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Innovative Pathways for the Screen Adaptation (Micro-Drama) of Online Literature from a Transmedia Narrative Perspective and Its Cross-Cultural Dissemination

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Dissertation(2.94 MB)

Date

2026

Authors

Bao, Suya

Supervisor

Waipara, Zak

Item type

Dissertation

Degree name

Master of Communication Studies

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Publisher

Auckland University of Technology

Abstract

In recent years, Chinese online literature IPs (intellectual properties) have trended towards short-form dramatisation. IP primarily refers to original content with clearly defined ownership that can be continuously adapted across multiple media forms. Numerous popular web novels have been adapted into vertically oriented micro-dramas that deliver complete narratives within a few minutes and spread rapidly across social media platforms. The driving forces behind this phenomenon include the large, built-in fan bases and expandable story worlds of web novels, as well as the short, concise, and fast consumption habits shaped by algorithmic recommendation on short-video platforms. This study investigates the short-form dramatisation of two Chinese web novels, Fortune Writer (2024) and How Dare You? (2025), focusing on their transmedia narrative adaptation characteristics and cross-cultural communication effects. The core inquiries analyse how web-novel IPs share and fragment their story worlds across different media. This also includes how short-form adaptations are received in the Chinese context and how they catalyse participatory cultural practices such as derivative fan production. To address these questions, the study adopts a methodological design that integrates qualitative and quantitative approaches, including textual analysis, audience data mining, and cross-cultural comparison. By reviewing relevant theories and literature, this thesis constructs a four-dimensional analytical framework—intertextuality, expandability, participation, and cross-cultural—to systematically elucidate the narrative strategies and dissemination mechanisms of short-form adaptations of web novels. The findings reveal how micro-drama adaptations extend the originals in terms of plot and worldbuilding while maintaining connections through intertextual references. They also show how Chinese audiences embrace the micro-drama format and engage in narrative re-creation via danmu or bullet screens (real-time user comments overlaid on the footage), comments, reviews, and fan-made works. In addition, when disseminated cross-culturally, micro-dramas need to reduce barriers to cultural understanding through localised translation and semiotic transformation to achieve effective reach overseas. The significance of this study lies in enriching localised interpretations of transmedia narrative and adaptation theory in the Chinese context, offering strategic insights for the global circulation of online-literature IPs, and contributing new cases and perspectives on participatory culture in the digital era.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10292/21053

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Masters Dissertations