Television Storyworlds as Virtual Space

M. King Adkins

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9798216315650
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Media Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 “Where Everybody Knows Your Name”
• 2 “Land Spreadin’ Out So Far and Wide”
• 3 “I’m the Map, I’m the Map, I’m the Map”
• 4 “Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel”
• 5 “Can You Tell Me How to Get, How to Get to Sesame Street?”
• 6 “To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before”
• 7 “Walk the Straight and Narrow Track”
• 8 "These Are Their Stories”
• 9 “On the Next Arrested Development”
• Bibliography
• List of TV Shows Referenced
• Index
• About the Author