Ampliando el escenario de la narración televisiva en el ecosistema mediático digital del siglo XXI

En aquest article pretenc tornar a examinar des d’una perspectiva crítica alguns temes relacionats amb l’escenari actual de la narrativa televisiva de ficció: els programes de ficció amb una producció, consum i reputació que han estat testimonis de canvis significatius en la dècada dels 2000. El meu interès se centra en el que anomeno «plenitud narrativa», la profusió excepcional de ficcions seriades que ara estan disponibles, en qualsevol moment i a qualsevol lloc, en la miríada de canals i plataformes de l’entorn de mitjans en expansió constant. Referent a això, en l’article es pararà atenció prioritàriament al cas de Netflix. En particular, tractaré de desentranyar la mescla coexistent de guanys i pèrdues com a aspectes clau del modus operandi adoptat per la plataforma de transmissió líder mundial. Després abordaré la disposició problemàtica d’una gran quantitat d’estudis de televisió contemporanis que es concentren únicament en un corpus concret de programes de ficció, que entren dins la categoria de «televisió de prestigi». M’afegeixo a la discussió de l’àmbit d’estudi d’autors que discrepen dels patrons d’elecció basats en gran manera en la dubtosa divisió cultural entre la televisió de nínxol de qualitat i la programació de transmissió en obert. A més, afirmo que aquesta tendència no explica l’amplificació sense precedents de l’escenari contemporani de la narrativa televisiva. Sembla que als estudis de televisió «els arbres no ens permeten veure el bosc».In this paper I intend to revisit from a critical perspective some issues related to the contemporary landscape of fictional TV storytelling: scripted shows whose consumption and reputation have witnessed significant changes in the 21st century. My interest focuses on what I call “narrative plenitude”, the exceptional profusion of serialized fictions that are now available, anytime, anywhere, on the myriad of channels and platforms in the ever-expanding media environment. In this context, priority attention will be given in the article to the case of Netflix. In particular, I will try to unravel the coexisting mixture of gains and losses embodied in key aspects of the modus operandi embraced by the world’s leading streaming platform.Then I will address the problematic readiness of contemporary television studies to concentrate a great deal of scholarship on just a select body of scripted shows, which come under the category of ‘prestige TV’. I join the dialogue among others in the field who take issue with patterns of choice largely based on the questionable cultural divide between quality niche TV and ordinary broadcast programming. Furthermore, I make the claim that this tendency fails to account for the unprecedented amplification of the contemporary landscape of storytelling, as if television studies “can’t see the forest for the trees”. En este artículo pretendo volver a examinar desde una perspectiva crítica algunos temas relacionados con el actual escenario de la narrativa televisiva de ficción: los programas de ficción cuya producción, consumo y reputación han sido testigos de cambios significativos en la década de los 2000. Mi interés se centra en lo que llamo «plenitud narrativa», la profusión excepcional de ficciones seriadas que ahora están disponibles, en cualquier momento y en cualquier lugar, en la miríada de canales y plataformas del entorno de medios en constante expansión. A este respecto, se prestará atención prioritaria en el artículo al caso de Netflix. En particular, trataré de desentrañar la mezcla coexistente de ganancias y pérdidas como aspectos clave del modus operandi adoptado por la plataforma de transmisión líder mundial. Luego abordaré la disposición problemática de una gran cantidad de estudios de televisión contemporáneos que se concentran únicamente en un corpus concreto de programas de ficción, que entran dentro de la categoría de «televisión de prestigio». Me sumo a la discusión del ámbito de estudio de autores que discrepan de los patrones de elección basados en gran medida en la dudosa división cultural entre la televisión de nicho de calidad y la programación de transmisión en abierto. Además, afirmo que esta tendencia no explica la amplificación sin precedentes del escenario contemporáneo de la narrativa televisiva. Parece que en los estudios de televisión «los árboles no nos permiten ver el bosque»

Women war correspondents: does gender make a difference on the front line?

Although there have been women reporters on the front lines since the First World War and their number has increased more and more in subsequent conflicts in the twentieth century, it was only during the first Gulf War that the phenomenon – fostered by the escalating feminisation of newsroom personnel in many countries – gained momentum. The visibility of women war correspondents on national and international television channels is now taken for granted; and women journalists from newspapers have stood by the side of, or replaced, their male colleagues when covering the conflicts. This paper deals with the controversial question of whether or not women journalists covering the news from the front lines ‘speak in a different voice’ from their male counterparts. War understandably offers a special opportunity for exploring such a question, since it is particularly in war that the agenda and the rules of the game of still mostly maledominated journalism come to the fore. This paper, which is based on research still in progress, aims at investigating whether women journalists (or at least some of them, in specific circumstances), once they have been admitted to the male preserve of foreign correspondents and furthermore to the most masculine of action systems such as war, are willing and able to create their own gender-based agenda and express their own point of view

Gender and media studies : progress and challenge in a vibrant research field

Gender and media studies has witnessed in recent years a resounding revival, as is testified by number of published monographs and collections, articles, themed issues of international journals, conferences that bring into focus the diverse features of the relationship between gender and communication. The field has gone through an ebb and flow process over time, since it began to take shape inside the academia in early seventies, under the determining influence of the second-wave feminism, which had made the media a primary object of inquiry and criticism. Actually feminism, its waves and shifts and multiple voices, is a major factor to be considered - alongside equally shiftings conceptual frameworks and methodological tools underpinning research and analysis, and the changing media contexts and contents - in order to account for the constitution and development of the gender and media scholarship. This paper is aimed at drawing an overview of such a history, through a narrative of change and continuity that strives to render how the field has come to be configured and reconfigured over time, and has readjusted its mode of engagement with the fundamental challenge of disclosing and understanding the gendered and gendering dimensions of the media discourses and practices. More focus will be put on the strands of the vibrant debate that enlivens the current revival, much informed by competing ideas as regards gender and media in a postfeminist and media-saturated cultural environment.Los estudios de género y los medios de comunicación han sido testigo en los últimos años un renacimiento rotundo como atestiguan varias monografías, colecciones, artículos o ediciones temáticas en revistas internacionales. El campo ha pasado por un proceso de flujo y reflujo a través del tiempo desde que comenzó a tomar forma académica en la década de los setenta. Este artículo tiene como objetivo elaborar un resumen de su evolución histórica a través de una narrativa de cambio y continuidad

Thematic Issue on The End of Television (Not Yet): Editor's Introduction

This editorial provides background considerations for challenging the long taken-for-granted narrative of the passing of television in the digital era, thus inviting scholars to re-interrogate the place of the medium in the new technology-saturated environment from perspectives that are not informed by the unquestioned assumption that the age of television is over

Género y Media Studies: progreso y retos en un campo vibrante de la investigación

Els estudis de gènere i els mitjans de comunicació han estat testimoni en els últims anys d'un renaixement rotund com testifiquen diverses monografies, col·leccions, articles o edicions temàtiques en revistes internacionals. El camp ha passat per un procés de flux i reflux a través del temps des que va començar a prendre forma acadèmica en la dècada dels setanta. Aquest article elabora un resum de la seva evolució històrica a través d'una narrativa de canvi i continuïtat.Gender and media studies has witnessed in recent years a resounding revival, as is testified by number of published monographs and collections, articles, themed issues of international journals, conferences that bring into focus the diverse features of the relationship between gender and communication. The field has gone through an ebb and flow process over time, since it began to take shape inside the academia in early seventies, under the determining influence of the second-wave feminism, which had made the media a primary object of  inquiry and criticism. Actually feminism, its waves and shifts and multiple voices, is a major factor to be considered - alongside equally shiftings conceptual frameworks and methodological tools underpinning research and analysis, and  the changing media contexts and contents -  in order to account for the constitution and development of the gender and media scholarship.This paper is aimed at drawing an overview of such a history, through a narrative of change and continuity that strives to render how the field has come to be configured and reconfigured over time, and has readjusted its mode of engagement with the fundamental challenge of disclosing and understanding the gendered and gendering dimensions of the media discourses and practices.  More focus will be put on the strands of the vibrant debate that enlivens the current revival, much informed by competing ideas as regards gender and media in a postfeminist and media-saturated cultural environment.  Los estudios de género y los medios de comunicación han sido testigo en los últimos años un renacimiento rotundo como atestiguan varias monografías, colecciones, artículos o ediciones temáticas en revistas internacionales. El campo ha pasado por un proceso de flujo y reflujo a través del tiempo desde que comenzó a tomar forma académica en la década de los setenta. Este artículo tiene como objetivo elaborar un resumen de su evolución histórica a través de una narrativa de cambio y continuidad

Serialidade: continuidade e ruptura no ambiente midiático e cultural contemporâneo

Este artigo objetiva problematizar duas tendências centrais nos estudos recentes sobre a serialidade, mais especificamente como a nova era de abundante produção e consumo de narrativas serializadas se relaciona com a serialidade da forma como ela era avaliada e vivida em épocas passadas. Estão em jogo aqui questões de continuidade e/ou ruptura no mutável cenário das narrativas midiáticas. Defino as duas tendências, respectivamente, como a da continuidade negada – uma vez que defende uma ruptura radical entre as formas televisuais seriais contemporâneas e as anteriores – e a da ruptura ignorada – com referência à aparente cegueira da academia em relação à ruptura com a serialidade provocada pelas novas tecnologias e práticas de assistência culturalmente ativadas.This article aims to problematise two main tendencies to be found in recent scholarship concerning seriality, more specifically how the new era of bountiful production and consumption of serialised narratives relates to seriality as we have appraised and experienced it in previous eras. At stake here are matters of continuity and/or disruption in the changing landscape of media storytelling. I define the two tendencies, respectively, as denied continuity – since it argues for a radical break between contemporary and earlier serial televisual forms – and disregarded disruption – with reference to the apparent blindness of academia to the disruption of seriality brought about by new technology and culturally-enabled viewing practices

La “rivoluzione” digitale: altri modi di vedere la televisione

The article revolves around the much hyped phenomenon that is currently known as “digital revolution”, putting forward an exhortation to ‘curb the enthusiasm’ toward the techonological innovation and its supposedly all positive and progressive impact. Relying on a selected body of scholarly works, the author warns against the risks both of technological determinism and historical amnesia: two intellectual stances which lead to undermine the decisive role of the human factors in the processes of social change. However, the advent of the digital in the television field has put in motion undeniable transformative streams. They are first and foremost manifested in terms of pluralization: of channels, content supply, range of choices and ways of viewing. In regard to this latter, the author points out that the most innovative turn related to digital – that is the removal of television contents from the schedules and their materialization as DVDs – it does to a large extent nothing more than reproducing the conditions of cultural consumption already established since the Nineteenth century by the diffusion of the book. Keywords: television, digital revolution, pluralization, book.L’articolo prende in esame il molto enfatizzato fenomeno che va correntemente sotto il nome di “rivoluzione digitale”, esortando a ‘frenare l’ entusiasmo’ per l’innovazione tecnologica e per le sue conseguenze presunte magnifiche e progressive. Con il sostegno di un selezionato corpus di studi, l’A. mette in guardia contro i rischi sia del determinismo tecnologico, sia della amnesia storica: due posture intellettuali che inducono a trascurare la decisiva importanza dei fattori umani nei processi di cambiamento. Nondimeno, l’avvento del digitale nel campo della televisione ha attivato processi di trasformazione che non possono essere negati. Essi si manifestano soprattutto in termini di pluralizzazione: dei canali, dell’offerta di contenuti, del range della scelta, delle modalità di consumo. A quest’ultimo proposito, in particolare, l’A. sottolinea come l’innovazione forse più radicale derivante dall’applicazione del digitale – e cioè la estrazione dei contenuti televisivi dai palinsesti e la loro materializzazione negli ormai diffusissimi DVD – non facciano altro, a ben guardare, se non riprodurre le condizioni di consumo culturale che si erano stabilite fin dall’Ottocento con la diffusione del libro. Parole chiave: televisione, rivoluzione digitale, pluralizzazione, libro

Widening landscapes of TV storytelling in the digital media environment of the 21st century

In this paper I intend to revisit from a critical perspective some issues related to the contemporary landscape of fictional TV storytelling: scripted shows whose consumption and reputation have witnessed significant changes in the 21st century. My interest focuses on what I call "narrative plenitude", the exceptional profusion of serialized fictions that are now available, anytime, anywhere, on the myriad of channels and platforms in the ever-expanding media environment. In this context, priority attention will be given in the article to the case of Netflix. In particular, I will try to unravel the coexisting mixture of gains and losses embodied in key aspects of the modus operandi embraced by the world's leading streaming platform.Then I will address the problematic readiness of contemporary television studies to concentrate a great deal of scholarship on just a select body of scripted shows, which come under the category of 'prestige TV'. I join the dialogue among others in the field who take issue with patterns of choice largely based on the questionable cultural divide between quality niche TV and ordinary broadcast programming. Furthermore, I make the claim that this tendency fails to account for the unprecedented amplification of the contemporary landscape of storytelling, as if television studies "can't see the forest for the trees".En aquest article pretenc tornar a examinar des d'una perspectiva crítica alguns temes relacionats amb l'escenari actual de la narrativa televisiva de ficció: els programes de ficció amb una producció, consum i reputació que han estat testimonis de canvis significatius en la dècada dels 2000. El meu interès se centra en el que anomeno «plenitud narrativa», la profusió excepcional de ficcions seriades que ara estan disponibles, en qualsevol moment i a qualsevol lloc, en la miríada de canals i plataformes de l'entorn de mitjans en expansió constant. Referent a això, en l'article es pararà atenció prioritàriament al cas de Netflix. En particular, tractaré de desentranyar la mescla coexistent de guanys i pèrdues com a aspectes clau del modus operandi adoptat per la plataforma de transmissió líder mundial. Després abordaré la disposició problemàtica d'una gran quantitat d'estudis de televisió contemporanis que es concentren únicament en un corpus concret de programes de ficció, que entren dins la categoria de «televisió de prestigi». M'afegeixo a la discussió de l'àmbit d'estudi d'autors que discrepen dels patrons d'elecció basats en gran manera en la dubtosa divisió cultural entre la televisió de nínxol de qualitat i la programació de transmissió en obert. A més, afirmo que aquesta tendència no explica l'amplificació sense precedents de l'escenari contemporani de la narrativa televisiva. Sembla que als estudis de televisió «els arbres no ens permeten veure el bosc».En este artículo pretendo volver a examinar desde una perspectiva crítica algunos temas relacionados con el actual escenario de la narrativa televisiva de ficción: los programas de ficción cuya producción, consumo y reputación han sido testigos de cambios significativos en la década de los 2000. Mi interés se centra en lo que llamo «plenitud narrativa», la profusión excepcional de ficciones seriadas que ahora están disponibles, en cualquier momento y en cualquier lugar, en la miríada de canales y plataformas del entorno de medios en constante expansión. A este respecto, se prestará atención prioritaria en el artículo al caso de Netflix. En particular, trataré de desentrañar la mezcla coexistente de ganancias y pérdidas como aspectos clave del modus operandi adoptado por la plataforma de transmisión líder mundial. Luego abordaré la disposición problemática de una gran cantidad de estudios de televisión contemporáneos que se concentran únicamente en un corpus concreto de programas de ficción, que entran dentro de la categoría de «televisión de prestigio». Me sumo a la discusión del ámbito de estudio de autores que discrepan de los patrones de elección basados en gran medida en la dudosa división cultural entre la televisión de nicho de calidad y la programación de transmisión en abierto. Además, afirmo que esta tendencia no explica la amplificación sin precedentes del escenario contemporáneo de la narrativa televisiva. Parece que en los estudios de televisión «los árboles no nos permiten ver el bosque»

Television drama as central story-telling system in contemporary Italy

The article will reconstructs the «success story» of end-of-century italian tv fiction, within the context of cultural processes and industrial and regulatory factors that have grounded and supported it. The elements which relate the television story-telling to the italian identity, will be focused; with special reference to the powerful wave of stories which, at the millennium turn, have drawn inspiration and contents from the source of the catholic sentiment and the collective memory of italian population.Este artigo reconstruirá uma «história de sucesso» da ficção italiana para a TV do final do século, no contexto dos processos culturais e dos fatores industriais e de regulamentação que a consolidaram e a respaldaram. Serão abordados os elementos que relacionam a narração de histórias na TV à identidade italiana, com especial referência à onda poderosa de histórias que, na virada do milênio, buscou inspiração e conteúdo no sentimento católico e na memória coletiva da população italiana

Stories of exemplary lives. Biographies

O artigo examina tipologias de biografias, especialmente, em narrativas televisivas.The paper examines tipologies of biographies, especially the televisives ones