations. The scope encompasses ancient literary characters as they evolve through a “remediation” model of analysis in both the literary sense of the term and the computational one. Within this frame, Bolter and Grusin’s theory of remediation is utilized to explain the digital proliferation as an evolution of various forms of media that derive from one another both old and new. The research question becomes whether the concept of remediation can account for linking various adaptations of a work of literature through various media modes ranging from oral folktales, written texts, paintings, movies, and social media Memes. The four characters are The Cyclops, Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, and the devil from Dr. Faustus. This is achieved by the machine readability in the embedded Omeka structure of the collection allowing for its reuse by both researchers and students. The dynamics of a poststructuralist shift of power where media adaptations within audience interaction undermine the traditional media institutions that have for so long dominated the media and information industries. The interchangeable role of monsters from the audience’s perspectives becomes a means of self-expression and understanding an ever-changing world with blurring boundaries between good and evil. Remediation, thus, becomes a form of rebellion against the traditional norms that define what it is that is doomed monstrous.

Keywords

• remediation
• metadata
• omeka
• sustainable research
• poststructuralism
• audience interaction