Serial Orientations

Serial Orientations: Mapping the Narrative Worlds of Contemporary Complex Television Jason Mittell (@jmittell) Middlebury College,Vermont, USALichtenberg-Kolleg, University of Göttingen (2011-12) http://justtv.wordpress.com http://tinyurl.com/complextv

Serial Orientations: Mapping the NarrativeWorlds of Contemporary Complex Television

Commercial US Television accessibility

Commercial US Television accessibility least objectionable content

Commercial US Television innovations of meanings & form

Commercial US Television narrative complexity

orienting paratexts

categories oforienting paratexts

a television serial creates a sustained narrative universe, populated by a consistent set of characters whoexperience a chain of events over time

a television serial creates a sustained narrative universe, populated by a consistent set of characters whoexperience a chain of events over time Time Characters Events Space

TimeStory Time Plot Time Screen Time

TimeStory Time Plot Time Screen Time Schedule as Orientation

TimeStory Time Plot Time Screen Time Chronology as Orientation

TimeStory Time Plot Time Screen Time Calendaring as Orientation

Recapitulation

Recapitulation Analysis

Recapitulation Analysis Expansion

Screen Time: Plot Time: Story Time: Schedule Chronology CalendarRecapitulation Analysis Expansion

Plot Recapitulation (Events)

Event Analysis

Plot Expansions

Character Recaps

Character Analyses

Character Expansions

Spatial Orientations

http://www.lostlocations.com/

4.815 N 162.342 W

Lost, “Lockdown” (2006)

Locke’s attempt to recreate map (solo effort)

Lost screen-capture

Annotated Map @ 1 hour

Annotated Map @ 8 hours

Other Annotated Maps

Entertainment Weekly’s“ofﬁcial” Annotated Map

from Lost jigsaw puzzle from Lost:Via Domus videogame

original production map

So What?

So What?• Complexity demands orientation

So What?• Complexity demands orientation• Television activates audiences

So What?• Complexity demands orientation• Television activates audiences• Orientation as transformational fandom & play

So What?• Complexity demands orientation• Television activates audiences• Orientation as transformational fandom & play• Room for growth in complex spatial storytelling

Thank you! Jason Mittell (@jmittell) Middlebury College,Vermont, USALichtenberg-Kolleg, University of Göttingen (2011-12) http://justtv.wordpress.com http://tinyurl.com/complextv

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Serial Orientations

by Jason Mittell on Nov 14, 2011

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Serial Orientations — Presentation Transcript