La pensée des séries télévisées: une lecture perfectionniste de Homeland et du Bureau des légendes

Using Stanley Cavell’s lesser-known writings on television, this article underlines the importance of spy TV series for our democratic forms of life. Drawing on two recent TV productions, one American (Homeland, Showtime, 2011-2019) and the other French (Le Bureau des légendes, Canal+, 2015- in production), it argues that such TV shows allow for a new kind of moral and political education beyond the simple reflection of contemporary security issues. Here, the term “education” should be understood in a perfectionist sense: neither the inculcation of norms nor the explanation of good values, but as a way to foster a transformation of the individual and, more broadly, society, through the creation of a shared and shareable culture. Offering far more than simply entertainment, these series reveal to the public issues that are generally absent from the democratic conversation, namely the illiberal principles that underpin democratic regimes: secrecy, violence or what is commonly called “reason of state”. Thus, by viewing, commenting and sharing the shows, citizen-viewers are able to grasp a hidden and no less problematic side of politics.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

A person counts once a day per paper. We keep no cookie and no address: a reader is a hash that changes every day. Any month under five reads shows no number.