Il disvelamento della politica in House of Cards. Un approccio sociosemiotico multimodale

The paper analyzes the communication strategy of the 13th episode of the fourth season of House of Cards. This political drama offers viewers a communicative pact that underlies their social competence to distinguish among the different frames of realism, verisimilitude, sincere confidence, staged f...

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Main Author: Paolo Parmeggiani
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Bologna 2017-12-01
Series:Series. International journal of tv serial narratives
Online Access:https://series.unibo.it/article/view/7630
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author Paolo Parmeggiani
author_facet Paolo Parmeggiani
author_sort Paolo Parmeggiani
collection DOAJ
description The paper analyzes the communication strategy of the 13th episode of the fourth season of House of Cards. This political drama offers viewers a communicative pact that underlies their social competence to distinguish among the different frames of realism, verisimilitude, sincere confidence, staged fiction, and/or public media representation. Because the episode’s meta message to its audience is that whatever is visible has been artfully constructed (both in private and public), the protagonist pedagogically invites the viewer to interpret the facts presented in the episode with cynicism. The themes and the characters are closely related to contemporary television news and political agendas (the events and protagonists of the 2016 US presidential election, foreign policy, the war against terrorism). The paper’s analytical approach is multimodal socio-semiotic: in it, I focus on the degree of realism ascribed to different frames (according to Goffman’s theory) and analyze the visual markers of photorealism. In particular, I investigate, with the help of digital tools, the conventions adopted in the direction of photography and color grading to differentiate frames and convey the story’s trustworthiness and the politicians’ dishonesty.
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spelling doaj.art-46e9fe66d40549d4aefd9206168439dd2022-12-22T02:38:13ZengUniversity of BolognaSeries. International journal of tv serial narratives2421-454X2017-12-0132779010.6092/issn.2421-454X/76306806Il disvelamento della politica in House of Cards. Un approccio sociosemiotico multimodalePaolo Parmeggiani0Università degli studi di UdineThe paper analyzes the communication strategy of the 13th episode of the fourth season of House of Cards. This political drama offers viewers a communicative pact that underlies their social competence to distinguish among the different frames of realism, verisimilitude, sincere confidence, staged fiction, and/or public media representation. Because the episode’s meta message to its audience is that whatever is visible has been artfully constructed (both in private and public), the protagonist pedagogically invites the viewer to interpret the facts presented in the episode with cynicism. The themes and the characters are closely related to contemporary television news and political agendas (the events and protagonists of the 2016 US presidential election, foreign policy, the war against terrorism). The paper’s analytical approach is multimodal socio-semiotic: in it, I focus on the degree of realism ascribed to different frames (according to Goffman’s theory) and analyze the visual markers of photorealism. In particular, I investigate, with the help of digital tools, the conventions adopted in the direction of photography and color grading to differentiate frames and convey the story’s trustworthiness and the politicians’ dishonesty.https://series.unibo.it/article/view/7630
spellingShingle Paolo Parmeggiani
Il disvelamento della politica in House of Cards. Un approccio sociosemiotico multimodale
Series. International journal of tv serial narratives
title Il disvelamento della politica in House of Cards. Un approccio sociosemiotico multimodale
title_full Il disvelamento della politica in House of Cards. Un approccio sociosemiotico multimodale
title_fullStr Il disvelamento della politica in House of Cards. Un approccio sociosemiotico multimodale
title_full_unstemmed Il disvelamento della politica in House of Cards. Un approccio sociosemiotico multimodale
title_short Il disvelamento della politica in House of Cards. Un approccio sociosemiotico multimodale
title_sort il disvelamento della politica in house of cards un approccio sociosemiotico multimodale
url https://series.unibo.it/article/view/7630
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