Quoted this Week: Jason Mittell on TV Storytelling

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - Professor of Film and Media Culture Jason Mittell was a featured guest on Vermont Public Radio’s “Vermont Edition” on May 18. The program, which also included Univeristy of Vermont Senior Lecturer in Religion Erica Andrus, looked at the ways that the ritual of television watching has changed dramatically from its inception in the 1950s to the proliferation of serial programs and streaming media today.

Mittell, the author of the recently published book, Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling, said that many new television serials have taken on traits once found only in film. “The idea is that the relationships between the characters, who they are, what they do– this world that is being built–will not be spelled out for you. You will experience it over episode after episode. And that sense of engagement in a world that is not clear to you at first glance is something that I think is unique to television, especially in its serial form.”

Listen to the full interview, “Turn It On: TV Storytelling And Ritual,” on Vermont Public Radio.