The Modalities of Media II: An Expanded Model for Understanding Intermedial Relations

Abstract

This chapter is a significantly expanded and improved version of ‘The Modalities of Media: A Model for Understanding Intermedial Relations’ from 2010. It suggests an elaborated theoretical framework for distinguishing the multimodal character of media products, which are understood as those entities and phenomena that make inter-human communication possible. It offers a foundational model for describing and analysing the most basic similarities, differences and interrelations among all conceivable forms of media. The chapter also explains some basic mechanisms for categorising media products into media types and the intricate nature of media borders: how they are identified, construed and crossed. Finally, it broadly discusses two general intermedial perspectives: media integration and media transformation.