Jason Mittell

Jason Mittell is a professor of American studies and film and media culture at Middlebury College whose research interests include the history of television, media, culture, and new media. He is author of three books, Genre and Television (2004),Television and American Culture (2009), and Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling (NYU Press, 2015), and co-editor of How To Watch Television (NYU Press, 2013). Mittell's work on film and television is based on [Cognitivism (aesthetics)|cognitivist] assumptions. This means that to Mittell “comprehension is based on the cognitive poetic model developed primarily through David Bordwell’s work on film narration. The core assumption of this approach is that viewers actively construct storyworlds in their minds, and that the best way to understand the comprehension process is through the tools of cognitive psychology.” In Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling, however, Mittell repeatedly stresses the fact that he believes that cognitivist approaches are fully compatible with cultural approaches in terms of understanding and studying television shows.

Mittell received his Ph.D. in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin–Madison's Media & Cultural Studies Program (part of the Department of Communication Arts) in August 2000. In the spring of 1996, Mittell obtained an M.A. in the same concentration and program. Mittell completed his undergraduate studies at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio in 1992, graduating with a B.A. and majoring in English and Theater.

Mittell taught Communication at Georgia State University from 2000 to 2002. Currently, he is a professor at Middlebury College, where he teaches a number of courses related to television, culture, and media, such as Television and American Culture, Theories of Popular Culture, Media Technology and Cultural Change, American Media Industries, Animated Film & TV, Narration Across Media, Media and Childhood in American Culture, and Urban American and Serial Television: Watching The Wire.

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