CfP â??Contemporary Serial Culture: Quality TV
Series in New Media Environmentâ??
International Conference, January 14 - 16, 2010, Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany
Confirmed Keynote Speakers:
Toby Miller (University of California, Riverside)
Robin Nelson (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Hugh Oâ??Donnell (Glasgow Caledonian University)
The first decade of the 21st century saw an
increase in the popularity of serial forms in
television. Series like Alias, CSI, Fringe,
Greyâ??s Anatomy, Six Feet Under, Heroes, Lost,
Private Practice, The Shield, The Sopranos,
Dexter, True Blood, 24, Ugly Betty, The Wire and
several others gained significant success with
audiences all over the world. They are very
often characterised as â??Quality TVâ?? because
their narrative structure, representation of
characters and aesthetic form are perceived to
be more complex and sophisticated than older
series. In part they are not only successful
because they appear on TV screens, but also
because they are available on DVD, they generate
spin-offs for mobile devices, and they can rely
on an active fan community on the internet and
on the convergence of different media.
Unfortunately during the past ten years scholars
in media studies, cultural studies and
television studies have given increased
attention to TV forms like reality TV,
docudramas and documentaries. TV fiction has
lost some of its academic currency, except in
some popular book series like â??Philosophy and
â?? and â??Reading Contemporary TV" which focus
on popular TV series like CSI, Lost, Sopranos or
24. These and other books highlight several
important aspects of the series, but further
work needs to be done that considers the series
form in relation to their specific economic,
cultural and (media) historical context,
analyzing the series in the context of TV
theories, narrative theories, theories of media
economics, theories of global media communication, and audience studies.
The aim of the conference is to take a closer
look at the series in question from a variety of
perspectives. Therefore we are looking for
papers dealing with the following issues:
* Series in the context of economy, the
global media market and production
* Narrative innovation and narrative complexity of quality series
* Audience studies of series (series,
identity, internet and everyday life)
* Comparative studies of international series adaptations
* Studies of convergence culture (TV, Internet, digital games)
* Serial storytelling in new media
environments (i.e. Web-Series, Series for mobile devices etc.)
* Patterns of violence, pornography and new serial aesthetics
* Series and the contemporary culture and society
Papers are welcome from a broad range of
academic disciplines. Please send abstracts of
no more than 400 words and a short biographical
note to one of the organisers of the conference:
Lothar Mikos (<mailto:(l.mikos /at/ hff-potsdam.de))
Rainer Winter (<mailto:(rainer.winter /at/ uni-klu.ac.at))
and a copy to Susanne Eichner (<mailto:(s.eichner /at/ hff-potsdam.de))
Deadline for submissions: November 15, 2009
The conference will take place at the Hochschule
für Film und Fernsehen (University of Film and
Television) in Potsdam-Babelsberg, close to
Berlin. It is organized in cooperation with the
Institute of Media and Communications of
Klagenfurt University (Austria), the Popular
Communication Division of the ICA, the Popular
Culture Working Group of the IAMCR, the Media
and Communication Section and the Section of
Cultural Sociology of the German Sociological Association.
Dr. Lothar Mikos
Professor of Television Studies
Medienwissenschaft
Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen "Konrad Wolf"
Marlene-Dietrich-Allee 11
D-14482 Potsdam
Phone: 0049(0)331 6202 210 (-211 Secr.)
Mail: (l.mikos /at/ hff-potsdam.de)
