TV series as a social project in modern mass discourse: national specifics

About the authors:

Larisa S. Kislova, Cand. Sci. (Phylol.), Associate Professor, Department of Russian Literature, University of Tyumen; l.s.kislova@utmn.ru

Maria A. Vetoshkina, Master Student, University of Tyumen; m.a.vetoshkina@utmn.ru

Abstract:

The article is devoted to the analysis of such a phenomenon as a television series in the modern mass discourse. Popular culture invariably defends conservative and therefore popular values in society and operates with a number of elementary moral attitudes. Perceiving a work of mass culture, it is possible to imagine what is love, society, history and everyday life. TV series in a modern format, allow visual content to supplant verbal content and are able to construct this or that reality. TV series is a specific cultural mo­del, transformation and functioning of which is the result of a special attitude of the audience to television. The hero of telemelodrama is an emotionally impressionable person, touched by virtue and horrified by evil, since at the center of any television series there are elements of sentimentalism — a direction that appeals to feelings a person who unconditionally idealizes virtue, clearly distinguishes between good and evil, goodies and bad guys. The aim of the study is to consider friction of the television series as one of the most successful projects in modern mass discourse. In the text of the article, on the basis of a typological approach, the corpus of temporary television series, the transformation of the series adapted to the original. The theoretical and methodological basis of the work was made up of works Jose Ortega y Gasseta, Umberto Eco, M. A. Chernyak, M. A. Litovskaya, N. A. Kupina, N. A. Nikolina, V. M. Mikhalkovich and other researchers of the phenomenon of mass culture. In this article the nature of this phenomenon is formulated for the first time, it is created on the basis of national material, and features popular La­tin American, Turkish, Russian content. TV series recreate the national picture of the world, broadcast revealing national specifics and introducing the viewer to the peculiarities of human life in a particular geographic space. According to the logic of the creators, the series should immerse the viewer in a state of catharsis, forcing empathy, crying and even to have a feeling of fear. As a rule, the series creates more eventful reality, it is not just organically built into the living space, but becomes its integral part. Thus, the television series is a promising social project, claiming to be one of the dominant positions in the modern cultural context.

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