Complex TV : the poetics of contemporary television storytelling / Jason Mittell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mittell, Jason, author.

Contributor:

NYU Press., Publisher.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Television authorship.

Television--Philosophy.

Television.

Television--Social aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 391 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York ; London : New York University Press, [2015].

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Complexity in Context

2. Beginnings

3. Authorship

4. Characters

5. Comprehension

6. Evaluation

7. Serial Melodrama

8. Orienting Paratexts

9. Transmedia Storytelling

10. Ends

Notes

Index

About the Author

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Mittell, Jason. Complex TV : the poetics of contemporary television storytelling.

ISBN:

9780814744963

0814744966

OCLC:

905658558