Narrative Complexity

Television story lines leaping into a new age.

Jason Mittell’s essay Narrative Complexity in contemporary American television argues that ‘narrative strategies have changed and to consider the broader cultural implications of this shift.’ It’s not hard to agree with this if you look at television in the last twenty years. America has come out with some remarkable television shows that steer away from the conventional form of shows. While we still have the over populated screenings of cops and robbers, medical and amusing reality TV there is in fact an increasing amount of television shows that jump out from the rest. Mittell noted that this era (1990s-present) of television as a time of narrative experimentation, challenging the norms of what the medium can do.

Joss Whedon was a standout writer/director of that calibration. His shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly made that bold move of placing everyday/current/global issues into fictitious worlds where reality is only a glimmer. Buffy for example set the scene for teenagers to relate to being a teen and all that goes with it….along with dealing with vampires and a hellmouth under your school. It made watching typical teenage drama much more exciting and kept me watching. I now in fact own all seven seasons to watch over and over at my leisure. Unlike Neighbours, The OC or 90210, which had the same old drama every week, Buffy had kept that spark of imagination and revealed unique ways of storytelling.

This era of experimentation that we are in has opened us to amazing possibilities in the form of narration. The complex narrative story that is Lost demonstrated the talent of completely bullshiting your way to six seasons of success. The writers of the show didn’t expect to get further than a first season in the beginning.  After seeing the popularity that came with the first season they were approved to continue. I don’t think they completely had a footing on where the story was actually going but with talented, ‘on their toes’ writers they came out with what I would have to say is one of the most complicated narratives ever seen; and let’s face it, when trying to write with the theme of time travel it’s going to become one confusing, mind boggle path which I doubt many writers would have the stomachs for. While I couldn’t keep up with the show when it was on air I’ve actually come back to it and am slowly getting the story….very slowly. It is nice to not have to deal with ads, especially with so much back story for each character per episode.

Now with the ever growing success of HBO, narrative complexity has been deemed the favoured of television.  Game of Thrones, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos, and my especially favourite True Blood allow viewers to watch things that are not your usual soap operas or medical shows. They have in depth narrations that make you feel as though you’re not actually watching TV but something entirely different. As an audience, we are getting to see shows that illustrate a variety of perspectives of American culture. The Wire explores the other side of the crime world from different racial points of view. True Blood situates itself in The South where accents are extremely thick. In both The Wire and True Blood we are looking right into racial tension. We are able to see the real essence of these worlds that not everyone has seen, through the scenes and dialogue between characters. I know I’ve watched True Blood with my sister and gone away from it listening to her fall right into the southern accent without her even realising.

Like Mittell expresses, we find a strong pleasure in complex narratives, their richer and more multifaceted than conventional programming. However we should look at each individual program on its own rather than judging it in an entire genre or form of narration. There will always be a fondness for the general television we see on a daily basis that is a natural form of comfort and amusement like The Simpsons and The Big Bang Theory.