The Exploits Of Elaine Advertisement Analysis

Whenever you examine a text like a film, TV show, novel, ect. there is always a great deal of other texts that directly reference or promotes the text and these other texts are known as paratexts. A paratext can consist of many different things from an ad promoting a book in the newspaper, a trailer for the latest movie or even a review on the new hit single. When it came to the classic silent film serials of the 1910’s-1930’s a rather interesting paratext comes into play, the promotion for a theater owner to screen the film at their local theater. The example we will be examining comes from The Exploits of Elaine (1914), and with this example we will discover how this particular paratext helps to see the film for audiences of the time. The advertisement we are examining is a hand drawn picture of a giant hand that is reaching down to grab a small couple that look terrified. The drawing sells the idea that the film will be filled with mystery and suspense as the evil hand attempts to crush heroes of the story. The advertisement itself explicitly names the serial and the title of the first episode The Clutching Hand. It also gives the reader

The ad is also nice enough to let the reader know that they can “Book it through the nearest exchange of the The Eclectic Film Company”. The paratext in question gives he reader another point of interest the name of the corporation that produced the episodes of the serial, in this case it is the company Pathe. This can help the theater owners decide if they will screen the film or not, since they will know if Pathe produces good material or not. For example if the last serial produced by Pathe was a big hit than the businessman (or theater owner) would easily consider release this new