Monographic lecture: The phenomenon of series

elective monographs
obligatory courses

Obligatory class for third-year students of Creative writing programme

Classroom

Given course is an overview of American series belonging to the genre of prestigious television. With a few exceptions we’re going to cover productions released in the last two decades, produced for TV stations and streaming services. We will zero in on formal innovations and the long history of narrative forms borrowed from fiction. We will also focus on the notion of genre, distribution models, the production cycle, and economic underpinnings of these productions.

1. Introduction. Creation of characters and narration in series

2. The birth of prestige TV – Twin Peaks

3. The imagined world from Fargo (dir. Ethan i Joel Coenowie, 1996) to Fargo (Noah Hawley et al., 2016–2023)

4. Narrative continuity: Breaking Bad (Vince Gilligan, 2008–2013) and Better Call Saul (Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, 2015–2022)

5. Female prison narratives – Orange is the New Black (Jenji Kohan, 2013–2019)

6. Technological dystopia – Black Mirror (Charlie Brooker, 2011–2023).

7. Digital dystopia – Mr. Robot (Sam Esmail, 2015–2019)

8. Posthumanist dystopia – Westworld (Jonathan Nolan et al., 2016–2022)

9. Time loops – Russian Doll (Natasha Lyonne, 2019–2022)

10. Shakespearean politics in The House of Cards (Beau Willimon, 2013–2018)

11. Sitcom – Seinfeld/Curb Your Enthusiasm (Larry David)

12. Adult animation from Simpsons to Bojack Horseman (Raphael Bob-Waksberg, 2016–2020)

13. Televised nostalgia – Mad Men (Matthew Weiner et al., 2007–2015)

14. Netflix and algorithmic culture – Stranger Things (Matt and Ross Duffler, 2016–2023)

15. Conclusions

Bradbury-Rance, Clara, „‘Unique joy’: Netflix, pleasure and the shaping of queer taste,” New Review of Film and Television Studies, 21:2, 2023, p. 133–157.

Brincker, Maria, Disoriented and Alone in the “Experience Machine” – On Netflix, Shared World Deceptions and the Consequences of Deepening Algorithmic Personalization, „SATS” 2021; 22(1): p. 75–96.

Damico, Amy, M. Sara E. Quay, Stories and Audiences, w 21st-Century TV Dramas: Exploring the New Golden Age, Praeger 2016, p. 1–34.

Demers, Jason, Is a Trojan Horse an Empty Signifier? The Televisual Politics of ‘Orange Is the New Black’, „Canadian Review of American Studies” 47 2017, p. 403–422.

Draper, Robert, Mad Men: A conversation with Matthew Weiner, w Maya Perez i Barbara Morgan red., On Story—The Golden Ages of Television, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2018.

Falvey, Eddie, Situating Netflix’s Original Adult Animation: Observing Taste Cultures and the Legacies of ‘Quality’ Television through ‘BoJack Horseman’ and ‘Big Mouth’, „Animation: an Interdisciplinary Journal” Vol. 15(2) 2020, p. 116–129.

Fink, Moritz, More than Just a Cartoon: Meta-Television Culture and the Age of Irony, w Understanding The Simpsons: Animating the Politics and Poetics of Participatory Culture. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2021, p. 85–108.

Garner, Ross P.‘The Series That Changed Television’? ‘Twin Peaks’, "Classic" Status, and Temporal Capital, „Cinema Journal” 55, 3 2016, p. 137–142.

Gillota, David, Negotiating Jewishness: ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ and the Schlemiel Tradition, „Journal of Popular Film and Television” Vol. 38, Iss. 4 2010, p. 152–161.

Gustafsson, Henrik, Screen Violence from Settler Colonialism to Cognitive Capitalism Westworld and the Player Piano, „Afterimage”, Vol. 49, Number 3, 2022 p. 23–45.

Keller, James R. The Vice in Vice President: ‘House of Cards’ and the Morality Tradition, „Journal of Popular Film and Television” Vol. 43, Iss. 3 2015, p. 111–120.

Klarer, Mario, Putting Television ‘Aside’: Novel Narration in ‘House of Cards’, „New Review of Film and Television Studies”, 12:2, 2014, p. 203-220.

Landau, Neil, The Slow-Burn Season-Long Procedural, w TV Writing On Demand: Creating Great Content in the Digital Era, Routledge 2018, p. 33–52.

Leverette, Marc, Deconstructing Larry, ‘The Last Man’: Larry David, ‘Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm’, and Comedies of the Self, „Studies in Popular Culture”, Vol. 27, No. 1 2004, p. 1–17.

Lyons, Siobhan, The (Anti-)Hero with a Thousand Faces: Reconstructing Villainy in ‘The Sopranos’, ‘Breaking Bad’, and ‘Better Call Saul’, „Canadian Revue of American Studies” 51/3 2021, p. 225–246.

Nochimson, Martha P. The David Effect, w Television Rewired: The Rise of the Auteur Series, Austin: University of Texas Press 2019, s 1–27.

P. Nochimson, Martha, Matt Weiner, ‘Mad Men’, w Television Rewired: The Rise of the Auteur Series, Austin: University of Texas Press 2019, p. 154–181.

Schniedermann, Wibke, The Narrative Features of Involuntary Time Loops, „Narrative” Vol. 31, No. 3 2023, p. 290–307.

K_W01, K_U02, K_K07

Open test

95% - 100% - excellent

90% - 94% very good

85% - 89% good plus

80% - 84% good

75% - 79% satisfactory plus

60% - 74% satisfactory

59% and less fail