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Cinéma & Cie. Film and Media Studies Journal
Ph.D. Thesis Project - American Tv Series: How the Economic Network Shapes Content
Text.Serial.Journal
https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/cinemaetcie
12
Projects & Abstracts
2012-10-01
2021-09-09
2012-10-01
2024-02-14
Cinéma & Cie
Paola Brembilla
2012/10/01
Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna
2036-461X
19
en
Ph.D. Thesis Project - American Tv Series: How the Economic Network Shapes Content
https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/cinemaetcie/article/download/16323/17186
12
AMERICAN TV SERIES: HOW THE ECONOMIC NETWORK SHAPES CONTENT
Paola Brembilla / Ph.D. Thesis Project1
Università di Bologna




narrative complexity, quality and audience engagement2 are just three of the most examined and
debated features. Overall, analysis tend to focus on texts, casting lights on contents, forms, styles
                                                                                                    -


set into the complex scenario of contemporary media-scape
as technology, business models, industrial strategies and institutional regulations do interact and
ultimately contribute to the creation of the product.

multilayered as their productive counterparts. This is why these shows can no longer be examined
as singular text, but, instead, as the outcome of reticular relations. The analysis of this structure
requires a systemic perspective where economic and industrial processes gain the foreground,
understanding narrative forms as the primary result of commercial interplays and needs.

                                                                                                    -
ics and industrial strategies.
  The production model of conglomerates multiplies distribution and fosters audience fragmen-
tation, capitalizing on economies of scope and scale.3 It thus requires contents that can be parti-




core.4 To adopt a system and process-oriented analysis on the subject, means to conceive these
narrative concepts as parts of an heterogeneous and ever-evolving scenario, which certainly re-




  Strategy analysis, combined with the niche theory, provides valuable frames when it comes to




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                                 AMERICAN TV SERIES: HOW THE ECONOMIC NETWORK SHAPES CONTENT




diversify their content.5

competitive forces.
  Once this economic frame is established, I am going to practice it on actual case studies. The
selection criteria for TV series are going to be mainly based on similarities that foster competition

offer such a possibility: Grimm (NBC), The Vampire Diaries (The CW), Teen Wolf (MTV) and
True Blood (HBO). All of this shows draw from the same narrative genres – supernatural, fantasy
and horror – but build and modulate their narrative architectures according to different industrial

their patterns of competition and coexistence, eventually relating them to peculiar narrative and
aesthetic tropes. At this point, a direct contact with production company is essential, in order to
acquire reliable data and information.


graphically represent the afore mentioned interactions and relations, turning them into reticular
                             6




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                                                               (eds.), Quality TV: Contemporary American
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    Fragmentation. Television Audience Polarization in a Multichannel World,” in Journal of Communica-
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                                                                                                      -
    tettura complessa del cinema hollywoodiano contemporaneo,” in Federico Zecca (ed.), Il cinema della
    convergenza. Industria, racconto, pubblico, Mimesis, Milano/Udine 2012.
                            Media Competition and Coexistence. The Theory of the Niche, LEA Communi-

6                                                                                                      -

    Cross-Platform Audience Behaviour,” in Journal o f Media Economics, no. 24, 2011, pp. 237-251.



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