Lecture: Amanda Lotz – Understanding Creative Change: Why the “Distinction” of 21st Century U.S. Television?
Understanding Creative Change: Why the “Distinction” of 21st Century U.S. Television?
with professor Amanda Lotz
When? Monday 16 January 2017, 15.00 – 17.00
Where? Sweelinckzaal, Drift 21 (Utrecht)
The television series produced in the U.S. in the early 21st century drew uncommon attention and prompted even those who had never deigned to acknowledge television to gush enthusiastically about its storytelling. Scholars have produced rich examinations of the cultural dimensions of the series of this era and encouraged formalist analyses of their “complexity.” But how and why did scripted U.S. television series evolve so profoundly at the dawn of the 21st century? The talk identifies the industrial practices that propelled and challenged this change and examines how the conditions of creative workers adjusted alongside textual possibilities. Drawn from new research based on interviews and archival research, the talk mines the production histories of milestone series in this evolution to explain how shifting competitive norms produced textual innovation to provide a context for understanding the profound change of early century U.S. television.
Please register for the lecture through this Google Form.
Also note that Tuesday 17 January Amanda Lotz will host a masterclass “Television Didn’t Die, But Internet Distribution Revolutionized It” | 10.00 – 13.00 | LOCATION | University of Amsterdam.
