Introduction: Mediated Cultural Encounters in Europe

Abstract

Research on film and television in Europe tends to adopt a nation state framework, despite the fundamental changes brought about by increased globalization and collaboration as well as transnational cultural policy on a European level since the 1990s. Furthermore very little research on European film and television takes a broader social and cultural look at the role of film and television in the forming of our everyday life and in the creation of transnational images of Europe and the construction of cultural identities. In this volume we focus on European film and television culture with the purpose of analysing how important media have become for the cultural integration and development of a Europe beyond the nation state. The ongoing globalization is not just about the strong presence of US film and television in Europe — a long-established fact of modern media culture. It is also about the role European film and television already plays in the everyday life and media culture of Europeans, and the political and cultural challenges Europe faces with increased globalization and digitization.