Transnational Europe: TV-drama, co-production networks and mediated cultural encounters

This article deals with the social and cultural dimensions of globalization and uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse the effects of stronger European integration on media production and reception. It combines theories and methods from sociology, anthropology and media studies and looks at the impact of TV drama genres on the forming of social imaginaries. The article examines structural changes in production and distribution in the European TV-drama landscape since 2000. On the basis of empirical evidence it is argued that a creative, transnational European network of co-productions has increased the distribution of original and often local stories in Europe. The article analyses examples of some successful European drama series, their audiences and reception. The analysis is discussed in the context of national and transnational media policy and the impact of globalisation. Concepts like “imagined community”, “social imaginary”, “banal nationalism” and “mediated cultural encounters” are connected to the theory of cultural globalisation. Also touched upon are studies of a European civic and cultural identity next to the national and the role of media and cultural policy in this development. The article concludes that encounters of the kind we find in different forms of TV drama will make Europe more diverse and richer for a much broader audience. The interaction between the particular and universal in “narratives” on our past and contemporary social and cultural order contribute to a better feeling for and understanding of the “us” and “them” in European culture.