ABSTRACT
There is one field where multi-plot narratives have been especially widespread and more systematically employed than in cinema: TV serials. This chapter offers an analysis of the cognitive dimensions of this fact. Our analysis will be structured around the concepts of beats, episodes, and arcs. Thus, in the section dedicated to the microstructural level of the beats, we will deal with the main way in which a multi-plot organization unleashes effects on the spectator’s perception. In the section dedicated to the episodic and inter-episodic dimension, we will address cognitive processes such as the generation of hypotheses and expectations at the beginning of a series and the continuity and evolution that the spectator’s cognitive activities can acquire, stimulated by the interaction of numerous plots both in the central phase of the narration and in its closing moments. By looking at the evolution of the arcs, we will see that they are not isolated elements of continuity but components in a deep interaction that actually constitutes one of the main ways of helping the spectator to formulate and develop schemes, ideas, and hypotheses, with the aim of enhancing the spectator’s interest and emotions in relation to the narrative.
