The legacy of Sense8 will now live on in the form of an academic text called Sense8: Transcending Television, a collection of essays that examine the psychology and sociology of the hit Netflix series and how it connects to the real world. Edited by Deborah Shaw and Rob Stone, both UK professors, have compiled essays from leading academics around the world that describe the series’ poignant exploration of globalization, empathy, gender fluidity, and queer and trans aesthetics. The book illuminates Sense8 as a progressive and challenging series that points to vital, multifarious, contemporary social, political, philosophical, and aesthetic concerns. Described as “an account and analysis of the way that we all receive, communicate and consider ourselves as participants in global communities that are social, political and cultural, and now both physical and virtual too.”
The book will be approximately 256 pages long and available in various formats, including hardback and eBook, and will have 20 black and white illustrations. Sense8: Transcending Television measures at 6″ x 9″ and retails for $120.00, but is available for pre-order through Bloomsbury’s website for $108.00. The academic text is slated to be released on June 17th, 2021, just in time for Pride Month. A full description of the Table of Contents is available on Bloomsbury’s website as well, and feature topics such as Sense8‘s musicality, the show’s polycentric imaginary, and it’s activism.
Early praise for Sense8: Transcending Television:
“Assembling a magnificent cluster of scholars, Sense8: Transcending Television is an indispensable companion to the Netflix series. Beautifully written and pulsing with critical insights, this collection of essays demonstrates the same ‘radical empathy’ embodied by Sense8 itself. It reveals how the sensate – a group of individuals bound to one another despite distance and difference – mirrors the immersive and collective viewing experience of audiences in the streaming era. Shaw and Stone’s collection not only articulates the generative potential of Sense8‘s queer and trans world –it heightens it.” –Tanya Horeck, Associate Professor in Film & Media, Anglia Ruskin University, UK
Of course if you just randomly clicked on this article and have never heard of Sense8, it’s a life-changing, life-affirming Netflix original series that finds eight individuals, scattered all across the globe, suddenly sharing a psychic connection to each other. The award-winning show (tragically) ran for only two seasons, but sparked a cultural revolution; creating a global, and fiercely loyal, fanbase in the process. Stars of the show included Jamie Clayton, Brian J. Smith, Tuppence Middleton, Tina Desai, Toby Onwumere, Bae Doona, Max Riemelt, and Miguel Angel Silvestre.
GurlCulture.com 