Les séries télévisées médicales étatsuniennes : évolutions, permanences et enjeux de l’« asymétrie réaliste »

Abstract

This article analyses the « asymetrical realism » of US medical TV series, understood as a choice of focalization combining the hypervisibility of medical expertise and the invisibilisation of inequalities in access to medical care. The article is based on a corpus of US medical series produced from the 1950s to this day. It tracks the rise and consolidation of the medical series canon as well as the historical evolution of focalization choices in the genre. The article analyses the epistemic stakes of asymetrical realism in this very popular genre, in the US reception context where the question of access to health care is a permanent source of concern, especially for the poorer segments of the population.

Keywords

• medical TV series
• United States
• health care system
• medicine
• doctors
• focalisation