Создание периодических телесериалов contemporary: 1960-е годы глазами постмодерна

1. Making periodic TV series contemporary: 1960s through postmodern eyes

2. Research questions:

1. What makes periodic TV series relevant and appealing to the
contemporary audience of the time?
2. How drama and comedy differ in representation of cultural
memory?

3. Theoretical background:

Constructing cultural memory:
Astrid Erll “Literature, Film and the Mediality of Cultural Memory”
Using concept of remediation:
Jay David Bolter “Remediation and the Desire for immediacy”
Transmediality for the audience:
Henry Jenkins: “Transmedia storytelling”

4. Choosing the medium: serialization of the past

“Whenever the past is represented, the choice of media and
forms has an effect on the kind of memory that is created…”
(Astrid Erll)
- Already a contemporary take
- Provides space for historical complexity
- Opportunity to elevate story through personalization
“As we are witnesses of the micro-perspective on 1960s
history, we are asked, as viewers, to draw conclusions
about the macro-level production of history by historians,
textbooks, and a conservative culture.”
- Experiential narrative techniques (nonlinear storytelling)
- More accessible for contemporary audience

5. Creating relevant cultural memory

“Historical accuracy is not one of the concerns of such
“memory-making” novels and movies; instead they cater to the
public with what is variously termed “authenticity” or
“truthfulness.” They create images of the past which resonate
with cultural memory.
Two differences to explore:
-POV of creator and historical time
-Drama and Comedy genre

6. Modes of collective memory:

Intermediality
-experiential
Represent past as recent, lived-through experience
POV of narration ( here: from production and main characters)
Protagonist: Man And Woman (as well as creator- which shows
the focus and effects on memory- who’s going to be watching
and what are they going to remember)

7.

-mythical
Intertextuality and connection to present, creating a metaphor
(?)
Mad Men- 9/11 “The Falling Man”

8.

-Antagonistic
Help to maintain one version or the past and reject another
Genre
Drama:
using intermediality and references (intertextuality) to
dramatize the story and create an emotional connection
between historical events and characters
Focusing on deeper subjects, historical events
More drawn to historical accuracy
Comedy:
Using intertextuality for comedic moments
Also accurate, but doesn’t mention heavy subjects as often or
stirs them into “light” conversation (more reflective, more from
our POV)

9.

-reflexive
The effect of contemporary
Mad Men: in the years of crisis and change, more accurate
visuals and colors
Marvelous Mrs Maisel: years of “Mee too”, feminism etc.
Visuals are heightened, entertainment and mew technology
TV and Web series, aesthetics of the time and cinematography
(visuals)

10. Remediation ?

Nostalgic appeal
“The Falling Man” as icon of “9/11” – crisis--- character (title
sequence)
What remediation helps to achieve on contemporary level
Grusin- an older medium is highlighted and re-presented in
digital form without apparent irony of critique
Television and technology
-Television and depiction of history for mirroring character’s
feelings and comparing them
-Television and depiction of comedy for realizations and
revelations

11. Connection to the contemporary audience:

Case of transmediality, pluri-medial networks