Między techniką a strategią. Postmodernistyczna dezorientacja widza w „lynchowskim” „Riverdale”

Abstract

This article focuses on the streaming series Riverdale (Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, 2017–2023) distributed by Netflix. The creators of the series overtly refer to postmodern cinema, especially the works of David Lynch. In doing so, they use various kinds of disorientation techniques, that is, narrative devices that complicate the interpretation of what is presented. The author of the article performed a textual analysis on the 6 available seasons, focusing on demonstrating the correlation between the series and postmodern cinema. Then the various aspects of the series were assigned to the possible techniques of disorientation proposed by Andrzej Zalewski. The purpose of this text is to identify the “Lynchianism” in Riverdale and to demonstrate what techniques of disorientation are used by the creators of this series. A further intention is to resolve whether this is in fact a technique (seen by many as a deriving from ineptitude) or a strategy (resulting from deliberate action). The article attempts to view the contemporary work from a postmodern perspective.