Netflicks: Conceptual Television in the Streaming Era
Publisher: UWA Publishing
Published: February 2024
Genre: Non-Fiction
UWA Publishing’s Vignettes series has been one of the more dynamic additions to WA’s literary landscape in recent years; as almost a ‘behind-the-scenes’ exploration of the intersection between academia and greater society, it has thus far included Netflicks: Conceptual Television in the Streaming Era by Tony Hughes-d’Aeth and The Moment of the Essay: Australian Letters and the Personal Essay by Daniel Juckes. My review explores the former, and first entry in the series, and aims to illuminate both the concepts that fuel this volume and the series as a whole.
Netflicks explores the evolution of television in the age of streaming. The book discusses how screen dramas have become a form of thought in the digital age, inaugurating a new kind of conceptual television. Hughes d’Aeth explores these series and their underlying structures in chapters titled ‘Dystopia,’ ‘Amnesia,’ ‘Repetition,’ and ‘Dissociation.’ Each invites us to perceive conceptual television as existing beyond the limitations of literal reality. By utilising recent examples of this phenomenon, including breakout series Severance, The Walking Dead, Squid Game and Homecoming, the author then presents an interesting correlation between certain shows within the modern mediascape and the ways that these correlations present a meaningful examination, exploration and reflection on what it means to be human in today’s digitally enhanced, increasingly online society.
Hughes d’Aeth seems particularly energised in chapter 3, ‘Repetition’ when discussing series which predominantly (and skilfully) pull apart ‘existential puzzles.’ relating to identity, belonging, and an increasing reticence in modern society to be seen as ‘fucking up’. Such series include Nathan Fielder’s meta-mind-melt, The Rehearsal and the modern televisual Groundhog Day retelling, Russian Doll. While I won’t spoil the key theoretical reveal connecting the two, I will say it is one of the more profoundly distressing and yet strangely relatable reveals for a modern audience, forever so keen on its ‘freedom’ and yet often so at sea when it comes to stepping fully into a mature, accountable and emotionally anchored life.
Netflicks is notably well-researched — as inspired by both modern screen theory and a veritable who’s who of contemporary and classical philosophy, including Hegel, Kierkegaard, and Žižek — and presents a remarkably insightful mapping of the Bildungsroman’s shift from the printed world into the televisual streaming environment. It’s also a notably accessible book given the author’s qualifications and methodologies, and full credit to Hughes d’Aeth for including enough information about each series to guide the reader into greater understanding. Netflicks is a substantial yet navigable exploration of modern screen narratives and the perfect way to begin a notable and readable merging of souls, minds, and shared societal experiences while viewing and living our utopias, dystopias, and all points between.