Over the last decade Spain and Mexico have both produced an extraordinary wealth of television drama. Drawing on both national practices of production and reception and international theories of textual analysis this book offers the first study of contemporary quality TV drama in two countries where television has displaced cinema as the creative medium that shapes the national narrative. As dramatized societies, Spain and Mexico are thus at once reflected and refracted by the new series on the small screen.
Reviews
‘A groundbreaking contribution to Hispanic cultural and media studies. Highly readable and well structured, the volume is a unique comparative transnational study of the two principal Spanish-language television markets/industries/cultures. Such comparative scholarship requires expertise on many levels in the two media cultures as well as a grasp of conceptual and theoretic underpinnings of mass media in the context of cultural studies, all of which Smith has in abundance and he uses his knowledge to provide a richly detailed and stimulating reading.’Professor Marvin D'Lugo, Clark University
'Dramatized Societies is an extremely valuable contribution to cultural studies. The balanced combination of introductory critical discourses on relevant issues and close readings of individual works offers a very useful and fertile grounding for seminars and classes on contemporary Spanish and Latin-American television.'
Mario Santana, Bulletin of Spanish Visual Studies
‘Clear, yet erudite and peppered with witty asides, this book is as informative as it is pleasurable … This book works on multiple levels. Not only does it shed light upon little-known quality TV series, but on a meta-critical level, it is a model for successfully approaching the challenges of television studies.’
Olivia Cosentino, Revista de Estudios Hispánicos