Jason Mittell, Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Storytelling

Abstract

In many ways, Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Storytelling is the culmination of an idea that Jason Mittell has been advocating for over a decade. The concept of ‘complex TV’, at various times also termed ‘narrative complexity’ by the author, has been a consistent feature of Mittell’s work since at least 2006, when his essay ‘Narrative complexity in contemporary American television’ appeared in the pages of a special issue of The Velvet Light Trap. Since then, Mittell has argued for the existence of narrative complexity as a distinct narrational mode across a range of platforms, whether in academic papers, conference appearances, blog posts, or in his social media presence. Complex TV, as Mittell terms it, is an attempt to ascribe a name to a particular type of contemporary US television drama or comedy that has captured the imaginations of scholars, critics and, to an arguably lesser degree, viewers. Such programmes (among them the post-2000 output of networks such as HBO, AMC, Starz, F/X, Showtime and, more recently, traditional networks like NBC and ABC) have captured the zeitgeist and even inspired statements in the press to the effect that television has overtaken film on the cultural hierarchy.