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Why Do We Love These Damn TV Series? An Introduction to the Contemporary TV Series’ Narratives: A Sociological and Mediological Perspective.

2024-10-10T15:30:19+00:00

TV series have become a central medium in the representation of social transformations, cultural processes, and the multiple and heterogeneous identities of contemporary society. This crucial function of TV series can only be fully understood if we analyze the evolution of the TV medium within the broader scenario of digital cultures and the mediatization of everyday life.

The Role of Product Placement in Serial Storytelling.

2024-10-10T15:30:18+00:00

In the last decades, TV series have increasingly become an ideal platform for product placement initiatives due to their relatively quick production process and the variety of advertising opportunities they offer through sound, visual or integrated placements (Russell, 2019). Moreover, in recent years, streaming platforms have further promoted this form of communication by creating serialized content that resonates strongly with younger audiences, who tend to favour non-traditional media (Li, 2023). The continued increase of global revenues further underscores the success of product placement, with projections anticipating a surge to $29 billion in 2023 (Navarro, 2023). This reflects a notable increase of over 12% compared to the preceding year. In this context, the paper aims to analyse product placement in the series And Just Like That..., the sequel to Sex and the City. In particular, it will focus on two antithetical cases: the so-called “negative placement”, which occurs when the inclusion of a brand or product is linked to a narrative element detrimental to the image of the brand itself, and “positive placement”, a promotional strategy that instead enhances the appeal and visibility of the featured product within the narration.

Frictions in Fiction. La rappresentazione dell’invecchiamento femminile nella serie televisiva Feud: Bette e Joan.

2024-10-10T15:30:17+00:00

The focus of the article consists in the analysis of the ways frictions and crises linked to aging are depicted in the first season (Bette and Joan) of the TV series Feud (2017-2024, FX), through the story of two cinema icons, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. On screen the aging process is narrated at a critical moment for Hollywood at a time when women after the age of forty were no longer deemed suitable or interesting for movie making. The narrative modulation recalls the set of problems connected with sexism and misogyny, quite present in the film industry of the time. In Feud: Bette and Joan (2017) Bette Davis and Joan Crawford are in their turn played by two other important protagonists of the cinema industry: Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange. The presence of these two great actresses further define an additional level of textual interpretations, linked to contemporaneity. The complexity of the storytelling therefore provides the audiences with the opportunity to move on, and around, several levels and frameworks, as Feud: Bette and Joan recalls differing time frames, making them overlap. On the one hand, an ‘archival’ model is being used through fragments which are remakes of past excerpts, and open up to a specific and shared historical memory for parts of the audience. On the other hand, there are different jumps which lead viewers elsewhere, closer to the present from the central focus of storytelling. In essence, reality is constantly recalled, in a form similar to docu-fiction, thus expanding the possibility for the TV series to establish ties with contemporaneity as well. A feature emerging from the analysis of Feud: Bette and Joan refers to the use of the Hollywood setting as the metaphor of a bigger space-world than the mere cinema industry, thus promoting a reflection on the issue of women’s aging more broadly. Therefore, the sparks caused by fiction-friction give rise to discursive explosions capable of bringing new light – and new values – to aging, becoming part of the broader debate at a socio-cultural level.

Against All Common Sense. The Mediatized Legend of Juve Caserta between Basketball Epics, Aged Sports Celebrities, and Collective Memory in the Docu-Series Scugnizzi per sempre.

2024-10-10T15:30:08+00:00

This article investigates the TV docu-series Scugnizzi per sempre (2023) as an example of narrative mediatization of sports. Using narrative analysis and media content analysis applied to television seriality, the article aims to focus on three essential elements:
1) the identification of the thematic cores that develop the celebration of the epic feat of the Juve Caserta basketball club;
2) the ways through which the RAI docu-series (re)connects fandom with the aged sports celebrities and the collective memory of the Scudetto victory (1991);
3) the analysis of storylines and sequences through which the docu-series elaborates a kind of reflexive mediatization (or meta-mediatization), recounting the role of news media and communication technologies within the series’ storytelling.

In a galaxy (no longer) far, far away, The Mandalorian between platformization and processes of celebrification.

2024-10-10T15:30:21+00:00

The paper’s main aim is to analyse the television series The Mandalorian, placed within the transmedia narrative ecosystem (Pescatore, 2018) of Star Wars, to reflect on several particularly urgent issues concerning the contemporary mediascape and, more generally, the digital society we live in. Distributed by Disney+ in Italy in March 2020 (2019 in the USA), the series covered by the paper allows us to advance multiple considerations. First, it will enable us to reflect on complex television (Mittell, 2017) and how this has changed regarding renewed spectatorship (Tirino, 2020). Secondly, it allows us to reflect on new modes of consumption, production, and distribution related to the rise of SVOD services and OTT Television (Re, 2017b) and, in this case, the existence of a (proprietary) platform of the Walt Disney Company group. The Mandalorian also allows us to focus on the evolution of transmedia storytelling (within the Star Wars universe or, more generally, within the mediascape in which we live). A further aspect concerns the concept of celebrity: the production’s choice fell on the actor Pedro Pascal to play the Mandalorian; the actor participated in the promotional events linked to the release of the series, but for almost the entire duration of the first season and the second one a helmet and armour cover him. After contextualising the television series, the paper intends to highlight the abovementioned aspects.

Lady Oscar’s Transmedia Universe between Gender Representation and Seriality in the Digital Age.

2024-10-10T15:30:15+00:00

The narrative ecosystem spawned by the manga Berusaiyu no Bara (henceforth referred to by its English title The Rose of Versailles) (Riyoko Ikeda, 1972-1973) and its renowned protagonist, Lady Oscar, presents itself as a paradigmatic case study in the sphere of digital television seriality. It offers significant insights for the analysis of production and distribution, inter/transmedia dynamics, and the intercultural processes of fandom. This ecosystem stands out for its ability to permeate various media formats, thereby creating a rich transmedia universe. A prime example of its success is the 12-episode anime series, which first aired in Japan in 1979. This series delineates a path reflecting the metamorphosis of media consumption and practices in contemporary mediascape. Furthermore, Lady Oscar (the name given to the anime in France and Italy, where it achieved considerable success) (1979-1980, Nippon Television) assumes a pivotal role in discussions on gender representation in popular culture. The series challenges the tenets of heterosexual romanticism and traditional gender roles, with the protagonist serving as an icon of resistance against gender norms. She offers an alternative model of identity and relationships, resonating with contemporary issues of gender and sexuality. This analysis encompasses the intercultural and transnational processes, focusing on how The Rose of Versailles has captivated an international fandom, particularly in France and Italy. The series becomes a medium for exploring universal themes such as gender identity, social conflicts, and political dynamics, illustrating how a narrative can transcend cultural and geographical boundaries, influencing the perception and discussion of social issues in various contexts. Lady Oscar exemplifies how a television series can act as a crucial medium in narrating social and cultural transformations. Through its transmedia evolution, challenging gender roles, and intercultural resonance, the series provides a unique glimpse into the interaction between production, distribution, consumption, and participation in the contemporary media landscape.

Great Scott!: Adaptive Dynamics of the Scott Pilgrim Franchise From the Comics to the Netflix Series

2024-10-10T15:30:14+00:00

This article investigates the franchise that originated from Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim comics series (2004-2010) and continued with a film adaptation (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, 2010, Edgar Wright) and the recent animated Netflix series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023). Scott Pilgrim’s narrative ecosystem unfolds across various media, displaying heterogeneous characteristics regarding production structures, forms, and content. Indeed, the franchise also features several spinoffs: a short-lived mobile comic, a beat ‘em up video game, and a card game. While surveying its medial articulation, I will discuss its appeal to hypermediacy mechanisms, both interweaving references between the components of the franchise and connecting it with music and gaming cultures; and its content, examining the progressive reworking of its storyworld, its alignment with diverse genres and imaginaries, and the way its unfolding aims to adapt and resonate with varied audiences and cater to their cultural preferences and consumption patterns.

Platform Seriality Worldbuilding: analisi delle narrazioni transmediali e delle pratiche di co-creazione nel caso Bojack Horseman.

2024-10-10T15:30:13+00:00

This paper, through the use of an ecological and transmedia approach, proposes an interpretation of the processes of fruition and interaction of complex seriality products generated and distributed on streaming platforms. In particular, it proposes to analyze the platformed worldbuilding process, that is, how affordances contribute decisively to the creation of a storyworld; to this end, the conceptualization of three transmedial narrative levels was carried out: diegetic, extradiegetic and hyperdiegetic. The paper proposes the animated television series BoJack Horseman (Netflix, 2014-2019) as a case study; in particular, a descriptive analysis of individual episodes and content on social media accounts was conducted. From this it emerges how narrative and distribution strategies are activated that contribute to the Netflix-centered Platform Seriality Worldbuilding process, i.e., through the use of transmedia hooks, also generated by users’ interpretive skills, the Netflix Serial Multiverse is developed.

Storie, culture e immaginari. L’oratorio come agenzia educativa

2024-10-10T15:30:11+00:00

Raccontare e raccontarsi, costruire mondi sociali, generare spazi culturali di costruzione identitaria: soprattutto in Italia, gli oratori si sono configurati innanzitutto come luoghi di condivisione di immaginari, culture e narrazioni, da cui spesso è scaturito un insieme di memorie collettive in grado di connettere gruppi, generazioni, individui.

Paolo Jedlowski, Storie comuni. La narrazione nella vita quotidiana.

2024-10-10T15:30:10+00:00

La breve nota autobiografica con cui Paolo Jedlowski introduce il testo Storie comuni. La narrazione nella vita quotidiana (2022) prelude aprioristicamente alla funzione preminentemente umana e sociale della narrazione, se è vero che “la facoltà di narrare è, per quanto ne sappiamo, una costante umana”. V’è infatti un’urgenza narrativa intimamente connessa alla capacità che questa possiede di organizzare l’esperienza umana (Bruner, 1990): “Ho inteso chiarire come la nostra capacità di tradurre l’esperienza in termini narrativi non sia soltanto un gioco infantile, quanto piuttosto uno strumento di creazione di significato che domina gran parte della vita nell’ambito della cultura”. Esiste, per Jerome Bruner una capacità originaria del linguaggio, e dunque propria dell’atto stesso del narrare, di “accedere al significato”, ossia di accedere a rappresentazioni protolinguistiche del mondo mediante le quali diviene possibile per il bambino interpretare contesti o situazioni aventi natura sociale.