What is it about?
This article offers an aesthetic and cultural analysis of 'The Americans', a spy-thriller television series set in the '80s, about a family of Soviet agents working undercover in the United States. We analyze how two critical moments from the narrative summarize the complicated relationship that the program establishes around theoretical concepts such as identity, truth, verisimilitude, authenticity and performativity.
Featured Image
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
Why is it important?
It is the first academic journal article devoted to "The Americans", one of the most critically acclaimed TV-Series from the 2010s decade. It is also relevant because the article explores how "The Americans" reflects our current cultural anxiety about identity, both collective and individual.
Perspectives
I believe this is the most thorough and insightful article I have written; the collaboration with Pablo Castrillo proved essential to achieving this high standard. I also hope this article can encourage more academics -and the public in general- to watch the amazing, intelligent and breath-taking series that "The Americans" is.
Alberto N. García
Universidad de Navarra
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: “Just Being Us”—Secrecy, Authenticity and Identity in The Americans, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, April 2020, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/10509208.2020.1747354.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Author's Original Manuscript/Preprint version
This is the AOM version of the article. It is accessible following Taylor and Francis terms and conditions.
Second scene analyzed in the article
Part of the scene from the last episode of "The Americans": START (6.10.)
Promo for the episode "Stingers" (3.10.)
FX promo for the episode "Stingers". We analyzed a crucial scene from this episode.
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
