Lexington Books Television Storyworlds as Virtual Space

Television Storyworlds as Virtual Space examines television as a series of virtual realities viewers enter and explore one episode at a time. Drawing on specific examples, from Westworld to Green Acres, Twin Peaks to Fargo, it illustrates how each of these worlds invites us in, encourages us to move about within it, and constantly pushes against its own boundaries so that its universe continually expands and develops. Specific chapters consider the importance of title sequences in helping us enter these storyworlds, how children's television educates us in using virtual reality, and the centrality of the post-apocalyptic series to the TV landscape. Ultimately, the book situates television as part of an artistic continuum, one that stretches back as far as cave paintings, but that also anticipates the digitally-based virtual reality that lies just on the horizon. Review In summary, this work offers a dive into the heart of the semiotic structure of series and helps to understand the different solutions and techniques that not only allow the creation of attractive narrative possible worlds, but also attract the viewer and retain him in the world of the series for as long as possible. This book is therefore an opportunity to better understand the great contemporary success of series, which appear as devices for creating worlds at the center of the attention of audiences, occupying the place formerly held by other media or narrative forms, such as literature, cinema, advertising. [Translated from original French]--Communication Building on recent work on media narration and digital immersion, M. King Adkins's book is a timely exploration of just what makes television a unique storytelling medium. Television, Adkins demonstrates, is a teleportation device--a narrative technology that tells stories through constructing on-going, immersive storyworlds. We don't just watch TV, we visit, inhabit, return. Further, as Adkins deftly demonstrates, television often tells stories about itself, thus thinking through television stories helps us think through all storytelling technologies and their futures. With this, Adkins offers a particularly useful path to evaluating the now-routine claims about the coming of VR and TV's final defeasance. Absorbing, accessible and filled with evocative examples, Television Storyworlds as Virtual Space is an insightful examination of contemporary television narration, how storyspaces are constructed, and why television endures.--Tasha Oren, Tufts University About the Author M. King Adkins is associate professor at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.