Television: Problems in Contemporary Criticism

Catalog description

This class will approach television's visual storytelling as a unique form of narrative. "Much academic study of television has focused on its social impact and ideological content, and in this seminar we will engage that work. "Television can't be fully comprehended, however, without considering how the stories of television are told. "Our working hypothesis is that form organizes the meanings and generates the emotions that audiences take away from stories, and so it's worthwhile to consider television as text. "What genres are emerging today, and how are they connected, if at all, to classic network forms such as the sitcom and the cop show? How have dramatic, film, and literary forms shaped television storytelling, and how do we measure the impact of technological innovation and the commercial conventions unique to television? Assigned readings include writers on the problem of narrative form and content such as Aristotle, Stanley Cavell, and Roland Barthes, as well as writers on television, including Theodor Adorno, Jason Mittell, Linda Williams, John Sconce, Jane Feuer, Emily Nussbaum, Clive James, and various critics and recappers.