• Dead whiteness: “The Head” TV series in the context of “northern” aesthetics

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2021-1-109-121

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Valeriya Y. Labuznaya

postgraduate student or Department of Screen Arts
Academy of Media Industry
Moscow, Russia
E-mail: labuznaiavaleria@gmail.com

Dead whiteness: “The Head” TV series in the context of “northern” aesthetics

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of originality of “The Head” TV-series. It considers specialty of diegesis, main expressive and symbolic patterns of the screen work. The conclusion is built on this analysis which reveals that “The Head” belongs to “northern aesthetics” (German art scholar W. Worringer’s term). Also, it uncovers typical thematic motives of such authors as E. Poe and H. Lovecraft in the series. Despite the fact that similar combination of structural elements is common for many “arctic” horrors, thrillers and detective films, the case of “The Head” demonstrates the inexhaustibility of this rich picturesque system. At the same time, it shows huge potential for generating new plots and storylines. As a result, the series transcends narrow frameworks of detective genre by implementation dynamics of suspense and sci-fi discourse. Affective cinematic methods and technics lead to a programmed “failure” of viewer’s perception. The diegesis of “The Head” receives the qualities of liminal and intermediate space. All dramatic events are open to ambivalent interpretation. As a result, the creators of series manage to embed an ordinary screen production into the long tradition of “nervous expression” and “restless abstraction” by using some pieces of specific poetics of “terror” and “sublime”. They present horror genre as a specific epistemological phenomenon – the tragedy of ignorance, imperfection and defectiveness of human mind.

Keywords

arts, television series, “The Head”, detective, movie narrative, northern aesthetics, pattern, topos.

For citation

Labuznaya V. Y. Dead whiteness: “The Head” TV series in the context of “northern” aesthetics. In: Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music. 2021, no. 1, pp. 109–121.

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2021-1-109-121

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Received: 22.10.2020

Accepted: 06.02.2021