Westworld: complex TV, puzzle narratives and paratexts

Ana Cabral Martins

doi:10.14591/aniki.v6n1.460

Ana Cabral Martins Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, 1600-189, Lisboa

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14591/aniki.v6n1.460

Résumé

This essay presents an examination of the HBO television series Westworld and of the complexity of its narrative structure. The series is part of a trend Jason Mittell identified as “complex TV” as it exhibits many characteristics that pertain to that category. At the same time, the complexity of Westworld is displayed through a puzzle structure, which fosters a dependency of its viewers on “orienting paratexts” that help when it comes to analyzing and recapitulating the television show, parsing out the clues and offering an overarching solution. Alongside the many paratexts surrounding and dedicated to exploring Westworld, television criticism takes on a more urgent role for this show’s devoted and “forensic” audience. While Westworld is a relevant text to examine when it comes to analyzing complexity in contemporary television, it is especially exemplary as a text that necessitates its paratexts in order to provide the full experience.

Biographie de l'auteur

Ana Cabral Martins, Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, 1600-189, Lisboa

Ana Cabral Martins is a research assistant on the project “Portuguese Women Directors” at ICS-University of Lisbon and has a Ph.D. in Digital Media. Some of her recent work includes a chapter on comics and movies in the volume Visions of the Future in Comics: International Perspectives (2017); the essay “A Bridge and a Reminder: The Force Awakens, Between Repetition and Expansion”, published at Kinephanos – journal of media studies and popular culture (June 2018); as well as write-ups in the book Hollywood Heroines: The Most Influential Women in Film History (2019).

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