engleski

Narrative Strategies and Fact/Fiction Distinction in Contemporary Serial Television

My aim in this paper is to explore some of the dominant narrative strategies frequently employed in contemporary serial fiction and to analyze the impact these strategies have in promoting the capacity of some instances of serial fiction to foster cognitive and moral benefits in the spectators. I focus on generic fiction series, primarily crime, courtroom and hospital drama, such as The Wire ; Law and Order, ER and the like. What makes these series particularly interesting is the intersection of their two dimensions: epistemic and ethical ones. These series are epistemically relevant because they purport to present some aspects of the real world in mimetically reliable manner. They are ethically interesting, as they repeatedly put forward complex moral issues and demand moral judgments from the spectators. Given the complexity of these two dimension, some philosophers and TV scholars argue that such series are not only an instance of entertainment television, but works of art saliently similar to acknowledged works of cinema or literature. I share such views and I aim here to contribute to this line of thought. However, any defense of the cognitive/ethical value of serial television has to consider the fact that such series aim primarily to entertain, not to inform. Furthermore, they are highly formulaic which makes it easy and undemanding for the viewers to follow the action or understand the characters. Due to these simplifications, such series are considered trivial and one-dimensional, incapable of stimulating complex cognitive work that might result in cognitive benefits on the part of the audience. To respond to this challenge, I analyze the narrative techniques dominant in these series – I refer to them as simplification, omission and bracketing – all of which are at the service of dramatization, and all of which might seem to reduce series’ cognitive impact. I argue that the three strategies should not be considered an obstacle to series cognitive impact, given that (i) they are not unique to the fictional television series, and, more importantly, (ii) they are recognized by the spectators who, in the course of their engagement with the show, know how to factor them into their assessment of the series’ epistemic reliability and ethical seriousness. I conclude by developing an account of the series’ cognitive and ethical value which does not depend on the fact/fiction distinction and which is helpful in demarcating entertainment television series from those series which are imbued with significant cognitive and ethical value.

narrative strategies, fiction, tv aesthetics

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