“Resonance” Within and Between Generations in the Era of "Social Acceleration": In Search For a “Good Life” in the TV Series Morning Changes Everything

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v19i4.2

Keywords:

anthropology of TV series, generational TV series, social acceleration, alienation, resonance, good life

Abstract

This paper examines the generational TV series "Morning Changes Everything", which aroused significant public attention and received critical acclaim, but it also sparked certain controversies. The series follows the lives of four young people in their early thirties over a year time period, who are striving to find a meaningful way to live their lives within the bustling capital city, caught between identity dilemmas, parental expectations, and under pressure of the local version of the neoliberal order. The study is conceived as a hybrid form that combines an anthropological exploration of the domestic media landscape with an autoethnographic analysis of the reception of a generational TV series. It incorporates a personal, reflective perspective, and analyzes the reactions of both the author and their family members to the specific ways television depicts the lifestyles and self-discovery of the generation of young adults in their early thirties. In the first place it is an attempt to interpret spontaneous reactions to how generational conflicts with parents are portrayed in the series, with which the author can identify with in terms of age. The method of presenting a generational perspective is also considered through comparisons with the approaches used in the series “The Unpicked Strawberries”. The paper further examines several underlying assumptions. The first assumption is that due to the very specific, at first glance imperceptible, but yet consistent political approach advocated in the series, it makes sense to base the interpretation on the theoretical framework offered by contemporary German sociologist and political scientist Hartmut Rosa. Namely, the series offers a critique of the consequences of "social acceleration" within the distinctive cultural milieu of transitional Serbia. The effects of social acceleration intersect with the particular challenges faced by a generation of young people experiencing "prolonged adolescence." The next assumption is that the critique of the consequences of that process is achieved, among other things, by advocating an alternative lifestyle that rejects conformism (the pursuit of social success and the adherence to imposed social and gender roles), promoting a slower and more relaxed pace of life (free from imposed goals and the notion of "success in life"), and fostering resonance among the main protagonists’ generation. Resonance, which is the next assumption, is achieved through detailed depictions of situations in which it occurs, as well as through stylistic characteristics in character development. Thus, the main protagonists are portrayed neutrally, while members of other generations are often depicted in a distorted and/or comical way, amplifying both the sense of resonance within the group (and among the generationally aligned audience), and the distance between different generations. Furthermore, the resonance within the protagonists’ generation (and its closely aligned audience) is achieved through a carefully constructed visual identity of specially selected urban spaces in Belgrade. Finally, resonance is enhanced through the use of specific both diegetic and non-diegetic music, which emphasizes the impression of generational isolation, and challenges potential realistic-documentary interpretations of the series. In this sense, as the last assumption suggests, the series can be read not only as a more or less accurate portrait of a Belgrade generation, but also as a political-psychological project envisioning a possible good (better?) life. Achieving such a life depends on fostering successful relationships of resonance within and between generations.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Adams, Tony E, Stacey Holman Jones, Carolyn Ellis. 2015. Autoethnography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Altman, Rick ed. 1992. Sound Theory / Sound Practice. New York: Routledge.

Antić, Dragoslav. 2003. Antologija poezije američkih crnaca – Otisak srca u prašini. Beograd: Prometej

Arsenijević, Stefan i Maja Medić. 2016. Grlom u jagode – 40 godina TV serije. Beograd: KCB i FCS.

Augé, Marc. 2009. Casablanca: Movies and Memory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Bailey, Frederick George. 2002 [1969]. Stratagems and spoils: a social anthropology of politics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Balandije, Žorž. 1997. Politička antropologija. Beograd: Biblioteka XX vek.

Banić-Grubišić, Ana. 2013. „Antropološki pristup medijima - kratak pregled (sa posebnim osvrtom na igrani film)”. Antropologija 13(2): 135-152.

Banić-Grubišić, Ana and Ivana Gačanović. 2024. „Morning Will Not Change Everything - the Representation of Youth in Post-socialist Serbia“. In: Popular Culture in Post-Socialism, edited by Banić-Grubišić, Ana and Vlado Kotnik, 253-276. Belgrade: University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy, Dosije.

Bohman, James and William Rehg eds. 1997. Deliberative Democracy. Essays on Reason and Politics. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1982. Ce que parler veut dire. L'économie des échanges linguistiques. Paris: Fayard.

Đurković, Miša. 2005. „Prva petoletka: domaće televizijske serije i transformacija sistema vrednosti u tranziciji”. Sociološki pregled XXXIX (4): 357-381.

Caton, Stephen. 1999. Lawrence of Arabia. A Film’s Anthropology. Oakland: University of California Press.

Gačanović, Ivana. 2019. „O moći dobre priče: Zašto je serija Igra prestola morala (tako) da se završi i šta nam Žižek može reći o tome”. Etnoantropološki problemi 14 (2): 461-486. https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v14i2.3

Ejdus, Filip. 2009. „Geopolitika emocija”. Međunarodna politika br. 1135, 128-130.

Ellis, Carolyn. 2004. The Ethnographic I: A Methodological Novel about Autoethnography. AltaMira Press.

Ellis, Carolyn, Tony E. Adams and Arthur P. Bochner. 2011. „Autoethnography: An Overview“. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12 (1), Art. 10, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-12.1.1589

Erdei, Ildiko. 2020. Moderni život u udarnom terminu. Televizija, humor i politika u Socijalističkoj Jugoslaviji. Beograd: Evoluta.

Erdei, Ildiko. 2022. „Licem u naličje: analiza prijema tv serije Normalni ljudi među milenijalcima u Srbiji i konceptualizacija nenadane greške u istraživanju”. Etnoantropološki problemi 17 (2): 487-522. https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v17i2.3

Esquenazi, Jean-Pierre. 2009. La vérité de la fiction. Comment peut-on croire que les récits de fiction nous parlent sérieusement de la réalité ? Paris: Éd. Hermès-Lavoisier.

Eskenazi, Žan-Pjer. 2013. Televizijske serije. Beograd: Clio.

Favret-Saada, Jeanne. 1990. „Être affecté”. Gradhiva 8, 3-9.

Favret-Saada, Jeanne. 2015. The Anti-Witch. Hau Books.

Goffman, Erving. 1956. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh.

Habermas, Jurgen. 1981. Theory of Communicative Action: Reason and Rationalization of Society. Vol 1. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Hackett, Edward J. ed. 2015. House of Cards and Philosophy. Underwood’s Republic. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Hanisch, Carol. 1969. „The Personal is Political”. Notes from the Second Year: Women's Liberation 76-78. http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/wlmpc_wlmms01039/

Hejvud, Endrju. 2004. Politika. Beograd: Clio.

Honneth, Axel. 1996. The Struggle for Recognition: The Moral Grammar of Social Conflicts. Cambridge, MA:The MIT Press.

Ivanović, Zorica i Senka Kovač. 2022. „Kad lišće pada: pogled na turske televizijske serije i porodice”. Etnoantropološki problemi 17 (2): 577-627. https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v17i2.6

Jacobs, Stephen, Anthony Kinik and Eva Hielscher, eds. 2019. The City Symphony Phenomenon. Cinema, Art, and Urban Modernity Between the Wars. New York and London: Routledge.

Kovačević, Ivan. 2006. „Individualna antropologija ili antropolog kao lični guslar”. Etnoantropološki problemi 1(1): 17-34. https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v1i1.1

Kovačević, Ivan i Marija Brujić, ur. 2013. Antropologija TV serija. Nova srpska antropologija. Beograd: Odeljenje za etnologiju i antropologiju/Etnoantropološki problemi.

Kovačević, Ivan i Marija Brujić. 2014. „Ljubav na prvi pogled - TV serije: uvod u antropološku analizu”. Etnoantropološki problemi 9(2): 395-415. https://doi.org/10.21301/EAP.v9i2.7

Kovačević, Ivan. 2018. „O antropologiji TV serija”. Zbornik radova Fakulteta dramskih umetnosti 33: 97-112.

Krstić, Marija. 2009. „Serbs, the Craziest of All – TV Comedy Show ‘Кursadžije’ by Grand Production”. Etnoantropološki Problemi / Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology 4 (1): 87-105. https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v4i1.4

Krstić, Marija. 2012. „The TV Series Kursadžije: a ventriloquist for a Serbian group identity”. In: Landsacapes of (Un)Belonging. Reflections on Strangeness and Self [eBook], eds. Orla McGarry and Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska, 145-152. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press.

Lasswell, Harold. 1936. Politics: Who Gets What, When, How? New York: Viking.

Marcus, George E. 2001. „Reflexivity in Anthropology”. International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 12877-12881.

Makijaveli, Nikolo. 2024. Vladalac. Beograd: Laguna.

Matović, Marijana. 2021. „Medijske generacije u Srbiji“. Etnoantropološki problemi 16 (2): 459-490. https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v16i2.6

Milenković, Miloš. 2006. „Šta je bila ‘antropološka refleksivnost’? Metodološka formalizacija”. Etnoantropološki problemi 1(2): 157-184. https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v1i2.9

Milosavljević, Ljubica, ur. 2022a. „Tema broja: Antropologija TV serija, prvi deo“. Etnoantropološki problemi 17 (1).

Milosavljević, Ljubica, ur. 2022b. „Tema broja: Antropologija TV serija, drugi deo“. Etnoantropološki problemi 17 (2).

Mitrović, Katarina. 2022. Fenomen produžene mladosti u Beogradu: etnološko-antropološka analiza. Doktorska disertacija. Filozofski fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu.

Moïsi, Dominique. 2015. La géopolitique de l’émotion. Comment les cultures de peur, d'humiliation et d'espoir façonnent le monde. Flammarion: Champs Actuel.

Moïsi, Dominique. 2017. La géopolitique des séries ou Le triomphe de la peur. Flammarion: Champs Actuel.

Mojsi, Dominik. 2012. Geopolitika emocija. Beograd: Clio.

Mouffe, Chantal. 1999. „Deliberative Democracy or Agonistic Pluralism?” Social Research: An International Quarterly 66 (3):745-758.

Naumović, Slobodan. 1998. „Romanticists or Double Insiders?: An Essay on the Origins of Ideologised Discourses in Balkan Ethnology”. Ethnologia Balkanica, Vol. 2, 101-120.

Naumović, Slobodan. 2017. „Ogled o filmu ‘Enklava’Gorana Radovanovića: šta proživljavamo i čega se sećamo razmišljajući o iskustvu gledanja jednog savremenog istorijskog kinematografskog dela”. Etnoantropološki problemi12 (4): 1013-1062. https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v12i4.3

Buhler, James, David Neumeyer and Rob Deemer. 2010. Hearing the Movies. Music and Sound in Film History. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Peirano, Mariza. 1998. „When Anthropology is at Home: The Different Contexts of a Single Discipline”. Annual Review of Anthropology 27(1):105-128. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.27.1.105

Reed-Danahay, Deborah ed. 1997. Auto/Ethnography: Rewriting the Self and the Social. New York: Berg.

Ribić, Vladimir. 2007. Primenjena antropologija. Beograd: Univerzitet u Beogradu i Srpski genealoški centar.

Ribić, Vladimir. 2011. Politička antropologija i moderni svetski sistem. Beograd: Univerzitet u Beogradu i Srpski genealoški centar.

Rihtman-Auguštin, Dunja. 2000. Ulice moga grada. Antropologija domaćeg terena. Beograd: Biblioteka XX vek.

Rosa, Hartmut. 2017. „Dynamic Stabilization, the Triple A. Approach to the Good Life, and the Resonance Conception”. Questions de communication [Online], 31: 437-456. https://doi.org/10.4000/questionsdecommunication.11228

Rosa, Hartmut. 2018. „The Idea of Resonance as a Sociological Concept”. Global Dialogue 8 (2): 41-45.

Rosa, Hartmut. 2019a. Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World. Newark: Polity Press.

Rosa, Hartmut. 2020. The Uncontrollability of the World. Cambridge; Medford, MA: Polity Press.

Roza, Hartmut. 2019b. Odnosi prema svetu u doba ubrzanja. Konture nove kritike društva. Novi Sad: Akademska knjiga.

Scholte, Bob. 1972. „Towards a Reflexive and Critical Anthropology”. In Re-inventing Anthropology, edited by D. Hymes, 430-57. New York: Pantheon Books.

Simeunović-Bajić, Nataša. 2018. „Posleratni bildungsroman jedne generacije kao vrhunsko delo jugoslovenske popularne televizijske estetike - TV serija Grlom u jagode”. Etnoantropološki problemi 13(1): 93-109. https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v13i1.5

Sorlin, Sandrine. 2016. Language and Manipulation in House of Cards. A Pragma-Stylistic Perspective. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Taylor, Charles. 1989. Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Taylor, Charles. 2007. A Secular Age, Harvard: Harvard University Press.

Tejlor, Čarls. 2008. Izvori sopstva. Novi Sad: Akademska knjiga.

Trifunović, Vesna i Jovana Diković. 2018. „‘Mile protiv tranzicije.’ Društvene promene i sukobi vrednosnih orijentacija kroz prizmu jedne televizijske serije”. Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANU LXII (2): 141-152. https://doi.org/10.2298/GEI1402141T УДК: 7.097:330.34(497.11)

Vincent, Joan. 1990. Anthropology and Politics: Visions, Traditions, and Trends. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

Vincent, Joan, ed. 2002. The Anthropology of Politics: A Reader in Ethnography, Theory and Critique. Wiley-Blackwell.

Vučetić, Radina. 2012. Koka-Kola socijalizam. Beograd: Službeni glasnik.

Wolin, Sheldon. 1996. „The Liberal Democratic Divide: On Rawls’ Political Liberalism”. Political Theory 24(1): 97-119.

Živković, Marko. 2007. „‘Mile vs Transition’—a Perfect Informant in the Slushy Swamp of Serbian Politics?” Social Identities 13(5): 597-610. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630701580266

Downloads

Published

2024-12-28

How to Cite

Naumović, Slobodan. 2024. ““Resonance” Within and Between Generations in the Era of ‘Social Acceleration’: In Search For a ‘Good Life’ in the TV Series Morning Changes Everything”. Etnoantropološki Problemi Issues in Ethnology and Anthropology 19 (4):1063–1112. https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v19i4.2.

Most read articles by the same author(s)