A Brazilian Journal of Communication

21.07.2009

I have discovered this interesting journal recently: Revista de Estudos da Comunicação. The latest issue (no. 20) includes essays on post-television and hybridisation theories and on Michel Gondry’s music videos, and other topics. It is in Portuguese (with abstracts also in English) and some past issues are available online.

Screen Studies Conference 2009

03.07.2009


Desperate Housewives, “Pilot” (1.01).

The “Screen” Studies Conference 2009 begins today and ends on Sunday, 5 July, at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. The event will explore the different facets of contemporary screen theorising. It is the 19th international meeting organised by Screen, an esteemed journal that commemorates its 50th anniversary this year.

I am presenting a paper called “Televisual Works” in the only panel on television, “Serial Fictions”. My aim is to analyse the ontological differences that are usually pointed out between the aesthetics of cinema and television. They are not very persuasive. I shall present another way of distinguishing between them that does not depend on identifying essential features, but rather the specific history of development of each medium. I take Twin Peaks (1990-91) as an instance of what we may contingently call a televisual work (of art) and use the opening sequence of the pilot episode of Desperate Housewives (2004-) to illustrate the importance of visual elements in some television fictions.

The programme is too big for me to include it in this post — but it can be downloaded (via the University of Glasgow web site).