Contemporary television and streaming media, from Netflix to Amazon Prime to Apple TV+, arguably have become more inclusive than ever, giving stories and screen time to cultural difference and showcasing racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual diversity across genres. This class critically examines this recent attention to diversity politics in television storytelling: In what ways do contemporary TV series really promote equality and social justice? What kinds of affective economies do these series help circulate and who are their intended audiences? To what extent are ”diverseries” symptoms of the neoliberal commercialization of difference that seldom goes beyond tokenism? And how do the algorithmic structure and international reach of most streaming services shape the representation of diversity?
Readings will be announced in the first session. Theoretical readings will be made available via learnweb, but you will also be expected to get some (short-term) subscriptions to streaming services.
What is that thing that you feel; that makes your palms sweat and heart beat faster, gives you goosebumps, and fills you with something you cannot define? Imagine entering a room, and you read the room and its vibes: whose vibes are they? Do you read the room, or are the people, objects, and relations what you read? There is something pleasantly unsettling about not knowing what our bodies know and react to. This seminar is concerned with those things: love, disgust, boredom, melancholy, and more. Are these affects? Emotions? Feelings? Is there a difference in between, and if yes, does it really matter?
This class will engage with literary and cultural texts such as literature, film, and art/photography to study affects. To better grasp the theoretical debates around affect theory and the affective turn since the early 90s, we will explore a range of theoretical dispositions of affects, emotions, feelings, and moods to engage with some of the significant strands in affect theory. We will pay particular attention to the ways in which affect insistently connects (and disconnects) individuals to larger social experiences. At the same time, we will consider how attention to affect might allow us to situate the subject in relation to race, biopower, terror, sexuality, gender politics, vulnerability, and trauma.
- Lehrende/r: Leopold Lippert