TV series and the unveiling of the unknown: a semiology of strangeness

Abstract The article proposes estrangement as a theoretical semiotic tool to explore the relation between subjectivity, the affective dimension, and the ways in which genres model our culture. By revisiting Julia Kristeva’s concept of inquiétante étrangeté , it examines the idea that certain genres employ estrangement as a semiotic operation, not only to challenge processes of social and cultural normalization, but also as a highly effective defense mechanism against the emergence of signs that dislocate subjectivity. However, in an era where the supernatural and terror have lost their capacity for surprise, and following a global pandemic that unsettled the world, it could be worth questioning which signs are capable of revealing something as strange. Some answers will emerge through the study of WandaVision , a TV series that explores a specific sense of strangeness through a creative interplay of trauma, nostalgia for suburban utopia, and a problematization of long-standing conventions of television genres. Through a semiology of strangeness, it will be possible to elucidate how the TV series addresses various epochal symptoms of the pandemic era by capturing a subjectivity tethered to the fragility of its conception of normalcy.