Despite the work that has been done on the power of visual communication in general, and about the social influence of television in particular, television's relationship with reality is still something of a black box. Even today, the convention that the screen functions as a window on reality structures much of the production and reception of televisual narratives. But as reality ought to become history at one point, what are we to do with such windows on the past?

Developing and applying a highly innovative approach to the modern picture, this monograph sets out to expose the...