Infinite wounds: redefining narrative structure and serial dynamics in television series

Abstract

This article compares different television series with the aim

of reassessing the importance we normally ascribe to the

serial structure in our research on television fiction. I begin

by arguing for the need to engage in comparative analysis of

seriality in different media forms, as opposed to methodological

approaches that advocate the isolation of the televisual

within the televisual. I then go on to propose a specific application

of the concept of narrative structure to the television

series, drawing on terms from structuralism and post-structuralism

(dynamic, force, différance) that underscore the

unique mutability of its production processes. The ultimate

aim of the article is to enrich the semiotic and narratological

models of other authors by positing a range of methodological

alternatives for reconsidering the two major dynamics of

serial narratives: the self-contained (series) and the serialised

(serial).