FICTIONAL REPRESENTATIONS OF HISTORY IN ITALIAN MINISERIE. A NEO-DURKHEIMIAN APPROACH. (June 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sassi, Mauro
• Is Part Of: Italianist. Volume 34:Number 2(2014)
• Page Start: 186
• Page End: 200
• Publication Date: 2014-06
• Subjects: Italian television, -- neo-Durkheimian, -- Fascism, -- Perlasca, -- dalla Chiesa, -- miniserie; Italian language -- Periodicals; Italian literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Italy -- Periodicals; 945.005
• DOI: 10.1179/0261434014Z.00000000072
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0261-4340

Abstract

Abstract : In this article, I identify and conceptualize the way historical reality is represented in two emblematic Italian miniserie by employing a neo-Durkheimian theoretical framework, which allows me to verify the plausibility of a causal link between the series' contexts of production and styles of representation. The two miniseries are: Il generale dalla Chiesa (2007), the biography of an army general who played an important role in the fight against terrorism and organized crime, produced and broadcast by Mediaset, and Perlasca: un eroe italiano (2002), about the heroic deeds of an Italian citizen in Budapest at the end of the Second World War, aired on RAI Uno. After a brief explanation of the theoretical framework, I analyse the representational styles of the two series, identifying hierarchical and individualistic traits in both of them. The second part of the article is dedicated to the contexts of production and to the verification of the parallels between styles and contexts. As a provisional conclusion, I suggest that a similarity of production modes may be at the origin of the comparable representations of history in both public and private Italian broadcasters.