World Gestalten: Ellipsis, Logic, and Extrapolation in Imaginary Worlds
in Projections
Author:
Mark J.P. Wolf
Mark J.P. Wolf
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Just as perceptual gestalten complete images and narrative gestalten complete storylines, both encouraging audiences to fill in missing information based on the information provided, the data pertaining to an imaginary world can collectively generate a world logic that helps audiences extrapolate and fill in gaps, resulting in the illusion of a complete and consistent imaginary world, through we what might call world gestalten. This article examines how these gestalten occur and function, how they contribute to the illusion of a complete world, and the importance of this process to transmedial entertainment franchises that are set in imaginary worlds.