TV Series and the unveiling of the unknown: A semiology of strangeness

Abstract

The article proposes estrangement as a theoretical semiotic tool to explore the relation between subjectivity, the affective dimension, and the ways in which genres model our culture. By revisiting Julia Kristeva’s concept of inquiétante étrangeté, it examines the idea that certain genres employ estrangement as a semiotic operation, not only to challenge processes of social and cultural normalization, but also as a highly effective defense mechanism against the emergence of signs that dislocate subjectivity. However, in an era where the supernatural and terror have lost their capacity for surprise, and following a global pandemic that unsettled the world, it could be worth questioning which signs are capable of revealing something as strange. Some answers will emerge through the study of WandaVision, a TV series that explores a specific sense of strangeness through a creative interplay of trauma, nostalgia for suburban utopia, and a problematization of long-standing conventions of television genres. Through a semiology of strangeness, it will be possible to elucidate how the TV series addresses various epochal symptoms of the pandemic era by capturing a subjectivity tethered to the fragility of its conception of normalcy.