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Once again we must remember that every text presupposes and constructs always a double Model Readera naive and a "smart" one, a semantic reader and a semiotic or critical reader. The former uses the work as semantic machinery and is the victim of the strategies of the author who will lead him little by little along a series of provisions and expectations. The latter evaluates the work as an aesthetic product and enjoys the strategies implemented in order to produce a Model Reader of the first level. This second-level reader is the one who enjoys the seriality of the series, not so much for the return of the same thing (which the naive reader believed was different), but for the strategy of the variations. In other words, the second-level reader enjoys the way in which the same story is worked over to appear to be different. |
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This enjoyment of variations is obviously encouraged by the more sophisticated series. Indeed, we can classify the products of serial narratives along a continuum that takes into account the different gradations of the reading agreement between the text and the "smart" reader (as opposed to the naive one). It is evident that even the most banal narrative product allows the reader to become by an autonomous decision a critical reader, able to recognize the innovative strategies (if any). But there arc serial works that establish an explicit agreement with the critical reader and thus, so to speak, challenge him to acknowledge the innovative aspects of the text. |
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Belonging to this category are the television films of Lieutenant Columbo. It is worth noticing that in this series the authors spell out from the beginning who the murderer is. The spectator is not so much invited to play the naive game of guessing (whodunit?) as much as (i) to enjoy Columbo's detection technique, appreciated as an encore to a well-known piece of bravura, and (ii) to discover in what way the author will succeed in winning his bet, which consists in having Columbo do what he always does, but nevertheless in a way that is not banally repetitive. Every episode of Columbo is directed by a different author. The critical addressee is invited to pronounce a judgment on the best variation. |
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I used the term "variation" thinking of classical musical variations. They, too, were "serial products" that aimed very little at the naive addressee and that bet everything on an agreement with the critical one. The composer was fundamentally interested only in the applause of the critical listener, who was supposed to appreciate the fantasy displayed in his innovations on an old theme. |
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