Periodic Reporting for period 3 - DEMOSERIES (Shaping Democratic Spaces: Security and TV Series)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2023-01-01 do 2024-06-30
A growing number of television series are set behind the scenes of democratic regimes faced with terrorist threats. These works, which have become a major genre identified as “security series,” can be understood as new resources for education of audiences and as a source of original developments in public policy and democratic conversation. Series are able to both inform and transform their viewers by expressing complex social and ethical issues through narrative and characters. Recently, the genre of security series has been undergoing an evolution brought by the rapid development of digital platforms in the 2010s, the further evolution of viewing practices during lockdown, and the emergence of new countries of production of security series (Eastern Europe). Taking series seriously means investigating the intentions of their creators, reconsidering the public’s capabilities for moral education, exploring how TV series can structure our understanding of the world and our experiences of it.
Security series provide shared cultural references concerning the current security environment, which is characterized by multifaceted and diverse threats, the risk of loss of liberal values in democratic societies, and rampant conspiracy theories. DEMOSERIES aims to understand if and how these series play a crucial role in creating shared and shareable values.TV series are increasingly recognised as an important subject of academic study. However, their potential for visualising ethical issues and their capacity for enabling a democratic empowerment of viewers has not yet been systematically analysed. TV can even anticipate real-life events, as is the case of the series Homeland or Servant of the People. The porousness of the boundaries between the “factual” and the “fictional” facilitates the integration of these works into understandings of the world, systems of knowledge, and ways of envisioning the future. Even if US productions remain dominant, the French series The Bureau is now adapted internationally as well as Israeli series (Hatufim, Fauda). Security series have become a paradigm of the expression and pedagogy of contemporary threats, expanding beyond the topic of terrorism to encompass a variety of issues from conspiracy theories to climate crisis. The objective of DEMOSERIES is to enrich thinking about “soft power,” to open democratic spaces of discussion and reflection. It demonstrates the ways in which the aesthetic representation of the world serves as one of the hinges of power, of education and of foresight, alongside force and diplomacy.
Security series provide shared cultural references concerning the current security environment, which is characterized by multifaceted and diverse threats, the risk of loss of liberal values in democratic societies, and rampant conspiracy theories. DEMOSERIES aims to understand if and how these series play a crucial role in creating shared and shareable values.TV series are increasingly recognised as an important subject of academic study. However, their potential for visualising ethical issues and their capacity for enabling a democratic empowerment of viewers has not yet been systematically analysed. TV can even anticipate real-life events, as is the case of the series Homeland or Servant of the People. The porousness of the boundaries between the “factual” and the “fictional” facilitates the integration of these works into understandings of the world, systems of knowledge, and ways of envisioning the future. Even if US productions remain dominant, the French series The Bureau is now adapted internationally as well as Israeli series (Hatufim, Fauda). Security series have become a paradigm of the expression and pedagogy of contemporary threats, expanding beyond the topic of terrorism to encompass a variety of issues from conspiracy theories to climate crisis. The objective of DEMOSERIES is to enrich thinking about “soft power,” to open democratic spaces of discussion and reflection. It demonstrates the ways in which the aesthetic representation of the world serves as one of the hinges of power, of education and of foresight, alongside force and diplomacy.
DEMOSERIES has consolidated an interdisciplinary and international network of partners (in the USA, England, Italy, Israel, Japan, France), defence and intelligence actors (the Ministry of Armed Forces, the Military School Strategic Research Institute (IRSEM) and General Directorate for External Security (DGSE) in France, the CIA in the USA), and professionals of the TV industry (showrunners of Le Bureau, Homeland, En thérapie, OVNI(s)). These partners have contributed to the DEMOSERIES venues, including an international conference commemorating 9/11 at the Sorbonne (Sept. 2021), a conference on TV and politics at New York University (April 2022), and a one-week summer school on TV series (July 2022). DEMOSERIES has developed a strong partnership with the Centre Pompidou, for the dissemination of the security/surveillance series theme and for a joint exploration of the aesthetics of surveillance with contemporary artists.
Junior team members have actively benefitted from DEMOSERIES as a springboard for producing peer-reviewed writings that appeared in international scholarly publications, and for developing independent careers. Three team members have secured academic positions: one as junior lecturer at King’s College in War studies, one as a postdoc at Rotterdam Erasmus University, one as a fully-funded PhD candidate at University of Picardie.
DEMOSERIES has hosted (despite the pandemic) 11 project collaborators: Richard J. Aldrich (Warwick), Juliet Floyd and James Katz (Boston University), Piergiorgio Donatelli (Roma la Sapienza), David LaRocca, Victor Krebs (Lima), Paola Marrati (Johns Hopkins), Stephen Mulhall (Oxford), Martin Shuster (North Carolina), Jeroen Gerrits (Binghamton), Philippe Codognet (CNRS-University of Tokyo).
DEMOSERIES has contributed to the public definition and discussion of the concept of security series, which is now widely accepted and used. Many interviews, podcasts, and general-audience papers by the team members have consolidated the genre as central to contemporary culture, as well as events of dissemination (Centre Pompidou).
DEMOSERIES has produced 78 publications including peer-reviewed publications and edited volumes: on the series 24 (2022), on Superheroes and Security (2022), on the Politics of series (CNRS Editions, 2022), the conference on “The 9/11 Event” and a topical issue of the journal Open Philosophy on the ethics and politics of TV (2022).
DEMOSERIES has become a reference for the study of series, with the launch of 2 book series, one directed by the PI on TV-Philosophy at Exeter U. Press, the other by Sylvie Allouche and Laugier at Editions Vrin.
Junior team members have actively benefitted from DEMOSERIES as a springboard for producing peer-reviewed writings that appeared in international scholarly publications, and for developing independent careers. Three team members have secured academic positions: one as junior lecturer at King’s College in War studies, one as a postdoc at Rotterdam Erasmus University, one as a fully-funded PhD candidate at University of Picardie.
DEMOSERIES has hosted (despite the pandemic) 11 project collaborators: Richard J. Aldrich (Warwick), Juliet Floyd and James Katz (Boston University), Piergiorgio Donatelli (Roma la Sapienza), David LaRocca, Victor Krebs (Lima), Paola Marrati (Johns Hopkins), Stephen Mulhall (Oxford), Martin Shuster (North Carolina), Jeroen Gerrits (Binghamton), Philippe Codognet (CNRS-University of Tokyo).
DEMOSERIES has contributed to the public definition and discussion of the concept of security series, which is now widely accepted and used. Many interviews, podcasts, and general-audience papers by the team members have consolidated the genre as central to contemporary culture, as well as events of dissemination (Centre Pompidou).
DEMOSERIES has produced 78 publications including peer-reviewed publications and edited volumes: on the series 24 (2022), on Superheroes and Security (2022), on the Politics of series (CNRS Editions, 2022), the conference on “The 9/11 Event” and a topical issue of the journal Open Philosophy on the ethics and politics of TV (2022).
DEMOSERIES has become a reference for the study of series, with the launch of 2 book series, one directed by the PI on TV-Philosophy at Exeter U. Press, the other by Sylvie Allouche and Laugier at Editions Vrin.
DEMOSERIES’ primary objectives that have already been fulfilled include:
(1) Establishing the genre of security series as central to popular culture;
(2) Reshaping the understanding of the power of the “popular” and the moral education we can expect from series;
(3) Understanding the political roles of series in the contemporary risk environment.
DEMOSERIES offers the first analytical framework that takes into account all stages of a TV series’ lifespan, from creation and production to reception. This represents a significant break with existing studies. The majority of present studies envision television series as projections of a particular ideology, without taking into account the quality of analysis produced by these works, their serial form and modes of reception, nor the critical capacities of the public, and the new complexities of “soft power”.
Meanwhile, the digital revolution has allowed for the emergence of new forms, agents, and paradigms that affect rapid changes in the ways the series are both produced and consumed. Our next step is to study these transformations of reception of the genre. This axis of research will be accomplished through a large-scale sociological survey on the reception of security series in France and another European country, set to begin in 2022. The study will be complemented by data provided by the partner Betaseries.
Some new issues have appeared that have impacted our topic and our work as well, but also have consolidated its relevance. The pandemic has demonstrated the ways in which security series represent and spark care (through the representation of risks to communities or humanity). Audiences’ care for morally complex characters has been extended to encompass a variety of issues from conspiracy theories to climate crisis, epidemics, wars (with the comeback of Cold War in recent series), and growing nuclear threat. ).
We expect to produce the following results by the end of the project:
1) Creating a database/search engine of security series, designed as a tool for viewers and professionals.
2) Proposing a design of a TV series educational course.
3) Publication of 4 monographs, 3 articles on results of the reception survey, 5 journal issues, 4 edited books.
4) Further consolidation and development of the community committed to studying series, which has emerged around DEMOSERIES’ events and at the first CNRS summer school dedicated to TV series.
(1) Establishing the genre of security series as central to popular culture;
(2) Reshaping the understanding of the power of the “popular” and the moral education we can expect from series;
(3) Understanding the political roles of series in the contemporary risk environment.
DEMOSERIES offers the first analytical framework that takes into account all stages of a TV series’ lifespan, from creation and production to reception. This represents a significant break with existing studies. The majority of present studies envision television series as projections of a particular ideology, without taking into account the quality of analysis produced by these works, their serial form and modes of reception, nor the critical capacities of the public, and the new complexities of “soft power”.
Meanwhile, the digital revolution has allowed for the emergence of new forms, agents, and paradigms that affect rapid changes in the ways the series are both produced and consumed. Our next step is to study these transformations of reception of the genre. This axis of research will be accomplished through a large-scale sociological survey on the reception of security series in France and another European country, set to begin in 2022. The study will be complemented by data provided by the partner Betaseries.
Some new issues have appeared that have impacted our topic and our work as well, but also have consolidated its relevance. The pandemic has demonstrated the ways in which security series represent and spark care (through the representation of risks to communities or humanity). Audiences’ care for morally complex characters has been extended to encompass a variety of issues from conspiracy theories to climate crisis, epidemics, wars (with the comeback of Cold War in recent series), and growing nuclear threat. ).
We expect to produce the following results by the end of the project:
1) Creating a database/search engine of security series, designed as a tool for viewers and professionals.
2) Proposing a design of a TV series educational course.
3) Publication of 4 monographs, 3 articles on results of the reception survey, 5 journal issues, 4 edited books.
4) Further consolidation and development of the community committed to studying series, which has emerged around DEMOSERIES’ events and at the first CNRS summer school dedicated to TV series.