This special issue of VIEW aims to shine a light on television satire in Europe during the period of state socialism and after. Satire has been studied as a vehicle for challenging political and religious power as well as established norms and values. Yet in the state socialist countries of the former Eastern Bloc, satire – including television satire – was also employed by the state apparatus to target ideological opponents. This issue looks into the complex and often subtle and contradictory ways in which satire has disputed the relations between television and power in this specific geopolitical region of Europe before and after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
We welcome contributions that look at satire through the lens of television programmes, production practices, audiences and their modes of spectatorship, programming and scheduling. Contributors are invited to submit articles or video essays dealing with the forms and functioning of television satire under state socialism, the development of new satirical formats and topics in postsocialist Central and Eastern Europe, as well as longue durée perspectives on satire before and after socialism.
Contributions on the following topics are welcome, while other relevant topics related to the satire and (post)socialist television will also be considered:
- television and satire before and after the fall of the Iron Curtain;
- formal and generic specificities of satire as a type of content revisited through the lens of (post)socialist television history and culture and through the lens of television as medium of communication;
- parody, news-parody, religious and political satire and their limits in the (post)socialist context;
- hybrid magazine formats (such as variety shows) that have accommodated satirical content;
- boundaries of satire as a genre negotiated within the national contexts of different television cultures in (post)socialist Europe;
- satire as a transnational phenomenon in European television;
- (self)censorship and ‘underground’ satire in (post)socialist Europe;
- television satire and taboos in the (post)socialist context;
- mapping out ‘satirical spaces’ of television in (post)socialist Europe;
- audiences and modes of spectatorship associated to satirical programmes;
- production practices, programming and scheduling of television satire, including issues of censorship.
Submission details
Deadline for abstracts (max. 500 words): 15 June 2021 2 July 2021 (extended deadline). Authors are encouraged to send in a short biography with their abstract.
Notifications of acceptance will be sent out to authors by 15 July 2021 at the latest.
Deadline for full articles (3000-6000 words) or video essays: 1 December, 2021.
Articles will be published in November/December 2022.
Proposals and inquiries about the issue can be sent to journal@euscreen.eu.
