[Commlist] CFP The Ethics of TV series' aesthetics

*/The Ethics of TV series’ Aesthetics/*

**

*Conference, October 5th and 6th, 2023*

Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3

RIRRA21, EMMA, IUF

Organization board: Claire Cornillon, Sarah Hatchuel, Monica Michlin, 
David Roche,

Advisory board: Julien Achemchame (Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 
3), Luca Barra (Università di Bologna), Paola Brembilla (Università di 
Bologna), Samuel Chambers (Johns Hopkins University), Claire Cornillon 
(Université de Nîmes), Florent Favard (Université de Lorraine), Sarah 
Hatchuel (Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3), Monica Michlin 
(Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3), Ariane Hudelet (Université 
Paris-Cité), David Roche (Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, Institut 
Universitaire de France), Sarah Sepulchre (Université catholique de 
Louvain), Guillaume Soulez (Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle)

In her book /Nos vies en series/ (2019) and an issue of /Open 
Philosophy/ (2021-22), Sandra Laugier invites us to understand how 
television shows, through their duration and the various kinds of 
attachment they elicit, may educate viewers morally and make them 
attentive to what seems to be unremarkable within ordinary life. Her 
work focuses on situations, dialogues, gestures, dilemmas, identity 
politics and (political or moral) choices made by (groups of) 
characters, but it does not necessarily take into account the way 
specific narrative structures may encourage spectators to adopt a 
particular ethical view. Similarly, Skorin-Kapov (2019) and Watson and 
Arp (2011) engage with ethical issues through film or television; but do 
not address the very ethics of film or television.

The aim of this conference is precisely to focus on the ethics involved 
in the aesthetics and narration of tv series. The logics of seriality 
are indeed multiple and historicized: they establish models that are 
both inscribed in patterns recognizable from one series to another and 
specific to a single series. Yet these models produce meaning, 
particularly in ethical terms.

 From formula to semi-serialized or serialized shows, each type of 
audiovisual serial narrations opens up a specific space for ideological 
and ethical negotiation, for instance regarding the status of 
characters, the interaction of characters with various forms of space, 
the show’s inscription in time, the relationship between the narrative 
structure and a logic of causality and/or contingency.

Even if semi-serialized shows construct strong serial arcs, they seem to 
maintain the importance of the episode as a metaphor of human beings in 
their very individualities and specificities (Cornillon/Hatchuel 2020). 
For instance, in /E.R./, NBC, 1994-2009, it is precisely through the 
time devoted to everyday life, rather than to the overarching 
storylines, that patients get to exist within the diegesis. The very 
fact that the series creates a balance between serialized storylines and 
formulaic ones asserts an ideological position regarding alterity and 
empathy. In the space of the episode, what we already know (about the 
doctors or the nurses) and what we do not know (about the new patients) 
are connected: we are encouraged to care for “others” in order to 
evolve. In /Person of Interest /(CBS, 2011-2016), the fight between the 
two super-computers reflects the tension between the two major dynamics 
at work in serial writing – that which favours the macro/serial arc with 
its recurring, evolving heroes and that which concentrates on the 
micro/formulaic arc hosting many non-recurring characters, for instance 
in the form of guest stars.While the series unfolds serial arcs that 
build a true mythology for the series, /Person of Interest/ also 
preserves its most formulaic aspects. In its last season, at a point 
when the heroes would like to fight exclusively against computer 
Samaritan, the Machine keeps sending them the Social Security numbers of 
unknown individuals whose lives may be in danger. Our desire to 
experience a serial narrative freed from the usual “case of the week”, 
is thus constantly frustrated. But the strength of the series is that it 
inspires within us a commitment and attachment to the formulaic format, 
because if we reject the numbers, if we disparage the week’s “person of 
interest”, we become exactly like Samaritan, endorsing a dehumanizing 
ideology in which some individuals “don’t count” or count less than 
others. /Person of Interest/ thus creates a tension between our wish to 
see the Machine evolve (and the narrative become more complex) and the 
necessary awareness that each life (each episode) is invaluable. The 
show appears, therefore, as an ethical justification of formulaic 
repetition versus the powerful forces of evolving seriality.In this 
case, the “persons of interest” come to represent and anchor the viewers 
themselves within the story world. In this process, the expression 
“person of interest” is invested in a new meaning: beyond the usual 
meaning of “person the police is trying to locate” or “potential 
suspect”, it can signify, in the context of the series, “person of true 
interest to us”, “person that we (must) care about”, “person that we 
cannot give up on”.

What about other serial forms? To what extent is a series or an episode 
driven by the aim of a certain conception of a “good life” (Taylor 1989; 
Ricoeur 1990, 1995)? What ethical positioning can be implied by such and 
such variations on the soap opera’s extreme serialization or on the 
sitcom's conditions of production? How can we situate ourselves in a 
story where everything always starts from scratch at the episode level? 
What do tensions between narrative forms (e.g. serial versus formulaic) 
within a series say about its ethical project? What does the evolution 
of aesthetics and/or narrative structure within the same series reveal 
about its ethical position? How can power relations, violence and 
voyeurism be treated in a particular serial aesthetic? How can series by 
the same showrunner respond to each other on an ethical level – for 
instance, is /Better Call Saul/ an ethical response to /Breaking Bad/? 
Is /The Leftovers/ a cynical nod to the disappointed audience of /LOST/?

In the wake of GUEST's work, we are soliciting by *30 January 2023* 
proposals for 30-minute papers (abstract of 300 words with a 
biographical note of 100 words to be sent to 
(sarah.hatchuel /at/ univ-montp3.fr) <mailto:(sarah.hatchuel /at/ univ-montp3.fr)>and 
(claire.cornillon /at/ unimes.fr) <mailto:(claire.cornillon /at/ unimes.fr)>) on one 
or more series, in a pluri- and interdisciplinary perspective. The "tv 
series" object must however remain at the centre of the analyses. The 
choice of less studied series, such as older series, will be 
particularly appreciated.

References

Chambers, Samuel Allen (2009). /The Queer Politics of Television/. 
London: I. B. Tauris, coll.  « Reading contemporary television ».

Cornillon, Claire (2017). “La fin d’/Angel/ ou le primat de 
l’épisodique”. /La Forge numérique/ (MSH Caen), 
http://www.unicaen.fr/recherche/mrsh/forge/4398 
<http://www.unicaen.fr/recherche/mrsh/forge/4398>.

Cornillon, Claire (2018). “Opening credits”. /Episodique/. 
https://episodique.hypotheses.org/158 
<https://episodique.hypotheses.org/158>.

Cornillon, Claire (2019). “La forme semi-feuilletonnante formulaire : 
l’exemple d’/Ally McBeal/”. /TV/Series /15, 
https://journals.openedition.org/tvseries/3400 
<https://journals.openedition.org/tvseries/3400>.

Cornillon, Claire and Sarah Hatchuel (2020). “Analysing Semi-Serialized 
Television Fictions: the Ethical Stakes of Narrative Structures”, 
/SERIES/, VI.1, 57-64, https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2421-454x/10393 
<https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2421-454x/10393>.

Dunleavy, Trishia (2018). /Complex Serial Drama and Multiplatform 
Television/. New York: Routledge.

Esquenazi, Jean-Pierre (2017). /Éléments pour l’analyse des séries/. 
Paris: L’Harmattan.

Favard, Florent (2018). /Ecrire une série tv: La promesse du 
dénouement/. Tours: Presses universitaires François Rabelais.

Glevarec, Hervé (2012). /La Sériephilie : Sociologie d’un attachement 
culturel/. Paris: Ellipses.

Hatchuel, Sarah (2018). “Nous vivons dans un rêve genré : ce que /Twin 
Peaks/ fait aux femmes.” In Sarah Hatchuel (ed.), /Twin Peaks: à 
l’intérieur du rêve/. Lormont: Le Bord de l’eau, 187-204.

Hatchuel, Sarah and Pacôme Thiellement (2019). /The Leftovers : le 
troisième côté du miroir/. Paris: Playlist Society.

Laugier, Sandra (2014). “L’éthique comme attention à ce qui compte.” 
In//Yves Citton (ed.), /L’Economie de l’attention/. Paris: La Découverte.

Laugier, Sandra (2019). /Nos vies en séries/. Paris: Climats.

Laugier Sandra, ed. (2021-22). “Ethics and Politics of TV Series”, /Open 
Philosophy/, https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/opphil/5/1/html 
<https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/opphil/5/1/html>.

Lifschutz, Vladimir (2018). /This is the end: Finir une série tv/. 
Tours: Presses universitaires François Rabelais.

Mittell, Jason (2015). /Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary 
Television Storytelling/. New York and London: New York University Press.

Ricœur, Paul (1990). /Soi-même comme un autre/. Paris: Seuil.

Ricoeur, Paul (1995). /Le Juste/. Paris: Esprit.

Sinnerbrink, Robert (2016). /Cinematic Ethics: Exploring Ethical 
Experience through Film/. London: Routledge.

Soulez, Guillaume (2013). “La délibération des images. Vers une nouvelle 
pragmatique du cinéma et de l’audiovisuel”. /Communica//tion & 
langages/, 176, 3‑32.

Skorin-Kapov, Jadranka (2019). /Professional and Business Ethics Through 
Film: The Allure of Cinematic Presentation and Critical Thinking/. Cham.

Taylor, Charles (1989). /Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern 
Identity/. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Watson Carlin, Jamie and Robert Arp (2011). /What’s Good on TV?/: 
/Understanding Ethics Through Television/. New York.//

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