Complex TV

The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling

Bibliographic Data

ID7501090
AuthorsJason Mittell (0000-0003-1554-7001, corresponding author)
Year2020
Publication date2020-05-28
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueComplex TV (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherNew York University Press (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.18574/nyu/9780814744963.001.0001
OpenAlexW4285673565
ISBN9780814744963
LanguageEN
Citations received17

Over the past two decades, new technologies, changing viewer practices, and the proliferation of genres and channels has transformed American television. One of the most notable impacts of these shifts is the emergence of highly complex and elaborate forms of serial narrative, resulting in a robust period of formal experimentation and risky programming rarely seen in a medium that is typically viewed as formulaic and convention bound. Complex TV offers a sustained analysis of the poetics of television narrative, focusing on how storytelling has changed in recent years and how viewers make sense of these innovations. Through close analyses of key programs, including The Wire, Lost, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Veronica Mars, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Mad Men the book traces the emergence of this narrative mode, focusing on issues such as viewer comprehension, transmedia storytelling, serial authorship, character change, and cultural evaluation. Developing a television-specific set of narrative theories, Complex TV argues that television is the most vital and important storytelling medium of our time

Aesthetics · Art · Enthusiasm · Key (lock · Literature · Media studies · Mode (computer interface · Narrative · Narrative structure · Poetics · Poetry · Set (abstract data type · Sociology · Storytelling · Computer Science · Digital Games and Media · Media Studies and Communication · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Psychology · History · Social Psychology

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