Open AccessOn the back burner: Depictions of fascism in contemporary TV drama
Author(s) -
Paweł Kaczmarski
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
acta universitatis wratislaviensis. prace kulturoznawcze
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 0860-6668
DOI - 10.19195/0860-6668.24.4.4
Subject(s) - depiction , drama , narrative , plot (graphics) , subject (documents) , aesthetics , literature , politics , history , sociology , art , law , political science , statistics , mathematics , library science , computer science
The article seeks to describe and examine one of the possible (and arguably increasingly popular) approaches to the subject of fascism in contemporary TV drama: a narrative strategy that is defined by its willingness to go beyond the depiction of fascism as the absolute political Other, but nonetheless aims to produce a compelling and thorough critique of fascism. This is largely achieved by turning the subject of fascism into an ostensibly non-central element of the plot. By examining a number of contemporary TV series (The Crown, The Man in the High Castle, Peaky Blinders, Pennyworth and The Knick), and drawing certain analogies to Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones, I aim to showcase the narrative effectiveness of a thus defined “back-burner” strategy — while linking this effectiveness to the formal possibilities opened up by contemporary TV drama.