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Article:
Bildstörung. Serielle Figuren und der Fernseher

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Abstract

This article investigates the logic and aesthetics of popular seriality by looking at several exemplary moments of medial recursivity – which we identify as a ‹motor› of serial narration and proliferation. Our focus is on the medial development of serial figures – figures that are firmly established in the popular imagination and which have undergone multiple media changes in the course of their careers. In their serial reenactments, these figures are able to shed light on the ways in which the structures of a medial memory are established and updated, and how medial acts of forgetting are operationalized in this context. Exploring three case studies – the figures of Fu Manchu, Fantômas, and Batman – this article in particular reflects on the function of television with respect to its influence on the medial positionings and self-conceptions of other serial entertainment formats (the novel, film). We set out from the hypothesis that television is in many respects privileged in this role as a medium of reference. Not only its propensity for serial forms distinguishes it in this regard, but also its contradictory attributes of immateriality (television viewing) and apparatic presence (the television set) contribute to making the medium of television appear as both the epitome of serial sequentiality and as a disruptive factor or instrument for arresting the flow of serial figures' stagings – thus covering a broad spectrum of medial reference functions.

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Denson, Shane; Mayer, Ruth: Bildstörung. Serielle Figuren und der Fernseher. In: Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft, Jg. 4 (2012), Nr. 2, S. 90-102.10.25969/mediarep/574
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The item has been published with the following license: Unter Urheberrechtsschutz