Steven Peacock

Jason Jacobs

Although Film Studies has successfully (re)turned attention to matters of style and interpretation, its sibling discipline has left the territory uncharted - until now. The question of how television operates on a stylistic level has been critically underexplored, despite being fundamental to our viewing experience. This significant new work redresses a vital gap in Television Studies by engaging with the stylistic dynamics of TV; exploring the aesthetic properties and values of both the medium and particular types of output (specific programmes); and raising important questions about the way we judge television as both cultural artifact and art form. Television Aesthetics and Style provides a unique and vital intervention in the field, raising key questions about television's artistic properties and possibilities. Through a series of case-studies by internationally renowned scholars, the collection takes a radical step forward in understanding TV's stylistic achievements.

Television Aesthetics and Style

When "24" exploded onto TV screens in 2001, "Time" magazine called it one of the 'Best Television Events of the Decade'. This book brings together critical discussions of "24" from a wide range of perspectives. It looks in detail at the creative and controversial features of "24".

TV Against the Clock

Reading 24

Swedish Crime Fiction became an international phenomenon in the first decade of the twenty-first century, starting first with novels but then percolating through Swedish-language television serials and films and onto English-language BBC productions and Hollywood remakes. This book looks at the rich history of 'Scandinavian noir', examines the appeal of this particular genre and attempts to reveal why it is distinct from the plethora of other crime fictions. Examining the popularity of Steig Larsson's international success with his Millennium trilogy, as well as Henning Mankell's Wallander across the various media, Peacock also tracks some lesser-known novels and television programmes. He illustrates how the bleakness of the country's 'noirs' reflects particular events and cultural and political changes, with the clash of national characteristics becoming a key feature. It will appeal to students and researchers of crime fiction and of film and television studies, as well as the many fans of the novels and dramatic representations.

Novel, Film, Television

Swedish Crime Fiction

Colour remains one of the few uncharted territories in writing about film style. Colour is the first monograph to deal with the close criticism of film colour across decades and countries. Through detailed explorations of films such as Three Colours: White and The Green Ray, this study offers a way of approaching, interpreting, and appreciating cinematic colour. The book also considers film’s ability to place colour in a shifting relationship with all other points of style including camerawork, editing, performance, music, and lighting. Accessible and inventive in its approach, Colour invites the reader to see films differently, providing a fresh perspective of this overlooked element of cinema aesthetics.

Colour

Swedish crime fiction became an international phenomenon in the first decade of the twenty-first century, starting first with novels but then percolating through Swedish-language television serials and films and onto English-language BBC productions and Hollywood remakes. This book looks at the rich history of ‘Scandinavian noir’, examines the appeal of this particular genre and attempts to reveal why it is distinct from the plethora of other crime fictions. Examining the popularity of Steig Larsson’s international success with his Millennium trilogy, as well as Henning Mankell’s Wallander across the various media, Peacock also tracks some lesser-known novels and television programmes. He illustrates how the bleakness of the country’s ‘noirs’ reflects particular events and cultural and political changes, with the clash of national characteristics becoming a key feature. It will appeal to students and researchers of crime fiction and of film and television studies, as well as the many fans of the novels and dramatic representations.

Novel, film, television

Swedish crime fiction

Sue Turnbull

Kim Toft Hansen

This book is the first to focus on the role of European television crime drama on the international market. As a genre, the television crime drama has enjoyed a long and successful career, routinely serving as a prism from which to observe the local, national and even transnational issues that are prevalent in society. This extensive volume explores a wide range of countries, from the US to European countries such as Spain, Italy, the Scandinavian countries, Germany, England and Wales, in order to reveal the very currencies that are at work in the global production and circulation of the TV crime drama. The chapters, all written by leading television and crime fiction scholars, provide readings of crime dramas such as the Swedish-Danish The Bridge, the Welsh Hinterland, the Spanish Under Suspicion, the Italian Gomorrah, the German Tatort and the Turkish Cinayet. By examining both European texts and the ‘European-ness’ of various international dramas, this book ultimately demonstrates that transnationalism is at the very core of TV crime drama in Europe and beyond.

European Television Crime Drama and Beyond

Uniquely placed to explore the worldwide phenomenon of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy from a number of critical perspectives, this collection offers the first full-length study of Larsson's work in both its written and filmed forms. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is now a globally successful Swedish film, re-made by Hollywood in 2011 with Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist, the investigative reporter. The book's combination of critical and interdisciplinary approaches allows the trilogy to open up in new ways, which will appeal to all those interested in the Millennium books and films, as well as students of Film and Television Studies, Media Studies, Journalism, and Criminology.

Steven Peacock

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