Concept TV: An Aesthetics of Television Series

Description

What is a television series? A widespread answer takes it to be a totality of episodes and seasons. Luca Bandirali and Enrico Terrone argue against this characterization. In Concept TV: An Aesthetics of Television Series, they contend that television series are concepts that manifest themselves through episodes and seasons, just as works of conceptual art can manifest themselves through installations or performances. In this sense, a television series is a conceptual narrative, a principle of construction of similar narratives. While the film viewer directly appreciates a narrative made of images and sounds, the TV viewer relies on images and sounds to grasp the conceptual narrative that they express. Here lies the key difference between television and film. Reflecting on this difference paves the way for an aesthetics of television series that makes room for their alleged prolixity, their tendency to repetition, and their lack of narrative closure. Bandirali and Terrone shed light on the specific ways in which television series are evaluated, arguing that some apparent flaws of them are, indeed, aesthetic merits when considered from a conceptual perspective. Hence, to maximize the aesthetic value of television series, one should not assess them in the same framework in which films are assessed but rather in a distinct conceptual framework. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Contents List of Figures List of Figures Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: The Problem: Supersize Narratives Television Series as Megamovies The Vast Amount of Time The Norms of Audiovisual Narrative The Clash between Norms and Time Filling Strategies Two Alternative Conclusions Chapter 2: The Solution: Conceptual Narratives Video Art, Film, Television Arguing for the Conceptual Hypothesis Television Series as Conceptual Narratives Ontology and Evaluation The Components of Conceptual Narratives Chapter 3: The Upshot: Engaging with Conceptual Narratives The Normativity of Conceptual Narratives The Evaluation of Conceptual Narratives Approaches to Evaluation Modes of Conceptual Narratives Conceptual Metanarratives Serialized Series Serialized Characters Conclusion: Rethinking Television Series Bibliography Index About the Authors