As Seen on T.V.: Cosette, Nana, Juliet, and the Others…

In the past few years, serials and musicals based on literary classics such as Notre Dame de Paris, Romeo and Juliet, Les Misérables, The Count of Monte-Cristo, Nana and Les illusions perdues, have proliferated. These adaptations, particularly popular among teenagers, have the characteristic of being at the intersection of two types of reference: literary and academic but also musical and televisual. An interview survey on teenagers’ reception of these adaptations was used to analyse the complexity of relations between the printed word and the screen. These hybrid products are often incorporated into networks of varied references and give rise to elaborate practices: readings, writings, collages and bricolages. Finally, teenagers’ assessments and judgements also enable us to grasp the articulation between ordinary and highbrow modes of reception.