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Television as Spectacular Commodity: A Psychoanalytic Inquiry

Television as Spectacular Commodity: A Psychoanalytic Inquiry

Paperback

Series: Lack Book

Film StudiesGeneral PsychologyMental Health

PREORDER - Expected ship date December 15, 2026

ISBN10: 104135424X
ISBN13: 9781041354246
Publisher: Routledge
Published: Dec 15 2026
Pages: 150
Language: English

Television as Spectacular Commodity: A Psychoanalytic Inquiry uses Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalytic theory to demonstrate how, despite being themselves commodities, a small minority of television series undermines the libidinal foundations of capitalism itself.

Unlike traditional television scholarship that prioritizes serial dramas, this groundbreaking work highlights the subversive nature of episodic television, which resists narrative closure and character development to channel what Freud called the death drive in viewers. Through detailed analyses of sitcoms like The Office (UK), Seinfeld, and Peep Show and Prestige programs like Succession, this book uncovers how these programs navigate themes of failure and repetition and what kind of politicized enjoyment they drum up in viewers. Bridging psychoanalytic theory with television studies, it offers a fresh perspective on the cultural and psychological impact of contemporary media.

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