Jason Mittell
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Jason Mittell is a professor of American studies and film and media culture at Middlebury College whose research interests include the history of
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
, media,
culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...
, and
new media New media describes communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for ...
. He is author of three books, ''Genre and Television'' (2004), ''Television and American Culture'' (2009), and ''Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling'' (NYU Press, 2015), and co-editor of ''How To Watch Television'' (NYU Press, 2013).


Career


Education

Mittell received his
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in Communication Arts from the
University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
's Media & Cultural Studies Program (part of the Department of Communication Arts) in August 2000. In the spring of 1996, Mittell obtained an
M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
in the same concentration and program. Mittell completed his undergraduate studies at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio in 1992, graduating with a
B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
and majoring in English and Theater.


Academic positions

Mittell taught Communication at
Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is also the largest institution of hig ...
from 2000 to 2002. Currently, he is a professor at Middlebury College, where he teaches a number of courses related to television, culture, and media, such as ''Television and American Culture, Theories of Popular Culture, Media Technology and Cultural Change, American Media Industries, Animated Film & TV, Narration Across Media'', ''Media and Childhood in American Culture'', and ''Urban American and Serial Television: Watching'' The Wire. His research interests include pop culture topics such as television history and criticism, media and cultural history, genre theory, narratology, animation and children's media, cultural historiography, and new media studies and technological convergence. He is currently writing a book on contemporary American television narrative. Mittell also writes a blog entitle
JustTV


''Complex TV'' (2015)

Mittell's book ''Complex TV'' outlines a
historical poetics In film studies, historical poetics is a scholarly approach to studying film, which David Bordwell outlined in his book ''Making Meaning'' (1989).Ira Stig Bhaskar (2004), "Historical Poetics, Narrative, and Interpretation" in ''A Companion to Film T ...
of contemporary television series, which he calls "complex TV." Mittell argues that the "complex" television series of today feature an array of storytelling techniques which cannot be adequately understood through the use of cinematic and literary theory. This is especially the case with seriality, i.e. the fact that television series are told in several, separate episodes. To Mittell, this form of television drama emerged in the early 1990s and is characterized by its use of “narrative special effect” which is to say that a program sometimes "flexes its storytelling muscles to confound and amaze a viewer”, e.g. by using flashbacks in innovative ways. Being based in Bordwellian
historical poetics In film studies, historical poetics is a scholarly approach to studying film, which David Bordwell outlined in his book ''Making Meaning'' (1989).Ira Stig Bhaskar (2004), "Historical Poetics, Narrative, and Interpretation" in ''A Companion to Film T ...
, this books aims to "identify and describe the formal properties that create such textured narratives." To film scholar Sarah Kozloff, this means that Mittell's work shares some similarities with
Seymour Chatman Seymour Chatman (August 30, 1928 – November 4, 2015) was an American film and literary critic and professor emeritus of rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley. He is one of the most significant figures of American narratology Nar ...
's work on film narration. Mittell's book also builds cognitivist assumptions, which means that to Mittell “comprehension is based on the cognitive poetic model developed primarily through David Bordwell’s work on film narration. The core assumption of this approach is that viewers actively construct storyworlds in their minds, and that the best way to understand the comprehension process is through the tools of cognitive psychology.” In line with this, Mittell also draws on Murray Smith's work. Mittell, however, makes a point of stressing that he believes that cognitivist approaches are fully compatible with cultural approaches in terms of understanding and studying television shows, arguing that we "can combine what we know about cultural contexts with the mechanics of mental comprehension and engagement to develop a more pluralistic set of theoretical tools."


Use of Wikipedia for college research

In an interview in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' on February 21, 2007, Mittell defended the use of Wikipedia as a citeable resource for college-level research. Mittell responded to critics that questioned the accuracy and reliability of an online document that anyone in the world can edit at any time by arguing that “The message that is being sent is that ultimately they see it as a threat to traditional knowledge... I see it ikipediaas an opportunity. What does that mean for traditional scholarship? Does traditional scholarship lose value?”


Publications


Books

*''Genre and Television: From Cop Shows to Cartoons in American Culture'' (Routledge, 2004). :The book "...proposes a new understanding of television genres as cultural categories, offering a set of in-depth historical and critical examinations to explore five key aspects of television genre:history, industry, audience, text, and genre mixing." Mittell uses a number of "well-known television programs" to develop "...a new model of genre historiography and illustrat how genres are at work within nearly every facet of television..." Mittell's book "...argues that through analyzing how television genre operates as a cultural practice, we can better comprehend how television actively shapes our social world." *''Television and American Culture'' (Oxford University Press, 2009). :"A terrific introduction to the study of television, this textbook masterfully integrates a look at American television's industrial practices, its genres and narrative strategies, and its cultural roles. Professors will find this textbook comprehensive and well-organized, while students will find it engaging and provocative."Ethan Thompson, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, quoted a
Oxford University Press
/ref>


Selected articles

*"The Great Saturday Morning Exile: Scheduling Cartoons on Television's Periphery in the 1960s," in ''Prime Time Animation: Television Animation and American Culture'', edited by Carol Stabile and Mark Harrison (New York: Routledge Press, 2003). *"Before the Scandals: The Radio Precedents of the Quiz Show Genre," in ''The Radio Reader: Essays in the Cultural History of US Radio Broadcasting'', edited by Michele Hilmes and Jason Loviglio, (New York: Routledge Press, 2002), 319–42. *“A Cultural Approach to Television Genre Theory,” article reprinted in ''The Television Studies Reader'', edited by Robert C. Allen and Annette Hill (New York: Routledge Press, 2005). *“Classic Network System” and “Generic Cycles: Innovation, Imitation, Saturation,” in ''The Television History Book'', edited by Michele Hilmes and Jason Jacobs (London: British Film Institute, 2005).


References


External links


Jason Mittell's homepage & blogJason Mittell's faculty page at Middlebury
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mittell, Jason University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Middlebury College faculty Television studies Oberlin College alumni Living people 1970 births