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外文期刊>H-ermes. Journal of Communication
>Introduzione. E-comics - Attualità e inattualità del fumetto nel tempo digitale = Introduction. E-comics - The contemporary and uncontemporary nature of comics in the digital era
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Introduzione. E-comics - Attualità e inattualità del fumetto nel tempo digitale = Introduction. E-comics - The contemporary and uncontemporary nature of comics in the digital era
The advent of television in the second half of the "short century" led to the progressive erosion of the consumption base of the comic strip, which came to be considered, by some, as a medium destined for extinction. The reasoning behind this notion, prevalent both in the world of production and in that of mediological research, is to be primarily attributed to a perception – which is extremely widespread in apocalyptic sociological paradigms - related to the processes of change that have affected the imaginary and techno-culture of communication: from this point of view, the inclusion of comics in the perimeter of typographybased mass media would appear to make the future of the medium uncertain, as it too was subjected to "ruthless" competition from new and pervasive electronic media (from television to video game devices). Historical experience, as is often the case, has proven the previsional theories wrong. Generalist TV currently appears to be suffering as much as or perhaps more than "traditional" industrial media such as cinema. Comics have renegotiated their role in the economy of the imaginary by generating some radical mutations, processes of transformation, and hybridization on their own techno-cultural body to preserve their existence - albeit in the context of a substantial re-foundation of codes and statutes - in the new mediascape of cultural consumption. From the advent of the definition of a "graphic novel" to experimenting with comic journalism, from resizing mass production to the growth of dedicated consumption, from new forms of participatory collecting to the digital transformation of narratives and media, from high-quality publishing to adaptations for film and television, the "old" language of hand drawn pencil and ink comic strips hand-drawn confirmed - paradoxically in many aspects - as "currently outdated" or "outdatedly current". Within the horizon of the transformation taking place in the world of media, this monographic issue of H-ermes journal, designed and edited in conjunction with several European universities, wishes to explore emerging practices and new aesthetic trends in comics. This is a particularly substantial volume, as over the course of their research the curators realized that the extent and the records of the changes taking place in the visual language of comics are more impressive and, at the same time, more diversified than was generally thought; however, even so, it is clear that there are many other topics to be addressed and themes to be explored. The contributions of the individual authors of this monograph are all along these lines, observing the complex scenario of the change in progress and attempting to grasp the implied meaning behind an apparent contradiction: that of a medium which had, in the period from the late nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century, contributed in a non-subordinate manner to test the forms of cultural "conditioning" of mass society, and which today finds itself at a crossroads between innovative models of social organization, thanks to the unexpected ability to glean audience participation in crucial dynamics of change that link its seemingly obsolete technological matrix, and up-and-coming forms of digital communication.
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