1915 and 2015 symbolize two moments when the serial form flourished. In 1915 what Charles Dickens called the “periodical performances” of the serial fiction writer expanded to newspaper comic strips and film in an extraordinary convergence of media. Today, one hundred years later, serials are again everywhere: on television, online, and in streaming content. How do we explain the popularity of so many new serial forms? What were serials then, what are they now? How and why have serials gone from being viewed as the commercially driven dregs of popular culture-gimmicks designed only to enhance consumption over longer periods of time-to the most quintessential expression of our postindustrial, digital age? The programs in this series, presented as part of the Third International Berkeley Conference on Film and Media, reflect just a fraction of what can happen when single films, artists, and television go serial.
BAM/PFA partners with the conference organizers to present some intriguing examples of the serial form, including special presentations by scholars Mark Sandberg, Paolo Cherchi Usai, and Michael Zryd. Of related interest are Jean-Luc Godard's acclaimed serials, Histoire(s) du cinéma and France/tour/détour/deux/enfants, presented in our ongoing Godard retrospective.