Event

The Colloquium series welcomes Prof. Giancarlo Lombardi (City University of New York) who this semester is Visiting Professor in Italian Studies here at Penn. Prof. Lombardi's talk is entitled "Serial Cult: Screening Belief in Contemporary Television Drama." Part of a larger investigation on the uses and functions of religion in quality television drama from the Global North, this presentation centers on the treatment of questions of belief in a diverse group of serial dramas. It compares and contrasts national and transnational productions such as Ainsi-soient-ils (Arte), Broken (BBC), Herrens Veje (DR-Arte), The Leftovers (HBO), Preacher (AMC), and The Young Pope (SkyAtlantic-HBO), aiming to identify commonalities and differences in their discussion of secular concerns, corporeal (in)visibility, and crises of belief.