Television Series Research Articles

Nice day to go fishing

This article analyzes the representation of repetition in Viva la Dirt League’s online fantasy television series Epic NPC Man. The show is a parodic depiction of a fictional multiplayer fantasy computer game in which a variety of non-player characters (NPCs) exhibit varying degrees of self-awareness. The very concept of the show entails an underlying formal reliance upon strategies of reproduction, with the series providing live-action reenactment of various conventional situations from video games. But repetition also appears within the show as an explicit theme, with the characters defined by and in tension with the repetitive dialogue and routines of the game. This article argues that the significance of repetition in Epic NPC Man is defined by its relationship to the show’s broader investment in thematizing the escapist properties of fantasy. At one level, repetition emerges as a limit point, the moment at which fantasy breaks down. But the show also asserts repetition’s imaginative potential, situating it in opposition to a ludic, instrumental conception of gaming. The resulting image of fantasy gaming constructs the genre as both liberatory and surprisingly fragile, threatened both by the limitations of technology and by the actions of the players themselves.

The Humor Translation in American Sitcoms from the Perspective of Skopos Theory—A Case Study of Modern Family

With the frequent cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, film and television series, not only gradually replace the mainstream position of traditional print media, but also play a very important role in cross-cultural communication. It is difficult to convey the same comic effect in different cultural backgrounds. Guided by Skopos theory, this paper takes the subtitle translation of Modern Family as an example to analyze the translation of some humorous lines in this sitcom. It aims to achieve the effect of integration, hoping to put forward more opinions on the subtitle translation of more excellent overseas comedy works in the future.

What Is the Afterlife Like for Robots? An Experimental Eschatological Sneak Peek

People have always pondered their afterlife. Now, as AI and robotics continue to advance and proliferate, a new question emerges: Is there also some kind of “afterlife” for robots—and how can we envision it? This article seeks to explore these very queries from a Christian perspective. To tackle the initial question, I argue that, following the thoughts of St. Paul and St. Augustine, the whole of creation is sinful and seeks completion, it would be inconsistent to nurture such an all-encompassing hope yet exclude robots from it. From a Christian perspective, we should therefore assume the existence of an afterlife for robots. To decipher how we can envision it, I examine two pop-cultural depictions from the television episode “Zima Blue” and the television series Futurama, questioning whether they provide a fitting image of eschatological completion for robots. This methodological approach allows me to present a spectrum of conceptions of robotic afterlife that, when examined through the lens of systematic theology, appear plausible, offering fresh impetus for eschatological and robophilosophical reflections.

How the Music Machine Makes Myths Real: AI, Holograms, and Ashley Eternal

Since ancient times, music has been instrumental in giving life to the stories we build our identities and cultures around. I will examine how, in our time, music creates new myths by creating its own heroes and heroines through capital and the star system. In traditional literary and cultural analysis, a distinction was drawn between the natural and the supernatural when discussing literary mythology; in the twentieth century, an equivalent distinction was made in works of art that, in Baudrillard’s terminology, make use of the realms of the real and the “hyperreal” (1981). In today’s mythmaking, the supernatural has been largely replaced by the technological, and recent developments blur the line between science fiction and fantasy; tech has become megalotech. A recent episode of the television series Black Mirror, “Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too” (2019), explores these concepts with an examination of the pros and cons of replacing human performers with AI simulacra.

“(Un)Being a Mother” Media Representation of Motherhood and Female Identity

This research examines the portrayal of (non)motherhood in television series from 2016 to 2022. The title, “(Un)being a Mother”, was deliberately chosen for its polysemic nature, facilitating an exploration of the complexities of motherhood, its absence, and the implications for womanhood. The study thematically analyzes 15 television series from Hispanic, Italian, and Anglo-American cultures to reveal the diverse perspectives on motherhood. Utilizing the frameworks of Intensive Mothering, Good Mothering, Good Enough Mothering, and Non-Mothering (including both childless and childfree women), the research aims to illuminate representations of motherhood, variations in mothering paradigms, and the influence of cultural and geographical contexts. This study introduces an innovative methodological approach by investigating recurring themes of (non)motherhood across different cultural productions, incorporating insights from media sociology, gender media studies, anthropology, and ethnographic media research for a comprehensive understanding of the subject.

Dear Mixed People: Critically Examining Monoracism in College-Related TV Series

Multiracial youth are one of the fastest-growing demographics in the United States. What messages might these multiracial young people be receiving about multiraciality in college-related television series? Applying Critical Race Media Literacy and Critical Multiracial Theory (MultiCrit), this study examines representations of multiracial students in Charmed, Dear White People, Ginny & Georgia, Grown-ish, and Black-ish. We find that multiracial college student characters are routinely confronted with “box-checking” on demographic forms and wrestle with the limitations of racial categories to capture complexity and the potential resources/benefits associated with selecting specific boxes. Further, multiracial college student characters question their belonging within monoracial student organizations and interracial relationships. Implications for practice and pedagogy are outlined to better leverage television depictions of multiracial college students toward disrupting rather than reinforcing monoracism in higher education contexts.

The Role of Television Series as a Soft Power Instrument in Turkey’s Policy towards the Western Balkans from 2002 to 2020

The Role of Television Series as a Soft Power Instrument in Turkey’s Policy towards the Western Balkans from 2002 to 2020

Evergreen Avengers: Nature and Kaijū in the Twenty-First Century

After a decade of dormancy following the release of Tōhō Studios’ Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), Godzilla and other kaijū burst back onto the scene with Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla (2014). Several American sequels and a television series set in Legendary’s MonsterVerse quickly followed over the next ten years. Meanwhile, Japan’s Tōhō used their radioactive creation’s global success to reignite their own films with Shin Godzilla (2016), an animated trilogy, and Godzilla Minus One (2023). Short-format media like Chibi Godzilla and Godziban also circulated thanks to streaming services. Similarly, Godzilla’s longtime competitor Gamera also emerged from hibernation in an animated series produced by Kadokawa Corporation, Gamera Rebirth (2023). But how do these new installations relate to or depart from their predecessors’ predilection to address environmental concerns? This article continues the ecocritical analysis of kaijū eiga, expanding it to the 2010s and 2020s, as a coda to our duograph Japan’s Green Monsters (2018). This article picks up where we left off, examining the recent releases from an ecocritical standpoint. This analysis reveals that today’s films remain steeped in environmental commentary, but both fragmented and updated for the new concerns of the twenty-first century.

Leadership in a continuous crisis

AbstractResearch has focused on episodic crises (e.g., fire extinguished), with regard to causality, management, and recovery. But some crises (e.g., illegal migration) are continuous, with no clear conclusion, and the nature and timing of the recovery phase are indeterminate. To explore the challenges facing leaders in a continuous crisis, we turn to ‘extreme fiction’ – a radically imaginative narrative of possible accidents, crises and disasters. The television series The Walking Dead is an example of a continuous crisis. This is also a novel crisis, which means that crisis management routines, protocols, and standard operating procedures may not apply, and the value of past experience may be limited. Our analysis offers a novel perspective on the nature of the crisis leadership role, by showing how a continuous crisis generates three paradoxical leadership agendas: managing the crisis (which includes unmanageable elements), managing conflict (while initiating and participating in conflict), and managing values (which may have to be temporarily abandoned). Our findings also demonstrate how contextual properties shape the leadership role in a continuous crisis.

The future of medicine or a threat? Artificial intelligence representation in Chicago Med

The eighth season of the American medical drama series Chicago Med (2015–) represented the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in a hospital environment with multiple storylines. Born in the 1950s, medical dramas are among the most popular forms of serial television. Traditionally, the genre aims for a certain amount of accuracy and has educational goals. Former studies investigated the entertainment education and cultivation effects of these series, concluding that these dramas have the potential to contribute information and shape viewers’ opinions on various health-related topics. Chicago Med is a long-running broadcast production with a worldwide audience and considerable viewership. This paper analyzes the series’ representation of medical AI and discusses how this portrayal potentially shapes the audience’s opinion. The research started by identifying artificial intelligence-related storylines in the 22 episodes of the season. The analysis focused on the reasons and outcomes of AI applications, the character’s attitudes, and the ethical issues, including transparency, selective adherence, automation bias, responsibility gap, hallucination, unequal access, and political dimensions. The storyline analysis concluded that Chicago Med provided thought-provoking positive and negative scenarios about applying different types of AI in the surgical and emergency departments. The complex portrayal included groundbreaking opportunities, challenges, dangers, and ethical considerations. The main characters’ attitudes varied, from strong support or opposition to more nuanced, shifting opinions. The educative and engaging content has a potential for knowledge transfer and encourages critical thinking about medical AI.

Wordplay as a technique of linguistic manipulation (based on the American television series “Police Squad!”)

Wordplay as a technique of linguistic manipulation (based on the American television series “Police Squad!”)

Subtitling Without Context

In this article, subtitling without context refers to situations in which subtitlers do not have access to the image and sound of an audiovisual text, which they need to carry out their translation processes efficiently and successfully. Audiovisual texts, such as movies, need to be seen and heard to be understood and their meaning translated. What happens if the video material is not available or incomplete? This is the question that this study strives to answer. The key concepts discussed in this article are the multimodality of audiovisual texts, context, relevance, and cognitive load. An empirical subtitling test was conducted with translation students at a Finnish university to examine these concepts and their impact on translation processes and products. Two sets of translations were analyzed with a multilayered contrastive analysis. In addition, the participants wrote short translation diaries that were analyzed using content analysis. The students’ translation diaries indicated that it is impossible to time subtitles, make line breaks, and understand references to places and characters, to name but a few difficulties reported by the participants in the test. In addition, the analysis of the diary entries revealed that translating without context reportedly increased the participants’ cognitive load, which in turn made translation processes less efficient and more time-consuming. Lay Summary Movies, television series and videogames can be called audiovisual texts as they convey their meaning with sounds and images. The translators of such texts are called subtitlers and the end products of their translation processes, subtitles. In this article, subtitling without a context refers to situations in which the subtitler does not have access to the image and sounds of an audiovisual text. Audiovisual texts need to be seen and heard to be wholly understood as well as translated efficiently and successfully. What happens if the video material is no available or it is not ready? This is the questions we wish to answer. The key concepts discussed in this article are the multimodality of audiovisual texts, context, relevance, and cognitive load. Multimodality means that audiovisual texts use different ways, such as pictures, texts, music and speech to tell the stories. Context refers to the situation in which language is used and translated. Relevance theory weighs what are the most important things needed to be told with minimal costs, costs in this case being the number of characters in the subtitles. Cognitive load on the other hand refers to the psychological processes and memory use that are ongoing in translation processes. We made a translation test with students from a Finnish university. They translated a written dialog list without seeing the video material it was from. Then they translated it again, but this time with the video. Then these translations were compared with each other as well as with the video’s images and sounds. This method of comparison in this article is called multilayered contrastive analysis. The students also wrote short translation diaries about their experiences. They reported that timing and doing line breaks were impossible without the video. Timing refers to the process of making the subtitle lines appear at the same time as the characters are speaking and line breaks refer to the division of sentences and words in the subtitle lines. The participants wrote to their translation diaries that it was difficult to translate without the video. It was mentally tiresome and because of this, it took much time to finish the translations. The students also were afraid that they made many mistakes, and they used a lot of time second guessing their solutions.

The relational heart of Couples Therapy: In conversation with Dr Orna Guralnik

This article is based on the author’s conversation in December 2023 with Orna Guralnik about the television series Couples Therapy, based on the filming of couples in sessions with her. They discussed the programme and its production, and also its link to her academic work, which presents a psychosocial approach to clinical practice. Their conversation covered three broad areas: Couples Therapy and therapeutic culture, Couples Therapy and the radically altered psychoanalytic frame, and finally Couples Therapy and sociopolitical culture. They explored the way in which the television series aims to help couples and the public to understand more of themselves in their relationships, and offers a glimpse of what couple psychotherapy can offer to families and couples who need help. Bringing in Guralnik’s academic work also highlighted the importance of opening up space for a conversation in the profession about different approaches to couple psychotherapy which respect difference and maintain curiosity. This article presents extracts from their wide-ranging conversation which interlink reflections on the television series, contemporary culture, and psychosocial approaches to clinical practice.

Evolving Trends in Turkish Television Series Research: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis from the Web of Science Database

With TV series exported to about 146 countries, Turkey is the second-largest exporter of TV shows worldwide, behind the United States. Turkish TV series reach millions of viewers in regions such as the Balkans, Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Europe. Despite the significant role of Turkish TV series in academia and communication studies, such bibliometric investigations have been scarce. This study offers a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of research on Turkish television series within communication and cinema studies, drawing on data from the Web of Science database. This analysis encompassed 79 papers from leading journals. Using the Visualization of Similarities (VOS) viewer program, the data was processed to generate bibliographic display maps. Findings indicated that the initial article titled “Turkish TV series” appeared in 2006, with a marked increase in publications post-2020. “Popular Communication” and “Global Media and Communication” emerged as the most cited journals. The analysis also identified “Turkey”, “Turkish TV series”, and “television” as predominant keywords. Additionally, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Turkey were noted as the most prolific countries in publishing studies with the title “Turkish television series.”

Eschatology of the Singularity: “Deus ex machina” in the Construction of Film Images of the Future

The mixed assessment by critics and theorists of the deus ex machina artistic device common in popular cinema requires a more thorough study of its dramatic and narrative functions in science fiction films. It is in the construction of film images of the future that this technique is combined with a fantastic assumption, expressing the narrator’s attitude towards artistic narration and becoming an argument in dialogue with the viewer. The study reveals, based on the analysis of empirical material, the multifunctionality of deus ex machina using the example of the development of the theme of technological singularity in cinema. The analysis of films significant for the development of the science fiction (Sci-Fi) genre and the most popular television series among science fiction fans today demonstrates the evolution of the deus ex machina technique. In addition to the trivial function of arbitrary resolution of peripeteia, it acquires various dramatic functions (accelerating or slowing down the rhythm of action, connecting parts of the plot in a large form), obtains the properties of scaling and fragmentation, synchrony and asynchrony with a fantastic assumption, adding complex narrative functions to the toolkit of expressive means, through which the narrator reveals or, on the contrary, conceals his attitude to artistic reality, involving the viewer into the game of probable meanings. The authors of the article come to the conclusion that the theme of technological singularity has been penetrating cinema since its appearance in the work of L. Lumiere and determines, depending on the narrator’s attitude to the topic, the vector of techno-skepticism or techno-optimism in the eschatological dilemma that characterizes the cosmogony of traditional religions. The article is of interest to researchers and film lovers and contributes to the study of artistic and scientific communication.

Spin-doctoring in French television series: The art of emotional labor

This article aims to question the spin doctor’s representations on television series. If it is easy to recognize on television series medical professionals because of their white coat and their diverse accessories for example, how can we distinguish a spin doctor who looks like an advisor like any other? Based on the analysis of four French television series ( Baron Noir, Les Hommes de l’ombre, Hénaut Président, and Ainsi soient-ils), this article makes the hypothesis that the ethos of the shadow counselor’s fictional avatar can be measured against the notion of figurative idiom. The aim is to reveal the visual language, the codes, the frameworks, and the behaviors that organize and structure the way this occupation is semiotized. And then, by focusing on the social drama of work and particularly on the asymmetric roles, we will present an expert performing emotional labor on his “client.”

A Comparative Study of Indian TV Serials and Korean Dramas in the Context of Socio-Cultural Influences, Narration Style and Audience Perceptions

Television series are like a mirror. They serve as a reflection of a society's social and cultural ideals. Similarly, when it comes to Indian TV serials and Korean TV series or K-dramas, both represent their respective cultures and reflect societal values, which is why, they serve as a medium for storytelling. Indian TV serials are often known for their recurring themes of family and traditions, genre-specific shows, and morality. Korean dramas, on the other hand, have become popular due to their intriguing storylines, production quality and their diverse set of genres. Due to its popularity among the public, a comparative study of Indian TV serials and Korean dramas is done by the researcher in the context of socio-cultural influences, narration style and audience perceptions. They also tend to have some kind of impact on the viewers as well as help them form a narrative regarding what they view. Therefore, this study aims to provide a comparative analysis between them to shed light on the distinct characteristics and similarities, as well as differences between the two popular serial formats.

Television series, identity of contemporary Muslim women and socio-cultural contestations: the case of Arewa 24’s ‘Mata A Yau’ (contemporary women)

ABSTRACT This study delves into the social and cultural challenges Muslim women face in the TV series Mata A Yau, which airs on Arewa 24, a Hausa-language channel catering to Hausa-speaking audiences in Northern Nigeria. The show premiered in August 2023, sparking debates about the media’s portrayal of contemporary Muslim women and their identity. The study employed sociocultural theory, mixed methods of interviews, and focus group discussions to analyse the program and uncover the root causes of these cultural and social disputes. The findings reveal that Islamic popular culture often intersects with religious and cultural practices, leading to debates about women’s identity, particularly within the context of media and Islamic popular culture. The study uncovers society’s unfounded biases and unjustified insults and condemnation against a particular gender as a result of hasty judgments or responding to contentious or religious issues without fully understanding the topic. The conflicts experienced by Muslim women within the series provide a valuable opportunity to delve into the complexities of contemporary Muslim women’s identity.

The Strategies of Invitation Speech Act in Turkish

This study examines the strategies on invitation speech act in Turkish based on the speech act theory in pragmatics which fundamentally positions that when people use language they actually perform a kind of action. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the strategies employed on invitation speech act by native speakers of Turkish. To accomplish the goal, an online Written Discourse Completion Task (DCT) was employed with an aim to delineate the strategies Turkish speakers use while inviting. Another method was examining several different Turkish television series. Following the implication of the quantitative technique of conversation analysis, the utterances in data from invitation acts were analyzed in terms of the patterns of the semantic formulas categorized in the taxonomy by Suzuki (2009). The findings of the study revealed that invitation acts used in Turkish have their unique patterns. Direct invitations (84.90%) were more frequent than indirect ones (15.09%). Moreover, the most predominant type of head act was declarative (40.33%) and query on hearer’s plan (17.64%) had the highest frequency among preparatory acts. The most common supportive move was description of event by 48.44% of Turkish invitations.

Stereotypes on the Small Screen: Applying a Media Rating Tool to Portrayals of Autism in Television Series 2010 – 2019

Images of disability in media, both accurate and stereotypical, have a powerful effect on the opinions and actions of individuals. Although researchers have noted and categorized ways that disability has been portrayed in movies and on television over many decades, little research has focused on more recent media. Furthermore, extant research has focused on physical, sensory, and psychiatric disabilities, leaving autism spectrum disorder (ASD) under-researched. This paper describes and analyzes portrayals of ASD in the past decade (2010–2019) in television series produced primarily in the United States and marketed for popular audiences. This media content analysis utilized a movie rating tool designed to assess the presence or absence of previously researched disability stereotypes (Safran, 2000). Using this tool, trained undergraduate students rated twelve television series spanning eight genres. Numerical and narrative data were used to categorize series as more positive/realistic or more negative/stereotypical. Results revealed ten of the twelve to be overall positive/realistic, although stereotypes of disability persisted throughout all series. ASD is increasingly visible on the small screen; it is imperative that images in media consumed by the general public present disability, and specifically ASD, in accurate, positive, realistic, and non-stereotyped ways. The paper concludes with recommendations toward this goal.