81582 - History of Serialisation (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student acquires knowledge related to seriality, understood as a mode of cultural production, characteristic of the modern era. The main stages of the history of audiovisual seriality will be retraced in order to offer a clear vision of a phenomenon often analyzed only in relation to the present, in order to provide a reference framework that allows a more conscious assessment of the innovative aspects of contemporary productions .

Course contents

The 2019/2020 programme explores the history of seriality in relation to the history of cinema and television. The course highlights the close links between serial forms, genre narratives and ways of production adopted by cultural industries.

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students

Attending students are required to choose one of the following units:

1. Crime. Lo sviluppo della narrativa poliziesca e criminale seriale tra cinema e televisione. Dai Topi grigi a Gomorra.

   Sue Turnbull, Crime (Minimum Fax, Roma 2019)

   Or

   M. Guerra, S. Martin, S. Parigi, a cura di, Universo Gomorra (Mimesis, Udine 2018) + G. Benvenuti, Il brand Gomorra: dal romanzo alla serie TV (Il Mulino, Bologna 2018)

   Or

   D. Lotti, I topi grigi (1918) (Mimesis, Udine 2018) + S. Calabrese, R. Rossi, La crime fiction (Carocci, Roma 2019)

2. Orrori in serie. Saghe e narrazioni intorno al mostruoso.

   D. Holdaway, M. Scaglioni, The Walking Dead (Mimesis Udine 2017) + F. Boni, American Horror Story (Mimesis, Udine 2015)

   Or

   M. Teti, Twin Peaks (Mimesis, Udine 2018) + C. Bianchi, N. Dusi, a cura di, David Lynch: mondi intermediali (Franco Angeli, 2019)

3. Fantastico e fantasy. Mondi, supereroi ed eterotopie.

   S. Martin, V. Re, a cura di, Game of Thrones (Mimesis, Udine 2017) + C. Cioni, Data astrale 2016.09. Cinquant'anni di Star Trek (Ultra, 2016)

   Or

   V. Oppezzo, Harry Potter al cinema (Le Mani, Genova 2010) + C. Cioni, Data astrale 2016.09. Cinquant'anni di Star Trek (Ultra, 2016)

4. Avventura, azione, spionaggio. Trasformazioni di immaginario e genere.

   M. Pollone, a cura di, James Bond (Bietti, Milano 2016, integrale)

   Or

   M. Pollone, a cura di, James Bond (Bietti, Milano 2016, 8 articoli a scelta tra quelli dell’indice) + A. Abruzzese, G.P. Jacobelli, a cura di, Bond, James Bond (Mimesis, Udine 2015, 5 articoli a scelta tra quelli dell’indice)

5. Strange Guys, la narrazione seriale e la psicologia (non solo del cattivo)

   Brett Martin, Difficult Men. Dai Sopranos a Breaking Bad, gli antieroi delle serie TV (Minimum Fax, Roma 2018)

   Or

   C. Checcaglini, Breaking Bad (Mimesis, Udine 2015) + E. Mandelli, In Treatment (Mimesis, Udine 2017)

6. Animazione e serialità tra cinema e televisione

C. Uva, P. Wells, a cura di, Imago 16. Dossier. Re-Animation. L’animazione contemporanea tra cinema, televisione, videoarte e nuovi media (Bulzoni, Roma 2018, scegliere 6 articoli tra quelli dell’indice) + C. Uva, Il sistema Pixar (Il Mulino, 2017)

Or

M. Galardini, I Simpson e il cinema (Felici, Pisa 2013) + C. Uva, P. Wells, a cura di, Imago 16. Dossier. Re-Animation. L’animazione contemporanea tra cinema, televisione, videoarte e nuovi media (Bulzoni, Roma 2018, scegliere 6 articoli tra quelli dell’indice)

Other useful texts in order to write the paper required:

• Veronica Innocenti, Guglielmo Pescatore (a cura di), Le nuove forme della serialità televisiva, Archetipo, Bologna 2008.

• Monica Dall’Asta, Trame spezzate. Archeologia del film seriale, Le Mani, Genova 2009.

• Jennifer Hayward, Consuming Pleasures: Active Audiences and Serial Fictions from Dickents to Soap Opera, University Press of Kentucky, Lexington 2010.

• Frank Kelleter (a cura di), Media of Serial Narrative, Ohio State University Press, Columbus, Ohio 2017.

• AAVV. Special Issue on “Series, Seriality, Serialiation”, The Velvet Light Trap, no. 79, Spring 2017.

• Valentino Cecchetti, Generi della letteratura popolare: feuilleton, fascicoli, fotoromanzi in Italia dal 1870 ad oggi, Tunué, Latina 2011.

• Jason Mittell, Complex TV, Minimum Fax, Roma 2017.

• Federico Di Chio, American Storytelling. Le forme del racconto nel cinema e nelle serie TV, Carocci, Roma 2016.

• Guglielmo Pescatore, Ecosistemi narrativi: dal fumetto alle serie tv, Carocci editore, Roma 2018.

• Paola Brembilla, Ilaria A De Pascalis (a cura di), Reading Contemporary Serial Television Universes: A Narrative Ecosystem Framework, Routledge, New York 2018.

• Paola Brembilla, It’s All Connected. L’evoluzione delle serie TV statunitensi, Franco Angeli, Milano 2018.

Teaching methods

Frontal teaching, with clips from films and television shows

Assessment methods

For attending students

The final exam consists of two phases, to be carried out in the same call and in the same interview:

1) discussion of a written or audiovisual paper (video-essay) to be presented to the teacher at least one week before the date of the exam chosen for the exam The papers must not exceed the length of 3000 words (or 20 thousand characters including spaces); video essays must not exceed ten minutes. Contents of the paper must be agreed with the teacher, possibly during the reception hours. The main paper should NOT cover the topics chosen for reading but another phenomenon / TV series / film franchise of the present or past to be agreed with the professor.

The text must contain:

Elements of historical contextualization of the object of study;

References to the aroused debate or critical reactions (including fandom);

Cultural analysis of the phenomenon;

Plus

2) Oral discussion (aimed at verifying the study of the texts of the  unit chosen for the exam).

 

ATTENTION: It is strongly recommended to follow the convention on Celebrity Culture which will be held in Bologna on November 14-15, 2019, in the spaces of the degree course. Students can choose to agree the essay on topics heard at the conference, linking the research to a panel summary.

 

For non-attending students:

Non-attending students will take the same bibliography as those attending the class, with the addition of a second unit of their choice, for a total of 2 units. Attending students are those who attend at least 75% of classroom lessons.

Teaching tools

Students will also be able to take advantage of online materials on the University platform, for the distribution of additional bibliographic resources and multimedia contents related to the topics covered.

Office hours

See the website of Roy Menarini