Multi-Plot Aesthetics and Information Density in Contemporary Television Series
This project has been funded by BBVA Foundation Grants for Scientific Research Projects 2021
Summary and theoretical analysis
Our current research project aims to address, from an unprecedented perspective, the relationship between an aesthetic property and its cognitive dimension in television series. The innovative nature of our perspective lies in two reasons:
The first is that we examine for the first time a central aesthetic property in the series, such as the multiplot structures, in relation to a prominent feature in the attribution of cognitive value to them: information density.
The second reason lies in the multidisciplinary approach offered to properly address this relationship, proposing for the first time a close collaboration between the necessary disciplines: on the one hand the aesthetic/narrative analysis, carried out by a team of experts in Spanish serial audiovisual narrative, and on the other hand the study of the processes of narrative comprehension, by a team formed by three American professors in the study of the psychology of discourse, led by Joe Magliano, president of the main scientific society dedicated to discourse analysis.
Our starting hypothesis is that there is a correlation between an efficient aesthetic richness of the multiplot structure and its cognitive outcome, in terms of information density. This hypothesis derives from a national research project about to conclude in which we have observed and analyzed diverse interaction processes between aesthetic properties of television seriality and cognitive value and where we have analyzed one of the most relevant contexts; the narrative climactic moments.
Project under development from July 1, 2022 to May 31, 2024