“Iconic and Beyond Reproach”: The Socio-Aesthetic Relevance of <em>Riverdale</em>

Paola Brembilla; Chiara Checcaglini

doi:10.6092/issn.2611-0563/10553

Autori

Paola Brembilla Università di Bologna
She is an assistant professor in Serial Narratives and Digital Media at the University of Bologna (Department of the Arts). In 2016, she earned her Ph.D. in Television Studies at the same university, with a thesis on the relations between business strategies and narrative forms in U.S. TV series. She was a visiting fellow at University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2014 and at Oxford Brookes University in 2019, where she also researched Media and Television Economics, Production and Reception Studies, Media Franchises and Vast Narratives. She was a speaker at many international conferences and authored several publications on the relations between TV series economics and aesthetics, including articles, chapters and two books, Game of Strategy. Analisi strategica del settore delle serie TV nell’industria televisiva statunitense (2015) and It’s All Connected. L’evoluzione delle serie TV statunitensi (2018). With Ilaria A. De Pascalis, she edited the Routledge collection Reading Contemporary Serial Television Universes (2018).
Chiara Checcaglini Università di Urbino Carlo Bo

She completed her Ph.D. in Sociology and Communication Studies at the University of Urbino Carlo Bo. Her current research interests include media education, transmedia storytelling, film criticism, contemporary serial narratives, their critical reception and their forms of distribution. She wrote essays and presented papers on these topics and she authored the book Breaking Bad. La chimica del male: storia, temi, stile (Mimesis 2014). She is teaching assistant of Cinema and Photography at the University of Urbino and she has taught Media Literacy and Transmedia Storytelling at the University of Udine. She has worked with film festivals such as Il Cinema Ritrovato and Premio Sergio Amidei, and she is editor and contributor of several webzines dedicated to film and television criticism.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2611-0563/10553

Parole chiave:

Riverdale, TV Series, Aesthetics, Vintage, Coolness

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the aesthetic and narrative design of the TV series Riverdale (The CW, 2017-), where fashion, visual splendor and coolness do legitimate a seemingly non-sense narratives and ultimately contribute to produce cultural and social value.
First, we contextualize Riverdale in the production ecosystem of the youth-geared network The CW. Second, we dwell on the concepts of retro and coolness to understand the mechanisms of Riverdale’s timeless charm and cool attitude. Third, we exemplify these aesthetic strategies by focusing on the design of the three leading female characters. Fourth, we explore the interplay between onscreen representation and offscreen self-representation of the actresses. Finally, we argue that the visual surface of the show becomes a tool to express commercial appeal and empowering values, which are not mutually exclusive.

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“Iconic and Beyond Reproach”: The Socio-Aesthetic Relevance of Riverdale

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