Salnikova, E. V. ‘Archeology’ of the Line of Television Programs and its Role in the Development of Visual Culture

Abstract: The article is devoted to the phenomenon of composition of television programs which is usually called ‘the line of television programs’. The author describes the prehistory of the process of composing television content in the theater culture, studies the principles of composition of the ancient and medieval performances, Renaissance civic and court theatre and entertainment in the Western Europe and Russia of the early modern period. The author studies the phenomenon of co-existence of theatre acts and plays of different genres and styles within the framework of one performance in the old Russian forms of entertainment, for example, in Skomorokh performances, puppet theatre, bear-baiting and school theatre. The author also compares entertainment performances of different national cultures where actors were not involved such as the Russian raree show and English Eidophusikon. In her research the author combines methods of cultural research and art history and extensively uses typological analysis of the phenomena that are related to different national cultures. The modern stage of the development of screen culture is perceived as the latest modification of the entertainment art closely connected with the pre-screen forms of art. The author describes the two patterns of organization of the conditional ‘play’ reality. The first pattern involves the presence of a solid form-containing statement that can and should be perceived only as an integral and successively developing phenomenon. The second pattern is a sequence of different form-containing statements that do not have to be related in their narrative. These ‘play’ statements do not have to be of the same genre or style. The line of television programs relates to the second pattern of the conditional entertainment reality that has been quite popular in the history of culture. The author concludes that the composition of television programs has a traditional pattern as well as the demonstrative nature of creative impersonal processes while there is the continuous sequence of television forms and frustration of responsive creative needs of the audience. This contradiction of the television art is solved within the framework of the computer culture, the latter being a more complicated and interactive screen form of art.

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