Watching Sympathetic Perpetrators on Italian Television Gomorrah and Beyond Dana Renga Watching Sympathetic Perpetrators on Italian Television

“Evil, as depicted in scripted series on TV, has a singular allure for viewers. Having sprung into the international media spotlight in recent years, Italian- made serial dramas have probed evil’s murky depths through the narrative construct of complex characters—criminals, killers, mafa bosses—anti-heroes who have given viewers a front-row view of hell. Dana Renga’s Sympathetic Perpetrators succeeds admirably in leading us on an extraordinary journey through the ins and outs of Italy’s crime series output, which has raised the quality bar and prompted a real renaissance in Italian TV. The book explores titles such as Romanzo Criminale, Gomorrah or Suburra—to name but three of the most internationally renowned—and applies a close textual analysis to laser in on characters who elicit empathetic appeal while raising ethical dilemmas in viewers’ minds. In doing so, it provides pivotal insights not only for understanding a key aspect of Italy’s contemporary popular culture but also more broadly for contex- tualising the signifcance of anti-heroes in today’s television drama, which creates a hidden yet strong link from quality US output (from The Sopranos to Breaking Bad and beyond) to the European offerings.” —Massimo Scaglioni, University of Milan, Italy Dana Renga Watching Sympathetic Perpetrators on Italian Television

Gomorrah and Beyond Dana Renga The Department of French and Italian The Ohio State University Columbus, OH, USA

ISBN 978-3-030-11502-9 ISBN 978-3-030-11503-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11503-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018967758

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifcally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microflms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifc statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affliations.

Cover image: Cover photo by Emanuela Scarpa - Gomorrah Season 2 - © Copyright by Cattleya S.r.l./ Sky, S.r.l., 2016 Cover design by eStudio Calamar

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To my grandmother Dora Renga (1907–2004), my frst serial television viewing companion Acknowledgements

I am incredibly fortunate to have written, and published, a book on popular television. I have been an avid television viewer for as long as I can remember, and my earliest serial television viewing memories involve watching the long-running soap General Hospital with my grandmother Dora Renga and my cousin Diane Lynn. More days than not, I raced off the bus to arrive just after the installment began, and while eating cook- ies, we would watch and chat about the trials and tribulations of Luke, Laura, and co. This book exists because of the support of many individuals and institutions. I thank the Division of Arts and Humanities at The Ohio State University for generous research funding which allowed me to travel to Bologna and Rome, where I was frequently on the lookout for Alessandro Borghi. I commend my research assistant Jessica Henderson for her invaluable assistance in research astuteness and the formatting of the tables and bibliography. I am forever in Paolo Noto’s debt for con- necting me with Sky Italy, who generously provided me with the book’s cover image and an image inside of the book, and I thank Cattleya, Sky Italy, and Roberto Saviano for generously allowing me to include in the book the two images from Gomorrah. I wish to thank the editorial team at Palgrave Macmillan: Lina Aboujieb who supported the project, and Ellie Freeman who patiently answered my endless questions, and saw the book through to completion. I have found that television invites participation, and this book has beneftted greatly from conversations and exchanges with colleagues,

vii viii Acknowledgements students, friends, and family. To my friends at The Ohio State University, in particular in the Department of French and Italian, The Department of Comparative Studies, the Film Studies Program, and the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, I am very appreciative of exciting discussions, collaborations, and debates surrounding popular flm and television, and I thank all of my colleagues at OSU for their support and attention to my work. I am incredibly lucky to work with such amazingly smart people. I am grateful to the students enrolled in small seminars and large general education courses with a focus on organized crime and serial television whose insights into television’s many viewing pleasures greatly shaped the book’s introduction. I am fortunate to have been invited to present parts of the book at several institutions, including Lakeland Community College, Loyola Marymount University, Miami University, New York University, The University of Bologna, and The University of Notre Dame. I extend warm thanks to all involved in these experiences, as conversations with so many smart and interesting people gave me much to think about and made positive impacts on the book (while hopefully advancing the burgeoning feld of #BorghiStudies). I approached television studies through flm studies, and I could not have asked for a more supportive and welcoming group of colleagues working in Italian television. In particular, I would like to thank Luca Barra, Giancarlo Lombardi, and Massimo Scaglioni for providing me with substantial resources and engaging in stimulating conversations regarding Italian television’s cultural specifcity and global reach (and, of course, discussing all things Marco D’Amore/Ciro di Marzio). I am incredibly fortunate that many of the book’s chapters were read and commented upon by so many clever people, including Tom Hawkins, Giacomo Manzoli, Judith Mayne, Robin Pickering-Iazzi, Sergio Rigoletto, and Monica Seger. I am humbled by their generosity in providing me with benefcial (and prompt) feedback, and I thank them— together with Dom Holdaway, Àine O’Healy, Paolo Noto, and Jim Phelan, and many others—for joining me in useful deliberations surrounding criminal antiheroes. I am particularly indebted to a group of brilliant friends who have been there well before the book’s inception and who read and commented upon drafts, chapters, abstracts, and proposals, talking through inchoate ideas, providing me with invaluable insight, and challenging me. To Amy Boylan, Danielle Hipkins, Genevieve Love, Alan O’Leary, AckNOWLEDGEMENTS ix and Elena Past, I am forever in your debt. I would like to make a special mention to Allison Cooper and Catherine O’Rawe who supported the project from beginning to end, reading and rereading material, pushing me to think more broadly, and keeping me grounded through friendship, humor, and more than one dance party. I gratefully acknowledge the support of my family, including my friends across the USA, my mother La Donna, brother Alan and his family, Joel, and Sofe (Sofe is owed a particular debt of gratitude for her inquisitive mind). Finally, to Richard Samuels, I am most thankful for your unwavering support, your willingness to drop everything and read through a paragraph, talk through a sticking point, and help formulate the sympathetic perpetrator identikit, all the while being a loving and fun partner, and patiently abiding my obsession with Ciro. Writing this book was joyful in large part due to your presence. A small part of the book’s material was previously published as articles or a book chapter. A portion of Chapter 12 appeared as “Remediating the Banda della Magliana: Debating Sympathetic Perpetrators in the Digital Age.” In The Italian Mafa, New Media, and the Culture of Legality, edited by Robin Pickering-Iazzi, 137–61. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press, 2017. A version of Chapter 15 appeared as “Making Men in Gomorra la serie” L’Avventura. Italian Journal of Italian Film and Media Landscapes 1, no. 1 (2015): 105–20. A portion of Chapter 17 appeared as “Suburra. La serie as ‘Patrimonio internazionale / International Patrimony’” SERIES: International Journal of TV Serial Narratives 4, no. 1 (2018): 63–80. I thank The University of Toronto Press, L’Avventura, and SERIES for their permission to republish. Reprinted with permission of the publisher. Cover photo by Emanuela Scarpa - Gomorrah Season 2, by an idea of Roberto Saviano, © Copyright by Cattleya S.r.l./ Sky S.r.l., 2016. Contents

1 Introduction: Sympathetic Serial Offenders 1

2 Rai: “Educate While Entertaining—Entertain While Educating” in L’ultimo dei Corleonesi, “Niente di personale,” and Il segreto dell’acqua 39

3 Mediaset’s Middlebrow Model: Il capo dei capi, L’ultimo padrino, Il clan dei camorristi, and L’onore e il rispetto 63

4 Sky’s Offer You Can’t Refuse and Romanzo criminale. La serie’s Criminal Payoffs 105

5 Faccia d’angelo: “The Allure of Evil” 141

6 1992 and 1993’s Diffcult Masculinities 163

7 Making Men in Gomorrah 1 and Gomorrah 2 193

8 #ciaonetfix: Suburra. La serie as “International Patrimony” 231

9 Conclusions: Gomorrah 3 and Italian Television Abroad 257

xi xii Contents

Appendix 273

Bibliography 283

Index 327 List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 The sympathetic perpetrator identikit mapped out 9 Fig. 1.2 Ciro’s (Marco D’Amore) tears in Gomorrah 11 Fig. 1.3 Spadino’s (Giacomo Ferrara) backstory as closeted in Suburra. La serie 12 Fig. 1.4 Leonardo Notte’s (Stefano Accorsi) charisma in 1992 14 Fig. 2.1 Angelo (Riccardo Scamarcio) contemplates Caravaggio in Il segreto dell’acqua 53 Fig. 2.2 Angelo is spied upon when he fnally showers in Il segreto dell’acqua 55 Fig. 3.1 Totò Riina (Claudio Gioè) and Schirù (Daniele Liotti) face off in Il capo dei capi’s fnale 72 Fig. 3.2 Zio (Michele Placido) contemplates his past prior to surgery in L’ultimo padrino 79 Fig. 3.3 Tonio (Gabriel Garko) gazes at the viewer in L’onore e il rispetto 92 Fig. 3.4 Tonio is fnally reunited with his family in L’onore e il rispetto’s fnale 94 Fig. 4.1 Freddo (Vinicio Marchioni) and Dandi (Alessandro Roja) bond while in prison in Romanzo criminale. La serie 116 Fig. 4.2 Freddo’s contrition after committing murder in Romanzo criminale. La serie 117 Fig. 5.1 il Toso smiles at his son as he is arrested in Faccia d’angelo 149 Fig. 5.2 il Toso’s (Elio Germano) allure in the title sequence of Faccia d’angelo 150 Fig. 6.1 Berlusconi (Paolo Pierobon) gives Leo a tour of his mausoleum in 1993 172

xiii xiv List of Figures

Fig. 6.2 Leo and Bibi (Teo Falco) look toward a billboard in Milan in 1992 181 Fig. 7.1 Gennaro (Salvatore Esposito) and Ciro faceoff in Gomorrah (To be imbedded in the image: “Photo by Gianni Fiorito— Gomorrah Season 3, by an idea of Roberto Saviano, ©Copyright by Cattleya S.r.l./Sky S.r.l., 2017”) 205 Fig. 7.2 Ciro mourns the death of his wife he just murdered in Gomorrah 2 218 Fig. 8.1 Aureliano (Alessandro Borghi) and Lele (Eduardo Valdarnini) spar in the boxing ring in Suburra. La serie 241 Fig. 8.2 Angelica (Carlotta Antonelli) spies on Spadino as he sniffs Aureliano’s hat in Suburra. La serie 244 Fig. 9.1 Ciro and Genny prepare to say goodbye forever in Gomorrah 3 263 List of Tables

Table A.1 Era mio fratello, Claudio Bonivento, 2007 (Rai) 273 Table A.2 L’ultimo dei Corleonesi, Alberto Negrin, 2007 (Rai) 273 Table A.3 Crimini (Rai) 274 Table A.4 Il segreto dell’acqua, Renato De Maria, 2011 (Rai) 274 Table A.5 Il Sistema, Carmine Elia, 2016 (Rai) 274 Table A.6 Uno Bianca, Michele Soavi, 2001 (Mediaset) 275 Table A.7 Il capo dei capi, Enzo Monteleone and Alexis Sweet, 2007 (Mediaset) 275 Table A.8 L’ultimo padrino, Marco Risi, 2008 (Mediaset) 275 Table A.9 Il clan dei camorristi, Alessandro Angelini and Alexis Sweet, 2013 (Mediaset) 276 Table A.10 L’onore e il rispetto, (Mediaset) 276 Table A.11 Romanzo criminale. La serie, Stefano Sollima (Sky) 278 Table A.12 Faccia d’angelo, Andrea Porporati, 2012 (Sky) 279 Table A.13 1992; 1993, Giuseppe Gagliardi (Sky) 279 Table A.14 Gomorrah (Sky) 280 Table A.15 Suburra. La serie, 2017 (Netfix) 282

xv CHAPTER 1

Introduction: Sympathetic Serial Offenders

The Face of Recent Italian Criminal Television On May 10, 2016, two mafa-centered television programs were screened on different Italian networks at nearly the same time. At 9:10 pm, the second season of the smash hit television series Gomorrah (2014–) premiered on the Italian pay TV network Sky to an unsur- passed network viewership of close to 1.2 million. That night, Andrea Scrosati, who is responsible for Sky content, tweeted that viewership is up 80% with respect to Gomorrah 1.1 He also noted that Gomorrah 2 attracted scores more spectators to Sky than the most recent seasons of the American cult TV serials Game of Thrones and House of Cards (402 and 547% respectively) (Twitter 2016). That same Tuesday at 9:20 pm, Gianfranco Albano’s made-for-television movie Felicia Impastato was screened on the Italian public television channel Rai 1 and was watched by close to seven million viewers and received the largest share viewership of all Italian networks for that evening at 27% (la Repubblica 2016). Gomorrah, a clear example of the so-called quality television, focuses on the Camorra—the Italian mafa of the Campania region—from the inside and narrates the criminal, familial, and amorous exploits of gangsters, many of whom, as this book argues, are depicted in highly sympathetic terms. The following section of the introduction outlines the motives for which viewers might feel sympathy for small screen perpetrators. Felicia Impastato is instead a biopic concentrating on the titular character who is the mother of well-known antimafa martyr Giuseppe

Impastato, murdered by the Sicilian Cosa Nostra in 1978, and tells the story of her battle to ensure justice was served and that those responsible for her son’s death were put behind bars. This deliberate programming amalgam took the form of a showdown pitting evil against good where viewers (at least those with more than basic cable) were asked to choose sides and tune into watch one of two onscreen mafa prototypes that have been circulating contemporaneously on small Italian screens for about a decade. Those who opted for Sky would be rewarded with high production values, and would be immersed in the Camorra-universe to likely root for one of the many bad guys who did horrible things the previous season, and (spoiler alert) will do even worse things during Gomorrah 2 and Gomorrah 3. Instead, the Rai alternative would surely be more pedagogical and position viewers on the side of justice while sending a message that the mafa can be defeated if indeed we do not give up the just fght. The next day, reviews and discussions fooded the Internet. Two critics proclaimed that Felicia Impastato “won” the network battle.2 Scores of others spoke to Sky’s record numbers and praised the Gomorrah 2 for, among other things, its stylistic integrity, plot and character development, and “realism.” This last criterion—whereby the series might offer a faithful representation of gang life in and around Naples—is heated and opens up debates surrounding the polemics of representing criminality in what some argue is a glamorized light, which is a key theme of this book.3 The curious face-off between these two mafa-related small screen products is fascinating, especially when considering the infux of sympathetic perpetrators—criminals, mobsters, corrupt politicians—who have fooded Italian television screens over the last ten years or so. As I have argued elsewhere, depicting a criminal in a sentimental light in the cinema is nothing new, especially in the Hollywood gangster tradition where members of organized crime syndicates are presented in sympathetic terms—think of The Godfather trilogy (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972, 1974, 1990), Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990), Donnie Brasco (Mike Newell, 1997), and so on.4 Such a poignant representation of perpetrators, however, is, up until recently, scarce in the Italian tradition especially in flms and television series in which compassion is usually aligned with those fallen in the battle against the mafa (Renga 2013, 131).5 For example, in the numerous mafa movies and serial dramas made in Italy spanning genres from the 1950s until the early 2000s, mafosi are represented in ambiguous terms or are cast as straightforward 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 3 villains, and the same is true about depictions of terrorists and other malfeasant types.6 More presently, however, in Italian television, gangsters, criminals, and unscrupulous politicians and businessmen are constructed to warrant compassion in a much more straightforward manner than we have ever seen before onscreen in the Italian tradition. And this is indeed a striking turn. In an effort to understand this shift, we can look to Gregory Currie’s work on sympathetic engagement with fctional characters. In his work on caring, Currie asks a fundamental question:

We frequently like and take the part of people in fction whom we would not like or take the part of in real life. The desires we seem to have concerning fctional things can be very unlike the desires we have concerning real life – so dissimilar, indeed, that it is hard to see how such disparate desires could exist within any reasonably integrated human mental economy. Why the disparity? (Currie 1997, 65)

Why is it that we forge deep relationships with onscreen characters whom we would regard as undeserving of positive ethical judgment were we to meet them in our day-to-day lives? Why is it that, via the medium of television, we invite them into our homes, even though we would strive to protect ourselves from their nonfctional counterparts? How does narrative transform “villains” into more ethically complex characters while still representing their villainous behavior? To answer these questions, this book looks at the representation and appeal of criminals when they are the subject of popular fctionalized accounts, focusing on a selection of recent, well-known Italian television series that humanize and create sympathy for perpetrators. Shakespeare long ago provided a blueprint for this situation in Macbeth (Crane 1953, 34–35), but contemporary televisual storytellers have added their own specs to that blueprint. In particular, sympathetic perpetrators on Italian television are conventionally attractive, and narratives are based upon historical fgures and events. In 2014, Giancarlo Lombardi pointed to a recent, albeit limited, body of scholarship in Italian screen studies focusing on Italian television (Lombardi 2014, 261). During the last few years, however, substan- tially more work has become available in Italian television studies, much of it focusing on series and miniseries treating the Holocaust, terrorism, and organized crime, political talk shows, public service broadcasting, 4 D. RENGA reality television, the television program “Carosello” and advertising, and Italian network and production models.7 This book builds on recent work on American television studies, audience and reception theory, and masculinity studies to offer the frst comprehensive study of how and why viewers are positioned to emotionally engage with—and root for—sympathetic perpetrators on small Italian screens. I personally believe that the only literature that deals with the mafa should be police reports and legal rulings by judges. Except for scholarly essays, of course (Camilleri 2007).8 In particular, I look at twelve new millennium television dramas that premiered since 2006 on four different networks or viewing platforms— the Italian national broadcasting company Rai, the commercial broadcaster Mediaset, the premium television digital satellite platform Sky, and the video on demand company Netfix Italia. The eight series, three miniseries, and one stand-alone episode under examination in Sympathetic Perpetrators focus on mafosi, gangsters, criminals, and corrupt legislators or industrialists with whom viewers might experience what Murray Smith terms “perverse allegiances”—“responses of sympathy to characters on the basis of their embodiment of socially or morally undesirable traits” (Smith 1999, 221, original italics). A mainstay of Rai and Mediaset programming are series that focus on organized crime from the perspective of those who fght against it, such as the long-running hit series La piovra (1984–2001).9 Multiple series across networks have a minor focus on criminals. This book however treats only those programs that center primarily upon or signifcantly develop criminal antiheroes, and represents a scholarly intervention on the representation of organized crime that would be acceptable to, for example, Andrea Camilleri: “I personally believe that the only literature that deals with the mafa should be police reports and legal rulings by judges. Except for scholarly essays, of course” (Camilleri 2007).10 I am particularly interested in what differentiates the Italian case from American serial quality television with a criminal focus. Recent Italian seriality is particular in (at least) two ways. First, we see that the majority of Italian serial televisual offenders in central roles are conventionally physically attractive, which is generally not the case with the American model.11 As Jason Mittell notes, with the exception of Jon Hamm’s Don Draper from Mad Men (2007–2015), the charisma of “[Tony] Soprano or [Vic] Mackey [from The Shield] shines through despite, rather than because of, their appearance” (Mittell 2010). In many Italian examples, 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 5 however, good looks are the rule and not the exception. The choice to craft arresting antiheroes contributes to their criminal allure while recalling, as addressed in Chapter 6 on the Sky series 1992 and 1993 (2015–), the cult of the onscreen body beautiful promulgated on Italian television during ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s reign as media mogul beginning in the 1980s. The prevalence of handsome wrongdoers in these programs also offers an intriguing take on discourses surrounding the crisis of masculinity so prominent in contemporary screen studies scholarship.12 Another key difference between US and Italian television series is the role played by history. With few exceptions, the narratives of shows such as House of Cards (2013–2018), The Wire (2002–2008), Breaking Bad (2008–2013), The Shield (2002–2008), or Dexter (2006–2013) are purely fctional.13 However, the bulk of the Italian series treated in this book is based upon historical fgures and actual organized crime networks or important, real-life events, such as the Roman Banda della Magliana or Rome’s more recent mafa capitale, the Mala del Brenta from Venice, the Camorra from Campania, the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the ’ndrangheta from Calabria, or the Tangentopoli or “Bribesville” scandals.14 Placing charismatic and attractive villains at the center of Italian history (or history in the making) represents an interesting take on what Vivian Sobchack discusses as a “hunger for history” (Sobchack 2013, 6) or a “‘readiness’ for history among the general population” (Sobchack 2013, 6). The title of her essay “History Happens” implies that there is a new self-consciousness about history and that people desire to be part of history’s unfolding in the present—Alberto Negrin, who directs one of the programs discussed in this book, comments that the viewer is “starved for true stories” (Bertazzoni 2007). The vast majority protagonists of the programs discussed in this book are redeemed time and time again to only to commit another murder or assassination, organ- ize another heist, drug deal, or bombing, or exploit, bribe, or blackmail another politician, business person, or innocent victim. These series represent Italian traumatic history in pleasurable terms while conforming to what Catherine O’Rawe notes is Italian cinema’s “current obsession with a return to a recent past” (O’Rawe 2014, 140).15 Rather than engage in a process of working through pain, the melodramatic focus on the historical—albeit fctionalized—sympathetic perpetrator smooths over distressing events and phenomena. Hence, programs like those under considering in this book help to “unravel the story of the nation” through, according to Luca Barra and Massimo Scaglioni, flling 6 D. RENGA in the gaps in “an identity that is permanently a work in progress and continually called into question” (Barra and Scaglioni 2015, 68). This clash between fantasy and historical reality introduces a different moral dimension which is especially apparent in the many debates around, and protests against, several Italian programs featuring sympathetic perpetrators. I pay particular attention to these polemics throughout the book. Borrowing from Mittell, the recent prevalence of antiheroes on the small Italian screen “raises a key question: why would we want to subject ourselves to lengthy interactions with such hideous men” who, I add, take part in factually based criminal acts? (Mittell 2014, 74). In the remainder of the introduction, I engage with this query, frst outlining serial television’s several viewing pleasures. I then discuss the “sympathetic perpetrator identikit” that positions viewers to feel and root for and align with antiheroes. These properties are intrinsic to the American quality television model and have been imported into Italian seriality. I then consider the complex masculinities in many popular serial television programs. I close by addressing the particularities of the Italian case, and discussing the appeal (physical and otherwise) of Italian serial offenders.

Structuring Sympathetic Masculinities16 Through what strategies are serial television viewers frequently positioned to “ally” themselves with “villainous” characters, borrowing from Murray Smith’s work on structures of sympathy in the cinema (Smith 1995, 86)? Much good work has been done on the allure of the fctional antihero in primarily American serial television, especially since the premiere of HBO’s The Sopranos (1999–2007).17 With the premiere of the prison drama Oz (1997–2003) in 1997, HBO launched a new television model. As Janet McCabe and Kim Akass outline, HBO did things differently with its original programming and could produce “edgier drama” where illicit topics such as unabashed sex, frequent and no-holds-barred swearing, and ruthless violence (all key ingredients of perpetrator dramas) were not controlled by the demands of advertisers (McCabe and Akass 2007b, 66–67). Free from the limitations regulat- ing network television, HBO created immensely popular programs that featured antiheroes who did and said (think of Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, 2000–) very bad things. As García puts forward, since The Sopranos, the antihero has become the archetype of well-crafted television (García 2016, 53). Thus, viewers could appreciate high-quality programming, hence the moniker “Quality television”—in the comfort of 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 7 their own homes. David Chase treated each episode of The Sopranos like a self-contained flm (Goodman 2011) and it follows that select television programs began to rival the movies in both quality and cost when considering rising ticket prices. Quality television is a label which is now attached to television programs across networks and countries that feature, among many other qualifers, high production values, narrative complexity, innovative casting choices, and frequently ensemble casting. All of these elements reward viewers for their time while pushing viewers to demand more from their personal screens.18 Recent television scholarship addresses the visual pleasures that television viewing allows. For one, television is a “spectacular” medium as it “holds the viewer’s gaze” and provides visual pleasure (Wheatley 2016, 2). This is particularly true in more recent programming where, (1) there is an expansive selection of programming and network competi- tiveness; (2) images are sharper and of better quality; and (3) television can be viewed on a variety of different screens and in different contexts (Wheatley 2016, 5). Also, series with a choral cast frequently foreground one character over another as the program evolves. In the Italian series 1992/1993, Gomorrah, and Romanzo criminale. La serie (2008–2010), viewing allegiances shift throughout a season. As a result of “slid[ing] between positions” of alignment, “our viewing pleasure intensifes” (Bainbridge 2014, 54).19 For many, television is a “social act.” Television builds communities, whether one watches at home with friends and family who will then chat about what they are watching or watched, or online with a virtual community of companions who frequently discuss content in real time.20 Television affords many viewing pleasures to heterogenous viewers who, over time, form a variety of attachments to characters and to programs.21 Returning to Currie’s structuring query regarding time manage- ment and viewing choices, the prolonged nature of the serial television viewing experience—whether binge-watching an entire season in one sitting or taking in one (in the USA) or two (in Italy) episodes a week—allows viewers to experience a more sustained relationship with bad guys. Viewers also develop relationships with several different characters in a series over time, especially in the case of ensemble narratives like Deadwood (2004–2006), The Wire, or Italy’s political dramas 1992/1993. As García argues, such a protracted viewing experience compels at home audiences to feel sympathy for “dramatically complex” characters who, like Tony Soprano (James Gandolfni), are “morally contradictory” (García 2016, 53). Unlike with flm, serial television 8 D. RENGA frequently requires a long-term investment. Serial television narratives play out over the course of a few days with a miniseries, a month to several months for a single season series, or years in the case of a program with several seasons. Such steady encounters allow viewers to get to know characters, especially those at the narrative’s core, in a thorough and holistic fashion. And this process of familiarization assists spectators to forgive sympathetic perpetrators for their atrocious acts. Mittell points out that the “parasocial relationships” that fans develop with characters are intensifed with serial television because we “literally invit[e] characters into [our] home, often for regularly scheduled visits over the course of years” (Mittell 2015, 128). Domesticity no doubt assists in furthering bonds with television characters, as television “makes the strange familiar” (Elsaesser 1999).22 Further, the long-running serial format, as Robert Blanchet and Bruun Vaage address, might position audiences to feel that they form friendships with and bond with characters, or to “ship for” (encourage a relationship between) characters in a program. The medium, they argue, leads spectators to feel that they “share a history” with protagonists because the long-running format of serial television develops characters in complex ways as viewers’ own lives move forward (Blanchet and Bruun Vaage 2012). Jason Mittell discusses complex television as “serial melodrama.”23 Serial melodrama is a narrative mode “which unites various forms of serial television via a shared commitment to linking morality, emotional response, and narrative drive” and has a wide address to a variety of audiences (Mittell 2015, 244). The “sustained storytelling time” (Mittell 2015, 244) that audiences spend with characters includes many “suspenseful gaps in time” (Williams 2018, 177) between episodes, whether these intermissions last a few minutes, a week, a season, or a year. Linda Williams argues that time—whether paused, recommenced, or manipulated—is intrinsic to melodrama, in particular in creating powerful affective emotions in viewers “because melodrama, most fundamentally, wants us to care for its protagonists” (Williams 2018, 177).24 With serial melodrama, the more time we devote to getting to know sympathetic perpetrators, the more we feel connected to them, and the more we are positioned as “active mind readers” (Mittell 2015, 132).25 In his discussion of viewer reactions to Tony Soprano, Noël Carroll put forward the intriguing term “sympathy for the devil,” or the paradox whereby a viewer “can be sympathetic (care for, or have a pro-attitude) toward a fctional character whose real-world counterpart she would totally abhor” (Carroll 2004, 122). Carroll explains this discrepancy 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 9

(why we invite criminals into our homes regularly on small screens, but would not request their company at our dinner table), by stating, “in terms of every pertinent moral property, the fctional Tony Soprano [is not] identical to a real-life Tony Soprano” as the latter is much less “morally palatable” for a variety of reasons that I unpack in this section (Carroll 2004, 122). What then makes Tony Soprano and other “diffcult men” (Martin 2013) so appealing? To answer this question, the following section maps out the key ingredients involved in the American sympathetic perpetrator identikit that has been embraced by Italian television. I then engage with Smith’s work on how viewers are structured to feel sympathy for antiheroes, responding to his query, “under what circumstances and for what reasons might we experience sympathetic emotions towards morally perverse or undesirable characters?” (Smith 1999, 237). These are men who, as García describes, are a “mixture of hero and villain characterized by moral ambiguity” (García 2016, 53). I close by addressing discussing how the complex masculinities in serial television featuring sympathetic perpetrators (Fig. 1.1).

Fig. 1.1 The sympathetic perpetrator identikit mapped out 10 D. RENGA

The Sympathetic Perpetrator Identikit The Sky and Netfix series discussed in this book are all heavily infuenced by American predecessors, as explained by Massimo Scaglioni: “Italian pay TV series clearly aspire to be a high-quality fction model – ‘complex’ series inspired as much in textual as in production terms […] by the ‘high-quality,’ ‘complex’ series created in the USA” (Scaglioni 2016, 17). Hence, the sympathetic perpetrator identikit discussed below is an American brand that is imported into Italian premium seriality.26 As Mittell argues, antiheroes are “predicated on a careful chemistry of alignment, relative morality, charisma, and fascination” (Mittell 2015, 147). I now examine several of the qualities—what Mittell would call “exterior markers” (Mittell 2015, 135)—that make antiheroes fascinating, and that prompt viewers to align with them. Obviously, bad guys cannot be all bad for spectators to feel and root for them. Mittell notes that fctional villains are given “redeeming qualities” which can be intelligence, cunning, leadership skills, warmth, humor, cleverness, and, in the Italian case, good looks. We see this in the titular character of Hannibal (2013–2015): Smith notes, “In spite of Lecter’s taste for human livers and other body parts, he is on many occasions charming, witty, urbane, genteel, and learned” (Smith 1999, 226). Also, Ciro di Marzio (Marco D’Amore) is presented in the frst episode of Gomorrah as funny, caring, hip, endearing, and astute. Further, it is important to always pit antiheroes against someone who is worse, and perpetrator protagonists are juxtaposed with other, more straightforwardly heinous characters and come off as the “lesser evil” (García 2016, 59). As Mittell puts it, characters such as Dexter (Michael C. Hall) or Tony Soprano are “less hideous than the alternatives” (Mittell 2015, 140). This dynamic is at stake in Romanzo criminale. La serie (2008– 2010) when focal gang members extract revenge on rival boss Terribile (Marco Giallini) whose violence is not conveyed as justifed: He is ruthless against blameless individuals, for example when he orders that his men rape a young woman and he cuts Libanese’s (Francesco Montanari) arm with a knife (i.e., just vendetta). It is important that those hurt by these antiheroes have done something to deserve it, and Mittell notes that victims in these narratives are for the most part “more monstrous” than the focal villains (Mittell 2014, 75–77). This principle guides Dexter who has a strict code to never kill innocents and will exclusively target those who he feels deserve to die (his quarries are mainly 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 11 murderers who have slipped through the cracks of justice). Further, Dexter will only commit murder after confrming his victim’s guilt. Likewise, we never see the gangster protagonist il Toso (Elio Germano) from the Sky miniseries Faccia d’angelo (Angel Face, Andrea Porporati, 2012) commit murder. He does however order several beatings and exe- cutions of men who are constructed as totally unsympathetic and then he feels badly about his choices. Antiheroes also feel badly when they have done something bad. They feel guilt and remorse and pay the price for their crimes. Their contrition is conveyed through vomiting—as happens to Genny Savastano (Salvatore Esposito) in Gomorrah—crying (Ciro’s tears are a character trait, for example, following the death of his mentor Attilio, he is shown in a low-angle shallow focus shot gazing downward toward his the body of his father fgure as the contemplative score pays and his eyes heavy with tears; see Fig. 1.2), or appearing generally guilt-stricken (Pietro Bosco in 1992 or Aureliano in Suburra. La serie, 2017). Inside knowledge is also important. Margrethe Bruun Vaage points to the role of representations of these characters beyond their crimes: “if a criminal character is revealed as having a tender love life, we see this character as sympathetic; we never see the truly bad guys being lovingly affectionate” (Bruun Vaage 2013, 232). García notes how the family allows viewers

Fig. 1.2 Ciro’s (Marco D’Amore) tears in Gomorrah 12 D. RENGA to experience antiheroes in another environment or aids in account- ing for why men do bad things as we are granted a window into their private lives (García 2016, 60). Thus, Walter White (Bryan Cranston) from Breaking Bad is caring with his wife, baby, and disabled son and begins making and selling drugs only after his cancer diagnosis so that he can pay his medical bills and provide for his family after his death; Ciro di Marzio makes loves with Deborah (Pina Turco) before going off to fght a turf war; 1992/1993s Leonardo Notte (Stefano Accorsi) is haunted by the death of his former girlfriend, a death for which he feels complicit; and we learn in the frst episode of Suburra that Spadino (Giacomo Ferrara) is gay and must live closeted. During this scene, while in the kitchen Spadino’s mother speaks softly to Spadino in Sinti. They are framed in focus in a two shot, and as she gently grabs his arms, she tells him that, whatever he is, he cannot be that in their house. He swiftly departs from the maternal space of the kitchen, and his rebellious nature is laid bare (see Fig. 1.3). Most likable antiheroes also have a backstory or experienced a childhood trauma that positions them as a victim and subsequently codes their verbal outbursts and violence as a logical consequence or earlier abuse. In some cases, angst is read as a form of PTSD, something

Fig. 1.3 Spadino’s (Giacomo Ferrara) backstory as closeted in Suburra. La serie 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 13 that they cannot, despite trying in some cases, fully put behind them. Frequently parents are absent (Ciro), or physically and emotionally abusive (Tony Soprano, Pietro Bosco, or Suburra’s Aureliano Adami; Alessandro Borghi), or a protagonist has been witness to an event or made a bad decision that they cannot undo that irrevocably marked him and inspires their criminal story—in Romanzo criminale Freddo (Vinicio Marchioni) catching his father being unfaithful to his mother motivates his frst robbery; in Suburra Aureliano’s trauma occurred simultaneously with this birth as his mother died while in labor. Recalling Aristotle, pity, and not just fear, is a key element to catharsis. Acting and performance are also essential. Pretty much all of these men are charming exude actorly “charisma.” Mittell notes that charisma is key in the construction of charming antiheroes within the world of the television program—we see how other people respond to these men and are thus prompted to respond in kind—while guiding viewers to disre- gard their negative traits.27 1992/1993s Leonardo Notte is unscrupulous, sleeps with under aged girls, and will stop at nothing to get ahead. When he is on point in the workplace however, he is unstoppable and other characters are fascinated by him and foored by his cutting-edge ideas, made clear in the frst episode of 1992 when he is positioned in the center of a large room of associates as he presents his ideas. The camera underlines his central position through a slight low-angle deep focus shot that captures the impressed reactions of those around him (see Fig. 1.4). Casting is also interesting in creating or maintaining sympathy. According to Mittell, “actors serve as sites of intertextuality” as viewers recall other characters interpreted by an actor, and these memories can infuence views on a part (Mittell 2015, 122). Michael C. Hall who plays Dexter was a seasoned theatrical actor whose breakthrough role was playing David Fisher in Six Feet Under. David was a likable character with a large fan base who struggled with his homosexuality but did come out of the closet, is loyal to his loved ones, overcomes adversity, and set- tles down with his partner and adopts two children. Hall as Dexter opens up, citing Mittell, “interesting resonances” as viewer’s memories of good guy and underdog David merge with the viewing experience of a serial executioner (Mittell 2015, 122). Having outlined the consistent conventions which tend to render roguish villains likable and meriting of viewer sympathies, I now briefy outline how viewer sympathies are aligned with apparently despicable men. 14 D. RENGA

Fig. 1.4 Leonardo Notte’s (Stefano Accorsi) charisma in 1992

Structuring Viewer Sympathies Arthur A. Raney proposes that we do not view fction “through the strict moral lens that we apply to our daily lives” (Raney 2011, 171). He concludes by stressing the pedagogical side of fctional encounters: “our typical inclination is to morally engage in narratives in order to investigate how they might help us to then live” (Raney 2011, 185). Such an educational principle is at the heart of the made-for-television movie Felicia Impastato discussed earlier. What Raney sidesteps here are the many viewing pleasures and positions that fction allows that go beyond simple escapism. Conversely to nonfction representations where the viewer is positioned to “believe its content,” with fction viewers “imagine its content” (Bruun Vaage 2013, 219, original italics). As Bruun Vaage maintains, engaging emotionally and sympathizing with fctional villains carries fewer risks than, say, forming an attachment to a real-life hardened criminal.28 This is because were an actual assassin or serial killer to stand before us in fesh and blood, and were we to be moved by them, we might feel obligated to help them and feel guilt for not doing so.29 Conversely, we know that onscreen perpetrators, whether based on actual villains or not, are not real embodied people and as such we can delight in vicariously living through them, and entertain illicit desires without taking any sort of personal risks. With them we can participate in “imaginative slumming” with “good bad” men (Smith 1999, 223–24). 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 15

Smith’s work on the “structure of sympathy” is foundational to the- ories of viewer engagement with television antiheroes, especially those programs that “solicit our perverse allegiance” or ask us to take pleasure in actions and events that are forbidden in the real world (Smith 1999, 222). Smith’s book centers on the cinema-viewing experience, but is particularly germane to the small screen as narratives play out over time. In Engaging Characters (1995), Smith underlines the processes by which viewers engage with villainous characters so as to judge them positively or negatively. The “structure of sympathy” is composed of three “levels of engagement” which Smith calls recognition, alignment, and allegiance, components all produced by narration.30 The frst, recognition, refers to how viewers construct characters, and in the case of sympathetic perpetrators, connect all of the dots and character traits outlined in the section above and recognize them as distinct “textual constructs” and not masses of attributes (Smith 1995, 82–83). Once we have understood characters as such, we align with them when we are given access to “their actions, and to what they know and feel.” In this way, we are privy to a lot of what they experience, and we see them interact at work, at home, with their friends, and on their own (Smith 1995, 83–84). Allegiance is the most important element for creating viewer sympathy. Audiences are able to “morally evaluate” characters only once they feel they have “reliable access to character’s state of mind” and understand what led to characters to act as they do (Smith 1995, 84). Viewers can then form opinions about and possibly relate to characters and are complicit in their choices, whether morally sound or sordid.

Complex Masculinities Representations of fctional criminal antiheroes, and scholarship on them, are growing in popularity in the anglophone and italophone context. Male criminals such as Tony Soprano, Walter White, Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), and Ciro Di Marzio are discussed by critics in sympathetic terms as their complex masculinities win over viewers who align or root for “appealing, attractive, murderer[s]” (Smith 2011). Where, however, are the women? Martin points toward generic limitations, noting that crime dramas principally feature male antiheroes because it is more plausible that men will receive respect from viewers for qualities such as mercilessness and extreme ambition (Martin 2013, 150). Onscreen deviant women tend to be represented in a less positive light, and the nascent 16 D. RENGA body of writings on criminal antiheroines offers, for example, a critique of dominant ideologies surrounding gender and power or else they might underline the troubling postfeminist predicament of women who behave badly.31 Lotz notes that the “male-centred serial” is particular to pay TV. Some exceptions are found, for example, in Weeds (2005–2012), Orange Is the New Black (2013–), and the Italian Sky miniseries Quo Vadis, Baby? (2008). Katie Snyder however defnes Weeds’ drug-dealing central protagonist Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) in quite positive terms as a “(post)feminist (anti)heroine” who never abandons her children, “takes charge” when men fail to act, uses her body and sexuality to get ahead in business and provide for her family, and ultimately reminds viewers why they “still need feminism” and need to focus on building communities (Snyder 2014, 19, 27). Viewers are not prompted to align with Orange Is the New Black’s central character Piper Chatman (Taylor Schilling) who does not conform to the mold of the serial antiheroes discussed above. In early episodes, she is depicted as a fsh out of water and is the butt of the joke. Later, she strives to do good (while still doing some illegal things such as running her panty business) and improve life in the prison, certainly not a characteristic of other antiheroes discussed in this book. Further, in 2014 BuzzFeed ranked Piper thirteen in terms of character likability (Peitzman 2014). In the Italian example, protagonist Giorgia Cantini (Angela Baraldi) plays a private investigator who is tormented by the mysterious circumstances of her sister’s death and is on the side of good, and works to help her clients fnd justice. Gomorrah, however, does feature female perpetrators—Donna Imma Savastano (Maria Pia Calzone) in Gomorrah 1 and Annalisa “Scianel” Magliocca (Cristina Donadio) in Gomorrah 2. Although, as I discuss in Chapter 7, Donna Imma’s narrative is ultimately subordinate to that of her father, son, and rivals and viewers are not encouraged to align with Scianel. In perpetrator television, men command center stage. The most well-known recent American televisual mobster with ties to Italian criminality is undoubtedly Tony Soprano from showrunner David Chase’s six-season blockbuster. The focal character is a mass of contradictions, both visually and emotionally: exceedingly violent yet loving and tender with his wife, children, and select girlfriends; racist and misogy- nistic but seeking enlightenment through psychotherapy; overweight, crass, and frequently slovenly however attractive to beautiful and smart women; a murderer of some of his closest friends and family for whom he professed (and from whom he received) love, devotion, and loyalty. 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 17

Such apparently antagonistic qualities mark Tony as a complex man marked by crisis, one of the growing number of morally contradictory characters populating small screens over the last almost twenty years.32 As masculinity studies scholars have pointed out, crisis masculinity is—and has been—the new normal.33 As Alberto N. García notes, heroic fgures coded by clear-cut distinctions between good and evil prevalent in earlier television programs are now replaced by men guided by “cynicism and contradiction,” a shift that he explains is due to a lack of political and moral consensus in the postmodern age (García 2016, 54).34 What better fgure to embody conficting and complex men in crisis than the attractive and alluring criminal, someone who commits extreme crimes and then must reckon with the consequences of his actions. Television scholars working on recent seriality note that the fgure of the “tormented and troubled” man (Feasey 2008, 80) now takes center stage. These men are not “warriors in a revolution for the future of manhood” (Lotz 2014, 18) but instead wear their anxieties and trou- bles on their sleeve. Michael Mario Albrecht claims that “masculinity is a category in crisis” in several examples of recent American serial television (Albrecht 2015, 9), as it has been in audiovisual drama for some time.35 As I discussed earlier, television antiheroes are characterized by painful and diffcult pasts that have made them into who they are: Young Tony watching his father cut off the family butcher’s pinkie fnger leads to his panic attacks; the death of Pietro Bosco’s brother haunts him and shapes his decisions as a politician and (hopeful) family man; il Toso as a child is repeatedly told that he will never make anything of himself; Freddo’s catching his father being unfaithful to his mother motivates his frst robbery; Genny’s gruesome execution of a man with a machete in Honduras haunts him and allows him to grow up in the mafa and prepare to take his father’s place. Borrowing from Lotz, these “tortured souls” represent a “new breed of antihero” (Lotz 2014, 52). Crisis masculinity is a principle that drives and consolidates narrative, and solidifes the spectator’s rapport with conventionally good-looking men with a painful past.36 For all of the reasons discussed thus far, millions of viewers across the globe appear to “want to spend time with” criminal antiheroes “despite their hideousness” (Mittell 2014, 77). Viewers see these characters not only as murderers, psychopaths, and drug dealers but also as individuals with whom they can relate, and such a vision mitigates (without elim- inating) our negative judgments. Mittell argues that we can enjoy the 18 D. RENGA exploits of, for example, Dexter, Tony Soprano, or Walter White while “suspend[ing] moral judgment” (Mittell 2014, 80) and thus we remain free from having to make any sort of choice as to how we would act were we to meet their historical counterparts. Conversely, as we will now see with the Italian case, ethical judgments are multiple and various, and a key part of the experience of these narratives. In particular, the narrative treatment of villainous Italian characters complicates the ethical judgments of many viewers, especially considering the fraught debates around the historical subject matter of the series under consideration.

Angels of Evil In the end of Michele Placido’s 2010 flm about Milanese criminal Renato Vallanzasca Vallanzasca: Gli angeli del male (Vallanzasca: Angels of Evil), the title character tells a radio interviewer, “I am not evil. I only have a slightly pronounced dark side. I am like an angel fascinated by darkness.” This is after he admits his guilt, saying that he committed “real disasters,” which on the historical Vallanzasca’s criminal record translates into a 295-year sentence—or four life imprisonments for a series of crimes including the murder of a police offcer (although Vallanzasca is currently in a work-release program). Vallanzasca was called “beautiful René” and as O’Rawe notes was an extremely “charismatic and attractive fgure” who was at the center of the media spotlight and received scores of marriage proposals while in prison (O’Rawe 2014, 148). In Placido’s flm, Vallanzasca was played by Kim Rossi Stuart, who is one of Italy’s most successful and conventionally attractive actors who worked closely with the historical Vallanzasca when preparing for the part. Rossi Stuart’s good looks certainly contributed to the protests and boycotts surrounding the flm’s release, and O’Rawe points out that controversy seemed to be heightened by the choice of Rossi Stuart for the role, which might imply that the flm has given into the charms of the historical Vallanzasca (O’Rawe 2014, 148–49). In particular, the group Vittime del Dovere—which represents relations of the police and armed forces killed or injured during service—condemned the flm, and was primarily concerned about how the choice of such a well-known actor interpreting Vallanzasca might negatively infuence younger viewers and urge them down the wrong path.37 Elsewhere the group voices concern with programs such as Faccia d’angelo, Il capo dei capi (The Boss of 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 19

Bosses, 2007), and Uno bianca (2001), all programs treated in this book which center to different extents on charismatic and attractive antiheroes (Piantadosi 2012).38 There is something particular about the face of premium Italian serial perpetrator television. Whether established stars in the case of Elio Germano in Faccia d’angelo, Stefano Accorsi in 1992/1993, and Alessandro Borghi in Suburra. La serie, or fresher faces as in Romanzo criminale. La serie and Gomorrah, James Gandolfni, Bryan Cranston, or House of Cards’ Kevin Spacey these men are not. Focal Italian perpetrators are predominantly young (aging early 20s to 30s), physically ft, and conventionally attractive while embodying the majority of the characteristics in the American model outlined above that elicit viewer sympathy. So, one theory is the simple one: Who doesn’t want to watch quality programming featuring good-looking actors as this just sweetens the deal? For one, not the Americans. The Sopranos marked a watershed in the representation of serial antiheroes. Amanda L. Lotz puts forward that The Sopranos advanced the “template” for future premium programming and offered an important lesson that “changed television creativity: the protagonist does not have to be a good man” (Lotz 2014, 63, italics added), and, I would add, not even a conventionally good-looking man. Chase stresses that James Gandolfni’s physical attributes had nothing to do with his choice to cast him in the leading role. Instead, he always goes “for the actor. If the actor who came into read for [the] part had been Cary Grant and it had worked, I probably would’ve said fne. Let’s do that,” and notes that they were blessed “that James Gandolfni came through that door” (Fresh Air 2013). Gandolfni was shocked to get the role, believing that HBO would “have to hire some good-looking guy, not George Clooney, but some Italian George Clooney” (Bischoff 2014, 105, original italics). Gandolfni’s landing the part of Tony Soprano opened the foodgates for premium programs to cast actors in central roles with innovative physicalities. In the American tradition, this recent unconventional physical allure of the antihero can make the viewing process more engaging. This might be because some viewers, maybe many, are not immediately invited to sympathize with these men on the basis of their good looks, which opens up exciting opportunities for creating viewer alignment. At the same time, the unexceptional appearance of characters like Tony Soprano and Walter White situates them as American everymen, ordinary guys who 20 D. RENGA struggle with family, friends, fnance, and mental and physical health, concerns also faced by many television viewers. Smith proposes that viewers might align with Tony Soprano because he is a “regular guy” who has a “moral code” and must negotiate the demands of two families: both his immediate family and his symbolic mafa family (Smith 2011, 73–74). Hence, American sympathetic perpetrators are also, for the most part, defned by their ordinariness. Instead, Italian premium seriality is more in line with how the classical cinema has represented alluring, attractive, and morally complex gangsters: think of Paul Muni and later Al Pacino in Scarface (Brian De Palma, 1983), Humphrey Bogart in King of the Underworld (Lewis Seiler, 1939), Al Pacino in The Godfather: Part I and II; De Niro in Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973); Warren Beatty in Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967), Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon from The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006); Denzel Washington from American Gangster (Ridley Scott, 2008), and the list goes on. In the Italian tradition, good looks, while adding to the allure of leading bad men, heighten tensions and fascinations around Italian television programs precisely because their narratives are anchored in the Italian present or recent past. Elsewhere I have looked at new millennium mafa cinema and considered the particularities of representing Italy’s various mafas given that they are ongoing, national problems that have left thousands of victims over some 150 plus years (Renga 2013). Yet, on a national level, they are frequently downplayed or ignored. I found that organized crime is an integral concern of contemporary Italian national cinema, and is a versatile subject with which to tell stories of heroism, resistance, corruption, romance, and family drama. In the vast majority of new millennium gangster pictures, viewers are privy to assassinations, massacres, and sexual assaults caused by the mafa. However, pleasurable narrative forms such as the biopic, flm noir, melodrama, male melodrama, and woman’s flm ultimately reassure viewers at the flm’s close, and, I fnd this particularly fascinating, in these flms organized crime is frequently positioned as a phenomenon that is locatable and curable. It struck me that male mafa perpetrators are depicted in an incredibly sentimental light: In several recent flms, viewers are positioned to mourn the deaths of criminals and forgive their transgressions. In these flms, all of which fall under the rubric of male melodrama, male characters fnd absolution at the flm’s close. 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 21

This redemptive formula is also at work in recent Italian television programs whose narratives are based upon or inspired by actual recent or ongoing phenomena that injure and upset the nation. Narrative is inspired from the lives of nonfctional mafosi, terrorists, politicians, advertising executives, and criminals who live in Rome, Venice, Sicily, Campania, and Bologna or chronicles major political scandals, mafa turf wars, and terrorist attacks that headlined (and continue to feature) in newspapers internationally. Viewers then experience a fctional take on real-life events and phenomena, many of which continue to devastate the nation, through the eyes of beautiful bad guys who are depicted as glamorous, attractive, sympathetic, and redeemed or redeemable. Such appealing perspectives offered by these programs on several recent and ongoing national traumas of course prompt considerable debate surrounding the glamorization of criminality, in particular around the series that premiered on Sky. Protests against American premium television programs are rare, the exception being the lawsuit brought against Time Warner by the Italian American Defense Association about a decade ago when the Italian-American community was up in arms about the preju- dicial identifcation of Italian-American with the mafa on The Sopranos (Chicago Tribune 2001). As I address in several of the book’s chapters, Italian serial television with a focus on perpetrators is frequently the object of intense and widespread scrutiny and debate. Central to these protests is a demand that history not be told from the perspective of charming and attractive perpetrators.39 The popular appeal and historical subject matter of these programs undoubtedly intensify reactions to them, for example this one (cited in the epigraph) by Kim Rossi Stuart who makes a case for television’s pedagogical duty: “I think that both public and private television should be educational. Cinema can allow itself to comprehensively confront any subject because it is intended for an audience who chooses” (Fumarola 2016). Missing of course from Rossi Stuart’s assessment is his own ironic role as Vallanzasca and the agency and the diverse tastes of television audiences. This book proposes that Italian television is educational, just not in the way that Rossi Stuart intends.

Television Audiences and New Media Technologies Sympathetic Perpetrators is interested in audiences, and how audiences receive and comprehend the television programs under discussion. 22 D. RENGA

Hence, I use reviews, blog posts, and social media posts and responses as primary sources. Many of the chapters that follow are indebted to social network analysis, in particular promotional and user posts on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, and fan reactions to these posts. Also analyzed are fan pages, fan videos, blogging sites, and chat groups. The established feld of social network analysis allows scholars to look toward online networks to discover social relations between individuals and groups, and to assess how interactions on social media effect or exert an impact upon “social behaviour, attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge” (Prell 2012, 1). As social network scholars note, online networks tie together individuals or organizations and are of essential signifcance to contemporary society in their ability to exert infuences over all aspects of daily life, including labor, emotional ties, and recreational pursuits (Fu et al. 2017, 5). Further, new media technologies are essential for their ability to enable connections between “queer members of diasporic communities’” through enabling cyber community users to engender novel spaces where they can make their voices heard. Thus, new identities are established that develop simultaneously as cyberspaces develop (Atay 2015, 2), and new media technologies can empower encounters between members of social networking communities. My analysis of online networks is also indebted to Judith Halberstam’s concept of “the queer art of failure,” in particular with regard to how what is subversive in popular culture can present alternatives to dominant heteronormative culture. To this end, my taking into account of online networks turns toward “low theory” in order to seek out “counterknowledge in the realm of popular culture” (Halberstam 2011, 19).

Structure of the Book Sympathetic Perpetrators contains chapters devoted to the series and miniseries that premiered on individual networks or viewing platforms (Rai, Mediaset, Sky, and Netfix). More extensive consideration is paid to the programs that premiered on Sky and Netfix, as these products are exported widely and have a substantial viewership in countries across the globe. A brief introduction precedes the discussion of programs on each network or viewing platform that acquaints the reader with the particularities of the television network or viewing platform under consideration, with a special focus on network/platform history, recent programming trends, and production values, before pointing out the distinctive network/platform features at work in the representation of 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 23 sympathetic perpetrators. These prologues are not meant to be extensive, as much scholarship is available on the history of Italian broadcasting and recent network tendencies.40 Instead, taken as a whole, this book investigates what recent Italian perpetrator television can teach us about television audiences, and our viewing habits and preferences.

Notes 1. Gomorrah is the title of the television series, Roberto Saviano’s 2006 book, and Matteo Garrone’s 2008 flm. Throughout the book, all mentions of Gomorrah refer to the series, and Gomorrah 1 indicates the frst season of the series, Gomorrah 2 the second, Gomorrah 3 the third, and Gomorrah 4, the fourth. 2. The Ansa review notes that Felicia Impastato “wins” (ansa.it 2016) while the Concita de Gregorio writes “the ‘true’ fction wins” (de Gregorio 2016). 3. For example, Balassone discusses Gomorrah 2’s novel take on politics; Buttitta notes ten reasons viewers will not be able to “resist” watching (Buttitta 2016); Sannino writes that Gomorrah 2 is “neorealism” (Sannino 2016); and @mdemarco55 writes about the risks involved in emulating onscreen mobsters (@mdemarco55 2016). We see the glamorization of criminality polemic already at work in the frst response to the Scrosati Sky Twitter post where the user “Napoli Borbonica” tweeted “It must be great making money by exploiting Neapolitans” (Twitter 2016). 4. The fgure of the romanticized criminal has a long-standing, rich tradition in Italian literature and flm. The most pertinent antecedents related to the subject of the mafa are Leonardo Sciascia’s Il giorno della civetta (The Day of the Owl, 1961) in literature and Francesco Rosi’s Lucky Luciano (1973) in flm. 5. Boylan argues that such a “canon of antimafa martyrs” which includes Paolo Borsellino, Giovanni Falcone, Giuseppe Impastato, and Placido Rizzotto is in fux and commemorative practices are now in place that create spaces to grieve persistent mafa-related traumas (Boylan 2017, 105). 6. Casey et al. note that in more recent television crime series, “the defnition of the moral and legal has become clouded by the representation of ‘bent cops’ and sympathetic ‘villains’” (Casey et al. 2002, 44). While the bandit Salvatore Giuliano (Italy’s Robin Hood) is depicted in somewhat sympathetic flms in Francesco Rosi’s 1961 eponymous flm, he is almost entirely absent from the flm’s narrative. 7. Milly Buonanno authored two useful and comprehensive studies of Italian television (Buonanno 2012a, b). For work on public television 24 D. RENGA

and politics, see Padovani (2007); the 2014 The Italianist flm issue includes a lengthy section on “televisionism” edited by Chiara Bonfglioli, Andrea Hajek, and Monica Jansen; the Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies (3, nos. 1–2) produced in 2015 a Rai anniversary double issue devoted to Italian television; the inaugural 2015 issue of the innovative new online journal SERIES: International Journal of TV Serial Narratives focuses on Italy in the “Geographica” section; and about half of the content of the 2016 flm issue The Italianist (36, no. 2) is dedicated to Italian seriality, in particular Gomorrah and Romanzo criminale. La serie; Maiello (2016) and Benvenuti (2018) wrote studies on Gomorrah. Boni has a book on Romanzo criminale. La serie (2014). Much scholarship is available on the history of television networks and television programming, the majority of which is written in Italian. For a concise and useful overview of RAI, Mediaset, and Sky programming, see, Barra and Scaglioni (2015). Also of interest is, for example, work by Bertolotti (2017), Martina and Palmieri (2015), Piazzoni (2014), Grasso (2008, 2012), Menduni (2002), Monteleone (2005), Hibberd (2008, in particular chapters fve through nine), many of the chapters in Ardizzoni and Ferrari, eds. (2010), and the essays contained in the section “Mercati” in Grasso, ed. (2013); on Rai programming in particular, see, Anania (1997), Chiarenza (2002), Padovani (2007), Matarazzo (2007), Ferrari (2012), and many of the essays in the 2015 issue of the Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies; For more on Mediaset, especially relating the Berlusconi, see Cepernich (2009); on the Sky model, see, Scaglioni and Barra, eds. (2013), Barra and Scaglioni (2013b), Scaglioni (2013), and Barca (2012); on production models relevant to soap operas, see Barra (2014). A thorough assessment of Netfix in Italy is available in Marrazzo (2016, especially pp. 1–13, 51–76, and 113–73). See, Barra (2015) for a discussion of Netfix’s debut in Italy. 8. Camilleri’s pronouncement on how mafa representations should be limited to police reports is ironic considering that he has made his reputation and fortune by writing novels about the mafa. 9. For more on series that engage with the mafa and are positioned on the side of law enforcement offcers, antimafa martyrs, and citizens who stand up to or resist organized crime, see, Lombardi (2013, in particular 215–16) and Giomi (2010). For studies on La piovra, see, Bauman (2018) and Buonanno (2012b). 10. Camilleri’s pronouncement on how mafa representations should be limited to police reports is ironic considering that he has made his reputation and fortune by writing novels about the mafa. 11. One clear exception is True Blood’s (2008–2014) Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) and Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard). Attractive televisual vampires are now a standard, and good looks is a typical protagonist 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 25

characteristic in the vampire genre, and this quality adds to their allure. In her study of vampire fction, Ananya Mukherjea notes that recent incarnations of vampires are “fantastically fawless” (Mukherjea 2011, 12). Ruth La Ferla points out that recent onscreen vampires have never before “looked so sultry – or camera ready […] Bela Lugosi they are not” (La Ferla 2009). Another anomaly is Jaime Lannister (Nokolaj Coster- Waldau) from the ensemble series Game of Thrones. However, he does not occupy the central role of narrative action as is the case with the American criminal offenders discussed above. 12. Catherine O’Rawe’s, Stars and Masculinities in Contemporary Italian Cinema offers the most thorough and thought-provoking treatment of onscreen crisis masculinity in the Italian context. See, in particular pp. 1–10 of the introduction, Chapters 1, 2, and 3, and the after- ward (O’Rawe 2014). Also in the Italian context see, Sergio Rigoletto, Masculinity and Italian Cinema: Sexual Politics, Social Confict, and Male Crisis in the 1970s (2014). Michael Mario Albrecht is the frst person to offer a more comprehensive study of masculinity in crisis in American seriality in Masculinity in Contemporary Quality Television (2015). Work on crisis masculinity is plentiful, for example, Roger Horrocks, Masculinity in Crisis: Myths, Fantasies, and Realities (1994); Sally Robinson, Marked Men: White Masculinity in Crisis (2000); Fintan Walsh, Male Trouble: Masculinity and the Performance of Crisis (2010). 13. Exceptions include Deadwood (2004–2006) and Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014) as both series include characters based upon historical fgures. 14. It is out of the scope of my project to detail the histories and expanses of Italian mafas and political scandals. However, subsequent chapters layout key details regarding the current status of these various mafas and political scandals and include several references to historical, anthropological, and sociological studies treating these phenomena. 15. Milly Buonanno writes about a “temporal turn” in Italian television which at the outset of the new millennium has seen an extensive movement of a “return to the past” (Buonanno 2012b, 199). 16. The heading “structuring sympathies” is borrowed from what Murray Smith coins the “structure of sympathy,” or the system that “posits several distinct levels of engagement with fctional characters” and is a focus of this section (Smith 1995, 5). 17. Alberto N. García’s “Moral Emotions, Antiheroes and the Limits of Allegiance” is a concise and comprehensive study as to why viewers might identify with “morally defective characters who […] would repel us in real life” (García 2016, 53). See, also Albrecht (2015), Bruun Vaage (2013, 2015), Carroll (2004), Lotz (2014), Mittell (2015), and Smith (1995 and 1999). 26 D. RENGA

18. Lotz notes that the success of early HBO series like Sex and the City (1998–2004) and The Sopranos shifted “viewers’ expectations of cable series” (Lotz 2014, 64). For more on the critical debate on “quality TV,” see, McCabe and Akass, eds., Quality TV: Contemporary American Television and Beyond (2007a). On the “quality” label see, Newman and Levine, Legitimating Television: Media Convergence and Cultural Status, especially pp. 14–37 (2012). In the Italian context, see, Scaglioni and Barra, eds., Tutta un’altra fction. Le serialità pay in Italian e nel mondo (2013). Giancarlo Lombardi defnes quality television as “programming that requires undivided attention from its viewers, who are virtually asked to turn off the lights, stop with they are doing, and pretend to be in a movie theater, held to consistently high standards, these shows are investigated for their unique take on society” (Lombardi 2011, 192–93) and notes that quality television programs demand “viewer’s undivided attention because [they are] essentially polysemic, and therefore cannot allow simple decodings” (Lombardi 2011, 199). 19. Bainbridge employs the term “identifcation” over “alignment.” 20. Robin Nelson discusses several of “television’s pleasures.” Included in her analysis is television’s providing to viewers “ontological certainty […] around which the concerns of a culture’s everyday life may be negotiated” (Nelson 2007). 21. Helen Wheatley notes that television is “adept at speaking to diverse audiences” through heterogenous programming across a “diversity of genres […] to the variety of viewing positions that are created within its programming” (Wheatley 2015, 898). 22. According to Thomas Elsaesser, television “socializes the self into identity by offering companionship and help […] In short, it wants to be the mirror-image of our fantasies of domesticity” (Elsaesser 1999). 23. Mittell defnes “Complex Television” in terms of a narrative complexity that “redefnes episodic forms under the infuence of serial narration.” It is a form of narration that “foregrounds ongoing stories across a range of genres” (Mittell 2015, 18, original italics). 24. In Williams’ view, “The stronger the serialization […] the more overt the melodrama” (Williams 2018, 177). Hence, longer running serials like Gomorrah or Lost (2004–2010) can better develop characters, and connections between them. 25. According to Mittell, “The characters who we are aligned with, connected to, and invested in are typically those we spend more time with and who provide the most interesting interior states, balancing scrutable access with complex dimensionality to engage us as active mind readers” (Mittell 2015, 132). 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 27

26. The “sympathetic perpetrator identikit” best applies to male protagonists in the Sky and Netfix programs under discussion in this book, and to the principal character in the Rai series Il segreto dell’acqua (The Secret of Water, 2011). Criminal antiheroes in Mediaset programs possess some of the characteristics in the identikit, but overall they are less developed and less charismatic. 27. Mittell writes that charisma “helps us overlook the hideousness of many antiheroes, creating a sense of charm and verve that makes the time spent with them enjoyable, despite their moral shortcomings and unpleasant behaviors. Charisma largely stems from an actor’s performance and phys- icality, but is also cued by how other characters treat the antiheroes, so that on-screen relationships guide viewers how to feel towards a character” (Mittell 2015, 144). 28. Bruun Vaage argues that “nonfction flm directors are confronted with a moral imperative to demarcate clearly between the morally deviant characters and the morally sound, while the fction flm director is freer in his or her choice of protagonists” (229). Although I disagree with Bruun Vaage regarding the documentarians’ moral mission, we do see such a distinction at work in several documentaries and docudramas on the mafa that present victims and perpetrators in a Manichean light. This is the case with Diario di una siciliana ribelle (One Girl Against the Mafa, Marco Amenta, 1997), La mafa è bianca (The Mafa is White, Stefano Maria Bianchi and Alberto Nerazzini, 2005), and In un altro paese (Excellent Cadavers, Marco Turco, 2005). 29. Bruun Vaage observes, “It is thus less risky to involve oneself emotionally with a fctional human being than with real-life humans […] Empathizing and sympathizing with real-life humans may entail a moral obligation to help them, if we understand that help is needed. Failing to help may lead to feelings of guilt” (Bruun Vaage 2013, 225). 30. Smith notes, “as the ultimate ‘organizer’ of the text, the narration is the force which generates recognition, alignment, and allegiance, the basic components of the structure of sympathy” (Smith 1995, 75). 31. Margaret Tally observes that audiences view female antiheroines as “unlik- able to varying degrees” which is not the case with male antiheroes who come off as sympathetic to viewers (Tally 2016, 7). For a compelling collection of essays treating criminal antiheroines in television, please see Milly Buonanno, ed. Television Antiheroines: Women Behaving Badly in Crime and Prison Drama (2017). Although the collection is interested in looking at the “liminality of women associated with criminality” (Buonanno 2017, xi), the author fnds that depictions on criminal antiheroines reinforce “norms of competitive individualism even in national 28 D. RENGA

contexts that have more collective ideological histories. At their most dis- appointing, these criminal entrepreneurs eschew collaboration or critique of existing power structures in favour of postfeminist emphases on fashion, hypersexualization, and women in competition” (Buonanno 2017, xi–xii). Elisa Giomi and Sveva Magaraggia’s Relazioni brutali: Genere e violenza nella cultura mediale looks at mediated representations of violence against women as well as women enacting violence. They note that female aggravated violence is frequently normalized or connected to a lacking or developing paternal metaphor and, in other cases, women avengers are pathologized or punished (Giomi and Magaraggia 2017, 135–58). 32. For work on morally complex male characters, see, for example, Amanda D. Lotz’s, Cable Guys: Television and Masculinities in the Twenty-First Century (2014); Bruun Vaage’s work on The Antihero in American Television (2015, Chapter 1); Ashley M. Donnelly’s, Renegade Hero or Faux Rogue: The Secret Traditionalism of Television Bad Boys (2014); Mittell’s, study of Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling (2015); Smith’s take on Engaging Characters: Fiction, Emotion and the Cinema (1995), “Gangsters, Cannibals, Aesthetes, or Apparently Perverse Allegiances” (1999), and “Just What Is It That Makes Tony Soprano Such an Appealing, Attractive Murderer?” (2011); Carroll’s, speculations why viewers might feel “Sympathy for the Devil” (2004); and Alan Sepinwall’s, The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers, and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever (2013). For studies on the history of representation of masculinity in television, see, Rebecca Feasey, Masculinity and Popular Television (2008) and Kenneth MacKinnon, Representing Men: Maleness and Masculinity in the Media (2003, 65–86). 33. For a thorough and helpful assessment of scholarship engaging with the dominant model of masculinity in crisis, see, the section “Masculinity/ Crisis” in O’Rawe (2014, 1–5). 34. Martin argues that the antihero is such a prevalent fgure in new millennium seriality because “the cultural climate of the 2000s would be pro- pitious for such characters” as the country was so politically divided and those on the “losing side” (or the left) were left come to terms with “the Beast lurking in their own body politic.” As explained by Six Feet Under writer Craig Wirth, the left “articulates a critique through the arts” (Martin 2013, 87–88). 35. See, David Bordwell who notes that the crisis of masculinity is “evidently one of the longest-running crises in history” (Bordwell 2006, 104). 36. Male crisis as a mode to strengthen the male subject position in real life and in fction has been richly theorized. Tania Modleski notes “however 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 29

much male subjectivity may currently be ‘in crisis’ […] we need to consider the extent to which male power is actually consolidated through cycles of crisis and resolution” (Modleski 1991, 7); Albrecht argues, rightly so in my view, that the masculinity in crisis model serves frequently to “reinforce traditional patriarchal views of masculinity” while producing “normative assumptions about masculinity” (Albrecht 2016, 9); Kenneth MacKinnon points out that onscreen masculinity has “become less hegemonic precisely in order to stay more hegemonic” (MacKinnon 2003, 73); Brian Baker writes, “In terms of masculinity, crisis is the new dominant” in contemporary television and flm (Brian Baker 2015, 243); Catherine O’Rawe underlines, “Crisis, after all, demands narrative centrality” (O’Rawe 2014, 165). 37. For more surrounding the controversies around Vallanzasca, see, O’Rawe (2014, 147–48). Debates regarding the glamorization of criminality are widespread in Italy and are frequently taken up in this book. For example, Nicola Gratteri and Antonio Nicaso advise that it is best to not ignore that the “spectacularization of the criminal world” risks becoming quite dangerous (Gratteri and Nicaso 2017, 98). 38. The debate surrounding whether violence on television incites violence in real life is lengthy and complex. While James T. Hamilton’s edited volume offers “evidence of how television violence can be proftably examined as a public policy issue” (Hamilton 2000, 1), others are more skeptical of the equation between viewing habits and violent behavior. Martin Barker and Julian Petley note that claims around the potential “effects of violent media” are false and that other questions should instead be investigated (Barker and Petley 2001, 1); David Gauntlett poses that this is a “circuitous and theoretically undernourished line of enquiry” (Gauntlett 1995, 7); Annette Hill suggests that “there are more productive ways to debate screen violence” than asking whether “watching screen violence” makes someone violent (Hill 1997, 1); George Gerbner concludes that the typical query “‘does television violence incite real-life violence?’ is itself a symptom of the problem” which obfuscates and downplays the matters at hand (Gerbner 1997, 105). 39. Alan O’Leary argues that the flm Romanzo criminale (Michele Placido, 2005) embeds “‘real’ historical events […] in a context of Italian art, fashion, design and glamorous characters that adduces these events as aspects of a haptically delectable and exportable past” (O’Leary 2011, 25). As with the example of Romanzo criminale, in the programs under discussion in this book, Italian terrorism, mafa, criminality, and corrupt politics are presented as part and parcel of Italian cultural heritage. 40. See, Footnote 8 for a list of sources treating Italian broadcasting. 30 D. RENGA

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Teeth_-_NYTimes.com.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId AKIAJ56TQJRTWS- = MTNPEA&Expires 1473968538&Signature T2Y92FHzZiDVuM- = = wHjjXT15IxZcw%3D&response-content-disposition inline%3B%20 = flename%3DNew_York_Times_A_Trend_With_Teeth.pdf. la Repubblica. 2016. “Ascolti, 7 milioni per ‘Felicia Impastato’. Boom per ‘Gomorra 2.’” la Repubblica, May 11. Accessed September 6. http://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/tv-radio/2016/05/11/news/ ascolti_7_milioni_per_felicia_impastato_-139561989/. Lombardi, Giancarlo. 2011. “‘Don’t Stop Believin’, Don’t Stop …’ (De) Structuing Expectations in the Final Season of The Sopranos.” In Mafa Movies: A Reader, edited by Dana Renga, 192–200. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: The University of Toronto Press. Lombardi, Giancarlo. 2013. “Soap Operas.” The Italianist 33 (2): 215–21. Lombardi, Giancarlo. 2014. “Rethinking Italian Television Studies.” The Italianist 34 (2): 260–62. Lotz, Amanda D. 2014. Cable Guys: Television and Masculinities in the Twenty- First Century. New York and London: New York University Press. MacKinnon, Kenneth. 2003. Representing Men: Maleness and Masculinity in the Media. London: Arnold. Maiello, Angelo. 2016. Gomorra. La serie. La famiglia, il potere, lo sguardo del male. Rome: Edizioni Estemporanee. Marrazzo, Francesco. 2016. Effetto Netfix: Il nuovo paradigma televisivo. Milano: Egea. Martin, Brett. 2013. Diffcult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad. New York: The Penguin Press. Martina, Marta, and Attilio Palmieri. 2015. “Researching Television Serial Narratives in Italy: An Overview.” Series: International Journal of TV Serial Narratives 1: 89–102. Matarazzo, Elio. 2007. La Rai che non vedrai: Idee e progetti sul servizio pubblico. Milano: FrancoAngeli. McCabe, Janet, and Kim Akass, eds. 2007a. Quality TV: Contemporary American Television and Beyond. London: I.B. Taurus. McCabe, Janet, and Kim Akass. 2007b. “Sex, Swearing and Respectability: Courting Controversy, HBO’s Original Programming and Producing Quality TV.” In Quality TV: Contemporary American Television and Beyond, edited by Janet McCabe and Kim Akass, 62–76. London: I.B. Tauris. Menduni, Enrico. 2002. Televisione e società italiana. 1975–2000. Milano: Bompiani. Mittell, Jason. 2010. “On Disliking Mad Men.” Just TV, July 29. Accessed September 12. https://justtv.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/ on-disliking-mad-men/. 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 35

Mittell, Jason. 2014. “Lengthy Interactions with Hideous Men: Walter White and the Serial Poetics of Television Anti-Heroes.” In Storytelling in the Media Convergence Age: Exploring Screen Narratives, edited by Roberta Pearson and Anthony N. Smith, 74–92. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Mittell, Jason. 2015. Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling. New York and London: New York University Press. Modleski, Tania. 1991. Feminism Without Women: Culture and Critique in a ‘Postfeminist’ Age. New York and London: Routledge. Monteleone, Franco. 2005. Storia della radio e della televisione in Italia. Costume, società e politica. Venezia: Marsilio. Mukherjea, Ananya. 2011. “My Vampire Boyfriend: Postfeminism, ‘Perfect’ Masculinity, and the Contemporary Appeal of Paranormal Romance.” Studies in Popular Culture 33 (2): 1–20. Nelson, Robin. 2007. State of Play: Contemporary “High-End” TV Drama. Manchester: Manchester University Press. (Online). Newman, Michael, and Elana Levine. 2012. Legitimating Television: Media Convergence and Cultural Status. London and New York: Routledge. O’Leary, Alan. 2011. Tragedia all’italiana: Italian Cinema and Italian Terrorisms, 1970–2010. Oxford: Peter Lang. O’Rawe, Catherine. 2014. Stars and Masculinities in Contemporary Italian Cinema. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Padovani, Cinzia. 2007. A Fatal Attraction: Public Television and Politics in Italy. Lanham and Boulder: Rowman and Littlefeld. Peitzman, Louis. 2014. “Ranking the ‘Orange is the New Black’ Characters by Likability.” Buzzfeed, August 8. Accessed September 22. https://www.buzzfeed.com/louispeitzman/ranking-the-orange-is-the-new-black-characters-by- likability?utm_term .qw0BwbbRN#.qcozokkM6. = Piantadosi, Emanuela. 2012. “‘La televisione legittima i criminali’: la denuncia dell’associazione ‘Vittime del dovere.’” affariitaliani.it, March 13. Accessed December 2. http://www.affaritaliani.it/sociale/faccia-d-angelo-sky-cin- ema130212.html?refresh_cens. Piazzoni, Irene. 2014. Storia delle televisioni in Italia: Dagli esordi alle web tv. Rome: Carocci editore. Prell, Christina. 2012. Social Network Analysis: History, Theory, and Methodology. London: Sage. Raney, Arthur A. 2011. “Media Enjoyment as a Function of Affective Dispositions Towards and Moral Judgements of Characters.” In The Routledge Handbook of Emotions and Mass Media, edited by Katrin Döveling, Christian von Scheve, and Elly A. Konjin, 166–78. London and New York: Routledge. Renga, Dana. 2013. Unfnished Business: Screening the Italian Mafa in the New Millennium. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press. 36 D. RENGA

Rigoletto, Sergio. 2014. Masculinity and Italian Cinema: Sexual Politics, Social Confict, and Male Crisis in the 1970s. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Robinson, Sally. 2000. Marked Men: White Masculinity in Crisis. New York: Columbia University Press. Sannino, Conchita. 2016. “Ecco Gomorra la serie 2 tra realtà e fction: ‘È il neorealismo della television.’” la Repubblica, May 10. Accessed September 9. http:// napoli.repubblica.it/cronaca/2016/05/10/news/ecco_gomorra_2_tra_ realta_e_fction_e_il_neorealismo_della_televisione_-139476615/?ref search. = Scaglioni, Massimo. 2013. “Tutta un’altra audience. Il pubblico delle fction pay.” In Tutta un’altra fction: La serialità pay in Italia e nel mondo. Il modello Sky, edited by Massimo Scaglioni and Luca Barra, 49–65. Rome: Carocci editore. Scaglioni, Massimo. 2016. “(Not So) Complex TV. Framing Seriality as a Practice via Contemporary Models of Italian Television Fiction.” Mediascapes Journal 6: 8–20. Scaglioni, Massimo, and Luca Barra, eds. 2013. Tutta un’altra fction: La serial- ità pay in Italia e nel mondo. Il modello Sky. Rome: Carocci editore. Sepinwall, Alan. 2013. The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers, and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever. New York and London: Simon & Schuster. Smith, Murray. 1995. Engaging Characters: Fiction, Emotion and the Cinema. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Smith, Murray. 1999. “Gangsters, Cannibals, Aesthetes, or Apparently Perverse Allegiances.” In Passionate Views: Film, Cognition, and Emotion, edited by Carl Platinga and Greg. M. Smith, 217–38. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Smith, Murray. 2011. “Just What Is It That Makes Tony Soprano Such an Appealing, Attractive Murderer?” In Ethics at the Cinema, edited by Ward Jones and Samantha Vice, 66–90. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Snyder, Katie. 2014. “Burn One Down: Nancy Botwin as (Post)Feminist (Anti) Heroine.” In Heroines of Film and Television: Portrayals in Popular Culture, edited by Norma Jones, Maja Bajac-Carter, and Bob Batchelor, 17–29. Maryland and London: Rowman & Littlefeld. Sobchack, Vivian. 2013. “Introduction: History Happens.” In The Persistence of History: Cinema, Television, and the Modern Event, edited by Vivian Sobchack, 1–14. London and New York: Routledge. Tally, Margaret. 2016. The Rise of the Anti-Heroine in TV’s Third Golden Age. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Twitter. 2016. https://twitter.com/andreascrosati/status/730328140606799872. Twitter, May 11. Accessed September 5. https://twitter.com/andreascrosati/ status/730328140606799872. 1 INTRODUCTION: SYMPATHETIC SERIAL OFFENDERS 37

Walsh, Fintan. 2010. Male Trouble: Masculinity and the Performance of Crisis. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Wheatley, Helen. 2015. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Television.” Feminist Media Studies 15 (5): 869–99. Wheatley, Helen. 2016. Spectacular Television: Exploring Televisual Pleasure. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. Williams, Linda. 2018. “World and Time: Serial Television Melodrama in America.” In Melodrama Unbound: Across History, Media, and National Cultures, edited by Christina Gledhill and Linda Williams. New York and Chichester: New York University Press. CHAPTER 2

Rai: “Educate While Entertaining— Entertain While Educating” in L’ultimo dei Corleonesi, “Niente di personale,” and Il segreto dell’acqua

Radiotelevisione Italiana/Italian Radio-Television (Rai) premiered in Italy in 1954 as the countries’ public service broadcasting company. At the end of 1954, television reached 58% of the population. Television quickly went national, and in 1961, 97% of Italians had access to TV (Rai 2014). Until the debut of Mediaset in the 1980s, Rai was Italy’s only television broadcaster and is frequently discussed in terms of its pedagogical and homogenizing entertainment mission.1 This vocation was used to account for, according to Cinzia Padovani, the tendency for political parties to have an impact on television programming (Padovani 2007, 48). Particularly of infuence during Rai’s frst three decades was the center right Christian Democratic Party who attended to Rai’s moral and educative responsibilities, including those desired by the “Catholic bloc” who capitalized on how television could be deployed as an “instrument of cultural promotion” (Padovani 2007, 69). In the 1950s and 1960s, Rai helped to “construct” an imagined Italian identity through presenting viewers with what might be considered an image of Italy “in its total- ity.” For example, the broadcaster promoted a shared language—over the many dialects spoken throughout the country—and allowed viewers to participate in a “tradition of popular culture manifestations” through, for example, game shows that feature questions about well-known Italian cultural products (Ferrari 2012, 134).2 Rai’s orthodox programming reputation continues today. Of all of the Italian networks, Rai is considered the most “traditional” in its production of mainstream, identifable fction. It is also the most “important”

© The Author(s) 2019 39 D. Renga, Watching Sympathetic Perpetrators on Italian Television, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11503-6_2 40 D. RENGA due to its signifcant fnancial investment in creating fction (Barra and Scaglioni 67). This double tendency is apparent in an early Rai slogan: “educate while entertaining – entertain while educating” (Abruzzese 2004, 146). This motto highlights the informative and appealing nature of Rai programming that is still at the heart of contemporary productions. Rai now boasts an assortment of channels that feature, among other types of scheduling, reality shows (Rai 2), journalist and cultural programming (Rai 3), international flms and television series (Rai 4), documentary and art shows (Rai 5), news (Rai News 24), sports (Rai Sport), and history (Rai Storia). Rai 1 is considered the network’s fagship channel and is principally known for original fction programming that attracts a generalist audience and airs on primetime (which in Italy is 9:00 pm). In late 2017, Rai received the largest audience share of all Italian programming at 35.9% compared to 30.1% for Mediaset and 8.4% for Sky Italia (Pekic 2017). And, from 2007 to 2016, Rai has secured a larger overall viewership than that of Mediaset, with the lowest gap of 1.1% in 2009 and the widest of 6.7% in 2013.3 Rai is Italy’s network of choice, primarily among an older population. In 2017, 88.4% of Italians aged sixty-four plus tune into Rai on a daily basis (I veri numeri 2017). In March 2018, Rai’s press offce publicized on social media sites Facebook and Twitter a statement by then Rai President Monica Maggioni regarding Rai’s mission to, “inform, educate, entertain, and promote cultural patrimony” (Twitter 2018). This last point regarding the project of fostering national heritage is apparent in Rai 1’s “editorial policy” which Luca Barra and Massimo Scaglioni note is defned by the production of hagiographies, social dramas, and comedies (Barra and Scaglioni 2015, 67). As they discuss, the idealized biographies and “socially committed” dramas are characterized by a Manichean tendency that valorizes saints, martyrs, and law enforcement agents, while depicting wrongdoers negatively (Barra and Scaglioni 2015, 67–68). Many of the fctional programs that premiere on Rai 1 focus on those who battle organized crime groups or terrorist organizations (and sometimes die as a result). Several more recent series and miniseries that center on heroes and martyrs are based upon historical fgures. This is the case of Giovanni Falcone: l’uomo che sfdò Cosa Nostra (Giovanni Falcone, the Man Who Stood up to the Mafa, Andrea Frazzi and Antonio Frazzi, 2006) on the titular antimafa prosecutor and martyr, or the focal characters of the 2014 miniseries Gli anni spezzati (The Broken Years, Graziano 2 RAI: “EDUCATE WHILE ENTERTAINING—ENTERTAIN WHILE EDUCATING” … 41

Diana, 2014). Gli anni spezzati chronicles several murders, bombings, and other terrorist acts during the anni di piombo or “leaden years,” the period of intense terrorism in Italy lasting from 1968 until the early 1980s. More recently, Rai produced the more ambiguous Il cacciatore (Stefano Lodovichi and Davide Marengo, The Hunter, 2018–). The series focuses on a Palermo prosecutor who has a penchant for hunting down mafosi, many of whom he puts behind bars, and whose character is based upon real-life fgure Alfonso Sabella. Similar to earlier examples of Rai programming, these and other new millennium social dramas unite viewers in the construction of, according to Barra and Scaglioni,

a shared story to represent the nation, in the absence of a solid shared past. [Social drama] is a genre engaged in a piecemeal struggle to construct a national epic. Normally enjoying great ratings success, social drama is often a “media event” for an “imaginary community” to recognize itself in. (Barra and Scaglioni 2015, 68)

It is diffcult to fnd programs featuring perpetrators on Rai, at least much more so than on Mediaset, Sky, and Netfix Italia.4 This lacuna is most likely a result of Rai’s pedagogical strategy which might discourage investments in products that cast the nation in a negative light or align spectators on the side of villains. Instead, Rai programs that focus on the mafa also focus on the hero who combats the mafa. In what follows, I discuss two examples that are typical of Rai shows engaging with organized crime. Era mio fratello: Very few flms have been made on the ’ndrangheta, the mafa of Calabria.5 However, several popular television serial dramas and miniseries focus on the organization, such as Un bambino in fuga (A Child on the Run, Mario Caiano, 1990), Un bambino in fuga – tre anni dopo (A Child on the Run – Three Years Later, Mario Caiano, 1991), Gente di mare (People of the Sea, 2005–2007), and Era mio fratello (He Was My Brother, Claudio Bonivento, 2007). All of these shows premiered on Rai and all exalt heroes committed to the antimafa struggle while villains are underdeveloped and cruel. Struggles between blood families and mafa families are common in these series and miniseries, and Un bambino in fuga and Era mio fratello both begin with the death of parents during a clan war. The resulting narratives focus on the surviving children (in both cases two sons) who will ultimately stand on different sides of the law. In Era mio fratello, brothers Sante (Stefano 42 D. RENGA

Dionisi) and Luca (Paolo Briguglia) are separated when their parents are murdered. Sante is taken in by the mafoso who we later learn is responsible for the double homicide, and Luca is adopted by Vincenzo (Enzo De Caro), a police captain dedicated to the antimafa struggle. Paternal abandonment motivates the narrative of Era mio fratello as the brothers attempt to come to terms with their pasts. In the end, Luca avenges a series of murders, including that of his adoptive father, with the arm of the law on his side, and defeats the local clan. He also wins the girl (his brother’s beautiful wife after his brother is gunned down in front of him) and inherits a new adoptive son in his nephew Nicola. Hence, like other Rai series treating the ’ndrangheta, Era mio fratello concludes on a hopeful, yet unrealistic, note with the creation of a new (antimafa) nuclear family that, the series implies, is capable of defeating the ’ndrangheta whose affliates are positioned as absolute evil. Il sistema: The six-episode series Il sistema (The System, Carmine Elia, 2016) is indebted to the Rai blockbuster La piovra (The Octopus, 1984– 2001). La piovra lasts ten seasons and is described as a “milestone for television meditations on the Mafa” while being an “essential television precedent” (Bauman 2018, 208). Like its exemplar, Il sistema’s title suggests that the mafa is an intricate “system” of both corrupt and legitimate connections into national and international commerce, industry and politics (“Il sistema” is also one name for the Camorra, the mafa of Naples). Il sistema focuses on police agent Alessandro Luce (Claudio Gioè), a member of the “Financial Guard” who, like Commissioner Corrado Cattani in La piovra (Michele Placido), is drawn to women connected to criminality, is a bit of an “anarchist” as he breaks the rules while engaging with both sides of the law, and is prone to bursts of anger. Borrowing from Milly Buonanno’s work on La piovra, Alessandro possesses “the ambivalent traits of an imperfect hero” (Buonanno 2012, 71). A hero however both men remain, even though they might break the rules or fall for the wrong woman. Like in many other Rai products, in Il sistema criminals are underdeveloped and depicted in unambiguously negative terms—principal antagonist Romolo “Rosso” Fabrizi (Antonio Gerardi) is aligned with fascism as he has a bust of Mussolini on his desk and a metal fasces hangs from his rearview mirror. Il sistema’s frst post on Twitter asks users, “what side are you all on?” The series is a tribute to the Guardia di Finanza and Rai CEO Antonio Campo dell’Orto underlines that it is essential to “tell the story of those who 2 RAI: “EDUCATE WHILE ENTERTAINING—ENTERTAIN WHILE EDUCATING” … 43 defend this countries’ legality” (La prealpina 2016). This heroizing ethos is ingrained into the series and prompts viewers to align with those on the side of justice. Rai 1 series and miniseries tend to depict criminals as lacking in positive qualities. Thus, they diverge from the more ambivalent depictions of miscreants that feature on Sky and Netfix and, to a lesser extent, on Mediaset. Rai perpetrators who inhabit feature roles are scarce in number. They are also unalike in their characterization, so much so that it is challenging to condense their qualities into a template similar to those included in the introductions to Mediaset, Sky, and Netfix programming. This section looks at two programs featuring focal antiheroes—L’ultimo dei Corleonesi (The Last of the Corleonesi, Alberto Negrin, made-for-television movie: 2007) and “Niente di personale/Nothing Personal” (Ivano De Matteo, stand-alone episode: 2010)—and one series with a focus on a heroic antihero—Il segreto dell’acqua (Palermo Connection, Renato de Maria, one season: 2011). The protagonists from these programs have little in common: One is brutal and merciless (Totò Riina in L’ultimo dei Corleonesi), one is a psychopath (Angelo in “Niente di personale”), and one is a complex character who most closely resembles antiheroes on Sky series (Angelo in Il segreto dell’acqua). What these programs share is a moral message regarding the potential for good to win over evil, which is why these shows are not subject to the protests and controversies surrounding Sky series. In 2016, Rai, which produces about 70% of television fction in Italy (Vivarelli 2017), began thinking toward an international audience with the English-British co-production I Medici (Medici: Masters of Florence, 2016–). 2018 saw the release of the much-anticipated My Brilliant Friend, an HBO-Rai co-production that is an adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s popular “Neapolitan novels,” while in 2019 an English- language adaptation of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose will premiere and will feature an international cast. Rai’s new co-productions export Renaissance Florence, contemporary Naples, and a Medieval monastery internationally. Head of Rai Fiction Eleonora Andreatta notes that Rai has to “rethink its role and identity” outside of national borders, “one that’s defned by Italian creativity, Italian culture, history and tradition” (Keslassy and Vivarelli 2017). Thus, Rai will continue its pedagogical and entertainment mission as it promotes, recalling Barra and Scaglioni, an “imaginary community” outside of national borders. 44 D. RENGA

“The State Always Wins” in L’ultimo dei Corleonesi Alberto Negrin’s made-for-television movie L’ultimo dei Corleonesi (The Last of the Corleonesi, 2007) narrates the “the rise and fall of the mafa of Corleone” (Fumarola 2007) and centers on the friendship and enmi- ties of two of the three most recent “boss of bosses” of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra: Salvatore “Totò” Riina and Bernardo Provenzano (mafoso Luciano Leggio also has a prominent role in the frst half of the program). L’ultimo dei Corleonesi is the only Rai program discussed in this book whose principal characters are based upon real people. It is also distinctive from its programming peers in its focus on men who stand on the wrong side of the law. L’ultimo dei Corleonesi was released on Valentine’s Day of 2007, only ten months after Provenzano’s arrest on April 11, 2006, an event that put an end to the uber-bosses’ legendary forty-three years on the run and garnered international media attention. Filming concluded in December 2006 and was followed by a speedy post-production phase, most likely because the network wanted to “beat the competition” and release the program before Mediaset could put out its own take on Provenzano’s fnal years as a fugitive (Capasso 2007). The network battle even shaped the name of the Rai series, as according to Mediaset producer Pietro Valsecchi, when Rai learned that the forthcoming Mediaset miniseries was called L’ultimo padrino, the title I Corleonesi was modifed to the current version to upstage the competition (Costantini 2007). In response to this, Valsecchi notes that they chose to not race to release the miniseries early because what is important is not “being frst, but creating a good product and not something that is ‘here today and gone tomorrow’” (Costantini 2007). The focus on the “last” of the Corleonesi (Rai) or the “last” godfather (Mediaset) suggests a teleological link between Provenzano’s arrest and the end of the mafa, a sentiment echoed by the fctional Provenzano himself in the made-for-television movie when, in an effort to curtail his cohort’s all-out violence against anyone who tries to stand in his way, he tells Riina “the state always wins.” Such a moral code—that in the end justice prevails and that the mafa should be thought of as a momentary blight on an otherwise crime-free nation—is not unfamiliar to Rai’s didactic programming model and is certainly one reason why controversy around Rai programs is much less pronounced than that surrounding Mediaset and Sky series and miniseries. In fact, the main L’ultimo dei Corleonesi detractor is Piero Grasso, Italy’s chief antimafa prosecutor 2 RAI: “EDUCATE WHILE ENTERTAINING—ENTERTAIN WHILE EDUCATING” … 45 at the time of Provenzano’s arrest who is fctionalized in the program.6 Grasso attacked the made-for-television movie for several reasons: He found it embarrassing that he was the only historical fgure engaged in the antimafa struggle featuring in the program; he disagreed with L’ultimo dei Corleonesi’s straightforward message that the mafa could indeed be defeated with Provenzano’s arrest; and he advocated for mafa stories to be told in a more protracted fashion: “It would be better if television treatments on the mafa were spread over several evenings instead of airing fctional programs and documentaries over a few days: and above all the news should continue to pay close attention to Cosa Nostra” (Capasso 2007). Grasso’s fnal objection regarding a preference for serialized treatments of organized crime players raises some interesting questions regarding the various formats available to producers when subject matter is based upon historical fact. For example, what opportunities arise for character development and viewer alignment with antiheroes based upon historical fgures when programs are broadcast over months or years rather than when they are screened in one night? Might the longer-running serialized format of Mediaset’s Il capo dei capi (The Boss of Bosses, Enzo Monteleone and Alexis Sweet, 2007) focusing on Totò Riina or Sky’s two-season Romanzo criminale. La serie (Michele Placido, 2008– 2010) on the Roman mafa the Banda della Magliana be more “appropriate” for narrating fctionalized versions of the exploits of historical gangsters and gangs? And, what is lost or gained when, in the case of L’ultimo dei Corleonesi, almost sixty years of history is condensed into just over 100 minutes? In his work on History on Film/Film on History, Robert A. Rosenstone wonders to what extent the “promise of flm as history has been fulflled,” in particular because of the challenges involved in establishing the limitations and possibilities of projecting histories on screen (Rosenstone 2017, 11).7 Our perceptions of the world in which we live, as Rosenstone points out, are ever more infuenced by visual media, and such media inform us of the world around us, and shed light on past and present experiences of individuals, groups, and cultures from all over the globe (Rosenstone 2017, 12–14). Those involved in the production of L’ultimo dei Corleonesi argue that the program has an important role in intervening in how history is received, and insist upon the made-for-television movie’s authenticity in narrating the exploits of three of the most notorious Cosa Nostra members. Negrin points out that the program is unique in its focus on 46 D. RENGA criminals rather than the traditional police chases seen in other Rai programs, and he attacks the Mediaset counterpart for not including the actual names of historical fgures (e.g., Provenzano goes by “Uncle”; Capasso 2007). Further, he notes that L’ultimo dei Corleonesi is completely based upon historical fact, so much so that “reality outdoes fantasy” (Bertazzoni 2007), a bold claim considering the many factual errors reported on the program’s Wikipedia page alone (Wikipedia 2017). Indeed, L’ultimo dei Corleonesi does distort several facts. For example, the emphasis placed on the Provenzano-Riina bond is narratively central and creates action and suspense. However, like many recent mafa screen products, the miniseries presents Cosa Nostra as a romanticized organization with an uncomplicated history (although Negrin insists that characters are not at all mythicized; Bertazzoni 2007). Originally, the pair is bound by blood and a thirst to take what they feel belongs to them, women easily fall for them and they are presented as straightforwardly alluring with uncomplicated backstories. These are not the “complex men” discussed at length in this book’s introduction who feature primarily in the Sky and Netfix series and miniseries. Toward the end of the program when Riina becomes obsessed with high-profle assassinations and bombings and large-scale mafa hits, he is depicted in a negative light. For example, he is shown grimacing with restrained delight while in his eyes glimmer the fames from the Capaci bombing that killed antimafa prosecutor Giovanni Falcone in 1992. Riina’s new diabolical demeanor is counteracted by a kinder and gentler Provenzano, who is aging and somewhat benign. He is a paternal fgure who is respected by his men and who is loving with his perennially supportive wife—the letter he is writing to his wife at the moment of his arrest speaks of how she and their children are a “gift from god” who should be kept away from criminality. Such an uncomplicated representation of criminality is furthered by a micro-narrative featuring Grasso who is twice shown mourning Giovanni Falcone, and who at the end of the program confronts Provenzano in prison to let his adversary know that he was Falcone’s close friend, and that Provenzano is behind bars where he belongs. Provenzano glares at the Prosecutor and resolutely states that he has everything that he needs before the shot transitions to an image of Riina sitting in his cell and glaring offscreen, into the distance. Provenzano appears cold and no longer reads as the more temperate peacemaker as depicted earlier in the program (especially when compared to Riina). In L’ultimo dei 2 RAI: “EDUCATE WHILE ENTERTAINING—ENTERTAIN WHILE EDUCATING” … 47

Corleonesi’s fnale, Grasso stands for justice, memorialization, and antimafa resistance while Provenzano is recast as a murderer (or a Hitler fgure as Grasso calls Provenzano some minutes earlier). The program concludes with this citation attributed to Grasso: “The capture of Bernardo Provenzano reestablishes the law-abiding record of the institutions of legality. The state wins, but does not appoint itself as an avenger or an executioner: to explosives it responds with the weapons of democracy and the law.” Such a reinstitution of a Manichean politics makes for a straightforward conclusion that leaves viewers with a clear message regarding the consequences of standing up to the state, and the certain defeat of those who try, and this sentiment is echoed in a review of the miniseries by Emilia Costantini: “If Provenzano and Riina watched themselves on television while they are in jail? Well, I hope that they would think over their criminal past and that experience would be another punishment” (Costantini 2007). Interestingly, the characters based upon Riina and Provenzano are interpreted by actors who played two well-known antimafa martyrs in Pasquale Scimeca’s Placido Rizzotto (2000). Scimeca’s flm is a biopic focusing on the title character who, as a result of his antimafa activity with the trade union, was murdered in 1948 by Luciano Leggio with the help of other members of the Corleonesi. Marcello Mazzarella plays Riina in the television program and Rizzotto in the flm; David Coco plays Provenzano in the television program and in the flm interprets antimafa activist and head of the Italian communist party Pio La Torre who was killed by the Corleonesi in 1982. Many Italian viewers will make this connection and might be prompted to look more kindly on and thus maybe form an allegiance with Riina and Provenzano in the more recent program. Further, in interviews Coco insists upon the authenticity of his performance for two reasons: First, he notes that he is Sicilian and that his dialect is realistic (unlike Dionisi—who plays Leggio—who had to learn Sicilian). Also, he positions himself as a witness to mafa violence in that he came of age on the streets in the 1980s, during the height of the Corleonesi’s streak of assassinations and mafa wars. He notes “to know what was happening, I didn’t need to listen to the news” (Costantini 2007).8 Thus, when considering casting, acting, and performance, the apparently uncomplicated message in L’ultimo dei Corleonesi’s fnale is troubled and allows for a much more comprehensive consideration of viewer allegiance and sympathy in Rai programs. 48 D. RENGA

Performing Evil in “Niente di personale” The episode “Niente di personale” (“Nothing Personal,” Ivano De Matteo, 2010) is from the noir crime series Crimini (Crimes, 2006– 2010), and each stand-alone installment takes place in a different Italian city. Like most Rai programs discussed in this section, the episode is purely fctional and controversies around it are nonexistent. “Nothing Personal” is the only program treated in this book that has a focus on a sympathetic perpetrator with ties to the ’ndrangheta, the mafa of Calabria, and develops the complicated relationship between a victim and an executioner.9 Mariangela (Donatella Finocchiaro) is a lieuten- ant for the Italian army who is married to Marco (Salvatore Lazzaro), a council member who receives a death threat from the ’ndrangheta due to his antimafa activity. Mafa hitman Angelo (Rolando Ravello) is enlisted to kill Mariangela so as to send a message to her husband, but Angelo’s plans change when he realizes that the mafa wants him dead. About half-an-hour into the ninety-fve-minute program, Angelo kid- naps Mariangela and the remainder of the narrative focuses on the curious and intimate rapport between the pair, and their bond borders on interdependence. Angelo diverges from almost all of the serial perpetrators discussed in this book because he is not dashing, charismatic, and attractive. Instead, and similar to Breaking Bad’s Walter White, on the surface he reads like a normal guy with an unexceptional wardrobe and a mundane life. He appears exceedingly trustworthy and he has, in his own words, “the face of anyone.” Like the title character from Dexter, Angelo seems almost unsexual. He does not attract victims because they fall prey to his charms; instead, his targets frequently overlook him. He excels at his job because he is almost unnoticeable and certainly above suspicion. Before completing a hit, he states out loud or thinks to himself “nothing personal,” because, as he explains, he does not commit serial murder due to personal and emotional motivations. Instead, in psychopathic fashion, his lack of affect is because he kills people he had only just met, and about whom he feels indifference or at times he even fnds likable. Also like Dexter, Angelo is a psychopath who routinely performs his normal- ity throughout the episode—shopping at a grocery store, buying fsh at the seaside, holding a stranger’s baby, chatting with his neighbors, or during an interview he jokingly admits to being a professional killer for 2 RAI: “EDUCATE WHILE ENTERTAINING—ENTERTAIN WHILE EDUCATING” … 49 the ’ndrangheta (and is not taken seriously). The other focal murderers, crime lords, drug dealers, and corrupt individuals discussed in this book are alluring. Instead, Angelo’s ordinariness is revealed as an intricate fab- rication, even though he does receive sympathy from his victim. However, his performed and perfected unexceptional veneer begins to show cracks through his relationship with Mariangela with whom he has an emotional attachment. This change in character softens him and renders him more likable. And Mariangela most certainly views her cap- tor with sympathy. At several points in the series, Angelo is presented as somewhat redeemed: He gravely wounds Mariangela’s foot so that she will not escape but he then helps to cure her; he reveals to Mariangela that her husband gave her up to save himself, a move that prompts viewers to view Angelo in a more positive light than the corrupt and cow- ardly Marco; and the two form a quasi-intimate bond through their shared experience on the run. Mariangela is initially presented as physically ft and mentally strong. We frst see her when she is training in the boxing ring, and although her body and face are bruised as a result of intense job training, she does not complain. When with her husband she is softer and appears nostalgic and sentimental. And, although she does eventually shoot Angelo in the foot (this leads to his arrest), she is emotionally fettered to him. “Niente di personale” is in line with several other perpetrator programs discussed by Elisa Giomi and Sveva Magaraggia where women, even those in uniform, are depicted as an at-risk group requiring protection from men (Giomi and Magaraggia 2017, 47). At the end of the episode, Mariangela visits Angelo in prison. He tells her that she is there to look herself in the mirror to see they are alike. He affrms “you are not like me, you know why? Because I am evil.” Mariangela thanks him and takes her leave, her eyes glistening with tears of compassion or absolution.10 During the episode’s concluding moments, Angelo commits yet another murder when he shanks an inmate in the shower after reciting his signature dissociative line. This denouement underlines the dual nature of villains in programs featuring sympathetic perpetrators: Angelo is a cold-blooded murderer who cares not for his victims and a man who solicits sympathy from his victims. Such a self-conscious narrative strategy distances “Niente di personale” from the more complex processes of alignment at work in other series and miniseries featuring charismatic villains. 50 D. RENGA

Heroic antiheroes in Il segreto dell’acqua Il segreto dell’acqua (Palermo Connection, Renato de Maria, 2011) is a six-episode series starring Italian heartthrob actor Riccardo Scamarcio in the role of angst-ridden antiheroic police investigator Angelo Caronia. The series focuses on Caronia’s forced homecoming from Rome to Sicily that is meant to punish him for his arrogant and unapologetic behavior with his Roman colleagues. Before too long, fashbacks reveal Caronia’s criminal past: His father was a Sicilian gangster for whom he and his estranged brother Blasco (Michele Riondino) worked until the stakes got too high, and Angelo decided to leave Palermo to start a new life. Angelo is unlike most of the other members of the police force in Mediaset and Rai programming. He is unmarried, conficted, hot- headed, and introspective. Like Tony Soprano before him, he is in therapy where he seeks answers that will help him make sense of his past. He speaks French, is an avid reader with a penchant for philosophical texts, and is a connoisseur of painting—he has a particular love for Caravaggio whose artwork “puts things into perspective” for him. Although no longer a perpetrator, Angelo is not a heroic fgure (at least in early episodes). He travels to Sicily to, in the words of his therapist, “come to terms with his father and his father’s dark side.” Such a coming-of-age narrative reverberates with the father/son struggle inherent in, for example, the Star Wars saga. Dubbed by director Renato de Maria a “psychological police thriller” (Paolino 2011), Il segreto dell’acqua is the most subdued of all of the programs treated in this book, in particular with regard to the representation of violence. Unlike in the other Rai and Mediaset programs that I discuss, in Il segreto dell’acqua chase and surveillance scenes are minimal and most deaths occur offscreen. Instead, narrative is principally focused on Angelo and his conficts in love and family: He battles his inner demons, suffers heart- ache after falling in love with Blasco’s fancé Daniela (played by flm star Valentina Lodovini), or mourns the deaths of those close to him. Of all of the Rai and Mediaset programs discussed in this book, Il segreto dell’acqua has the lowest average viewership with just over 3,000,000 viewers per episode. Further, the frst episode premiered to a low network share of 14% (Lucas 2011). This number falls roughly 1,300,000– 4,500,000 viewers below the average for six other series and miniseries on Rai and Mediaset.11 Il segreto dell’acqua is dubbed by critics a “fop” (Lucas 2011) and a “failure” (Zamperetti 2011) that “runs the risk of 2 RAI: “EDUCATE WHILE ENTERTAINING—ENTERTAIN WHILE EDUCATING” … 51 being boring” (Paolino). There are few reviews on the series and the vast majority are negative. Reviewers comment critically on the screenplay (Ranucci 2011), dialogue (Paolino 2011), and the series’ slow pace (Zamperetti 2011). However, the focus of most dissenting reviews sur- rounds Scamarcio’s mastery as an actor. For example, Paolino dubs him a “snob” and wonders whether he intentionally ficks his nose or if such behavior comes naturally (Paolino 2011). Ranucci and Paolino compare Scamarcio’s failed interpretation of Angelo Caronia to what they deem to be other “successful” portrayals of heroic antiheroes: The former evokes Idris Elba’s Luther in the eponymous British crime drama (2010–2018), while the latter cites Hugh Laurie as House in the American medical series of the same name (2004–2012).12 Further, Ranucci indicts Scamarcio’s acting, noting that his frequent “winks” to viewers ultimately make the series unenjoyable (Ranucci 2011), and I will return to Scamarcio’s eyes throughout my discussion of Il segreto dell’acqua. Catherine O’Rawe has written extensively on Scamarcio as actor and on his star status. In particular, she examines his struggles to be taken seriously as he endeavored to transition from teen heartthrob in popular teen flms such Tre metri sopra il cielo (Three Steps over Heaven, Luca Lucini, 2004) and Ho voglia di te (I Want You, Luis Prieto, 2007) to legitimate actor in more “serious” flms such as the terrorist flm La prima linea (The Front Line, 2009) also directed by Renato De Maria.13 In her discussion of the earlier flms, O’Rawe focuses on the diegetic gaze of the character Scamarcio interprets, and the extradiegetic eyes of the actor himself. Scamarcio’s gaze outward to the camera is also a “gaze out to his fans” whose extradiegetic gaze he returns (O’Rawe 2014, 26–27). In O’Rawe’s astute reading, this interplay of gazes adds complexity to the critically “despised genre” that is teen flm, while redeeming Scamarcio’s “abject female” fan base (O’Rawe 2014, 28). Scamarcio’s gaze also fgures prominently in La prima linea when at the beginning of the flm, ex-left-wing terrorist Sergio Segio speaks to the camera and sets the stage for the resultant narrative that chronicles the rise and fall of the terrorist group. In earlier teen flms, the actor’s “brooding melancholy” and underacting shore up his star status (O’Rawe 2014, 26). In La prima linea, Scamarcio’s acting is characterized by an apparent absence of emotion, most likely, as O’Rawe makes apparent, in order to disavow Scamarcio’s star status and avoid polemics associated with casting a well-known and good-looking actor in the role of a terrorist.14 52 D. RENGA

Scamarcio began his career as a television actor with a supporting role in the television series Compagni di scuola (Classmates, 2001), a teen comedy that ran for one season on Rai. After making it in the flm world, he returned to television to star in the historical epic La freccia rosa (The Black Arrow, 2005) based upon the Robert Louis Stevenson novel. Scamarcio’s 2011 return to television was discussed by critics as a desire on the part of the actor to rise above his teen flm fame and to try something new because he “struggles to fnd roles in engaged flms” (Armocida 2010).15 Scamarcio had major roles in critically acclaimed flms focusing on serious topics, such as terrorism (La prima linea), political strife (Mio fratello è fglio unico/My Brother is an Only Child, Daniele Luchetti, 2007), illegal immigration (Eden à l’ouest/Eden is West, Costa-Gavras, 2009), organized crime (Romanzo criminale/Crime Story, Michele Placido, 2005), and coming out to a conservative family (Mine vaganti/Loose Cannons, Ferzan Ozpetek, 2010). With two exceptions, these flms are not mentioned in discussions of Scamarcio’s television homecoming in Il segreto dell’acqua.16 Instead, the vast majority of the pieces on the series (reviews, previews) introduce Scamarcio via his teen flm fame.17 It would appear that reviewers cannot see beyond Scamarcio’s teen idol status. As I will discuss, neither can those involved in the production of Il segreto dell’acqua. However, the program is conscious of both Scamarcio’s fan base as a result of his reluctant teen idol status and his recent successes as a serious actor in middlebrow flms (most likely helped by De Maria’s directing of both La prima linea and Il segreto dell’acqua). Angelo Caronia is an amalgam of dreamboat rebel (referencing his characters from the Lucini and Prieto flms), introspective loner (Il Nero from Romanzo criminale and Eden is West’s Elias), committed agent (as in My Brother is an Only Child or La prima linea), and humor- ist dealing with family baggage (Loose Cannon’s Tommaso). Angelo transforms from ladies’ man to committed companion; from defant subordinate to revered leader; from self-declared loner to part of a team; and from someone who, in his own words, wanted to be a criminal and take his father’s place, to the person who put his father behind bars. Viewers familiar with other characters interpreted by Scamarcio might fnd something comfortable in Angelo Caronia, a heroic antihero who recalls, at least in part, many of the antiheroic fgures referenced above. At the same time, it is interesting that Il segreto dell’acqua blatantly foregrounds Scamarcio’s earlier teen star roles through a persistent focus on 2 RAI: “EDUCATE WHILE ENTERTAINING—ENTERTAIN WHILE EDUCATING” … 53 his face—in particular his eyes—and his body. Angelo Caronia is a poly- valent and complex protagonist at odds with the more unidimensional hero who is traditionally the focus of Rai programming. Now, back to Scamarcio’s eyes. The series begins with Angelo in the church San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome where he contemplates three paintings by Caravaggio on the calling, inspiration, and martyrdom of St. Matthew. The subject of the incipit is not Caravaggio’s masterworks, but Scamarcio’s eyes that “made many young girls lose their minds” (Speich 2011). A series of three medium close-ups of Angelo as he peruses the paintings alternates with point-of-view shots of the artwork: The frst reveals the fngers of the angel in “The Inspiration of St. Matthew” (1602), the second, from the same painting, shows St. Matthew’s intense gaze and his hands writing the Gospel, and the third focuses briefy on the group of men in the “The Calling of St. Matthew” (1599–1600) and then, also feetingly, on the scene of “The Martyrdom of St. Matthew” (1599–1600). The camera then cuts to a succession of two extreme close-up shots of Angelo’s eyes (see Fig. 2.1), each followed by point-of- view shots of various details of St. Matthew’s execution. In the second of these shots, his eyes appear laden with tears. The focus on Angelo’s eyes—the “winks” to the audience mentioned earlier—has an extradiegetic address to the actor’s wide fan base,

Fig. 2.1 Angelo (Riccardo Scamarcio) contemplates Caravaggio in Il segreto dell’acqua 54 D. RENGA and O’Rawe notes that Scamarcio’s eyes are “seen as one of his most attractive features” (O’Rawe 2014, 26). This scene also draws an obvious parallel between Angelo and St. Matthew—the Saint’s symbol is an angel—and sets the stage for a Bildungsroman with a focus on a conversion narrative. And, when ten minutes into the series Angelo begins to see a therapist (Roberto Herlitzka), Il segreto dell’acqua takes the shape of a confessional. The intimate confessional tone might prompt viewers to align with Angelo as he struggles to, in the words of one of the books he reads, “free himself from his father fgure.” As is unveiled throughout the series, the corrupt father Ruggero Santocastro (Luigi Maria Burruano) is behind the aqueous mysteries—murders, bribery, water shortages—that are at the center of the detective narrative. However, the real secret of water is Angelo himself who is regularly shown shirtless or otherwise semi-clad around or in water. He attempts to take a shower without success due to lack of water, pours bottled water on his chest and back in front of a mirror, bathes in the ocean, and takes a shower after he sleeps with a photographer. This last example is telling in its explicit referencing to Ho voglia di te. After the photographer agrees to provide Angelo with images necessary to his investigation, she looks at him and states with desire “I’m in the mood.” She adds “with no strings attached,” and the camera cuts to what is implied to be a post-coital shot of Angelo where he takes a shower for the frst time in almost three full episodes. His eyes are closed and he appears refective (a mood underlined by the melancholic score; see Fig. 2.2). His companion watches him and raises her camera to photograph him unawares (his eyes remain closed throughout), but when she realizes that Angelo is immersed in his own thoughts, she puts the device down and gazes at him with affection. This scene straightforwardly evokes the title of the Prieto flm in the desirous phrase “I want you.” Further, the use of the camera is interesting when considering the “paparazzi trope” in Ho voglia di te, which, as O’Rawe makes clear, inscribes “a sense of [the protagonist’s] celebrity status into the flm” (O’Rawe 2014, 27), while furthering Scamarcio’s star prestige. In Ho voglia di te, heartthrob protagonist Step is photographed unknowingly by a woman he eventually falls for. In Il segreto dell’acqua, Angelo’s solemn affect makes his admirer think twice, and instead, she takes him seriously and respects his privacy. Taken as a whole, this scene offers a compelling commentary upon the evolution of Scamarcio’s star status. Akin to the process at work in L’uomo perfetto (The Perfect Man, Luca Lucini, 2 RAI: “EDUCATE WHILE ENTERTAINING—ENTERTAIN WHILE EDUCATING” … 55

Fig. 2.2 Angelo is spied upon when he fnally showers in Il segreto dell’acqua

2005) as discussed by O’Rawe and Reich, Il segreto dell’acqua negotiates tensions between being a teen idol and a “man of culture and engaged actor” (O’Rawe and Reich 2015, 144). And De Maria closes the series on this other Scamarcio. The fnal scene shows Angelo walking to board his plane, his gaze is fxed forward toward the camera, and his face and eyes are lacking in emotion. In Il segreto dell’acqua’s closing moments, Angelo more closely resembles Segio in La prima linea than Step in the earlier teen flms. In Angelo Caronia, Rai puts forward an unconventional detective, which might explain low viewer ratings. In answering the question “Why isn’t anyone watching it? It’s not good? I don’t think so,” one reviewer explains:

The problem is that the protagonist is not the usual priest, not the nice policeman, the easy-going and clumsy commissioner, hence he’s not the typical mush from the state network, but something new […] And then Scamarcio and Lodovini are cinematic faces and not the usual televisual faces who are well-known and appreciated by the classic small-town housewife who tunes into oldie but goodie Rai 1. (Zamperetti 2011)

Zamperetti’s frst point speaks to the Rai’s editorial policy discussed in the introduction to the Rai section (i.e., a tendency to produce socially 56 D. RENGA committed programming).18 It is quite possible that a nuanced heroic antihero like Angelo Caronia breaks the mold of the typical Rai protagonist and estranges the routine viewer who might not be used to problematic characters whose motives are not clear-cut. Caronia bears a much closer likeness to Sky and Netfix antiheroes than to the heroes on Rai and Mediaset. For example, he is initially unstable, sheds many tears, has a diffcult backstory as a criminal whose father would not recognize him, is plagued by memories of his perpetrator past, undergoes a complex redemption narrative, and is charismatic and funny, and women are drawn to him. He also is not afforded the happy ending common to Rai and Mediaset programs—although he solves the case, he does not get the girl, and he remains a loner. In Zamperetti’s second point is clear a verdict on the gendered demo- graphic of Rai 1’s viewership, by which “housewives” are not capable of appreciating flm actors gracing small screens. Zamperetti’s disparaging and simplistic comment implies that Rai 1 has a very restricted viewership with limited tastes. Instead, as is clear in social media fan pages and web and blogging sites, the series did fnd a fervently committed fan base with a variety of viewing publics. A reviewer for the Italian newspaper La Stampa positively reviewed the flm after she received a “reprimands from readers and blogging and Facebook friends” for not yet critically assessing the series which has, in her view, a dedicated fan club (Comazzi 2011). Several Scamarcio Facebook fan sites posted about the series, and user comments are overwhelmingly positive. For example, in reaction to the post on the series by the Facebook Page “Riccardo Scamarcio,” user comments focus on Scamarcio’s skill as an actor and the high quality of the series, with only a minority of comments devoted to his beauty (Facebook 2011).19 Further, gay and straight blogging sites are more voyeuristic and include posts devoted to sex scenes featuring the actor, or other moments where he is semi-naked.20 Like the bulk of the Rai series addressed in this section, Il segreto dell’acqua is purely fctional. The series did become the center of media attention in 2012 when it was revealed that the mafa had tried to blackmail series production company Magnolia Fiction, and the investigation led to forty-one arrests (Chimera 2012). One writer notes that Magnolia Fiction might decide to make a flm about the debacle, possibly starring Scamarcio himself (Chimera 2012). Il segreto dell’acqua is similar to Mediaset’s L’onore e il rispetto discussed later in this book in that the 2 RAI: “EDUCATE WHILE ENTERTAINING—ENTERTAIN WHILE EDUCATING” … 57 majority of the critical comments on both series focus not on the quality of the product, but on the face of the antihero. In the case of Il segreto dell’acqua, such a narrow emphasis fails to take into account how acting, performance, stardom, and reception open up the series to interesting conversations regarding the unconventional representation of heroic antiheroes on Italy’s public broadcasting network.

Notes 1. See Monteleone (2005, 346) and Chiarenza (2002, 69). Haworth discusses Rai’s pedagogical and homogenizing mission (Haworth 2015, 3). 2. For a succinct account of Rai’s history from the perspective of the network, see Rai (2014). 3. For 2007–2013, see Brevini and Swiatek (2017, 183); for 2015 and 2016, see Statista (2018). 2014 data is unavailable. 4. Rai Fiction was one of the co-producers behind Netfix Italia’s Suburra. La serie (2017), which, in its focus on good-looking and alluring antiheroes, one of whom is gay, marks a shift for the network. This series is treated in the last section of this book. 5. Films on the ’ndrangheta include: Il brigante Musolino (Outlaw Girl, Mario Camerini, 1950) Il coraggio di parlare (The Courage to Speak, Leandro Castellani, 1987), and Anime nere (Black Souls, Francesco Munzi, 2014). 6. Other grumblings involve the decision to not make mention of mafa- turncoat Tommaso Buscetta and to “‘strategically omit” the last names of politicians with ties to the mafa (Capasso 2007). 7. Grasso insightfully comments on the challenges and limitations involved in representing history on screen: “Of course an event like Provenzano’s capture does not become history because it becomes a made-for-television movie: real history is constructed gradually when all of the truths are brought out into the light” (Capasso 2007). 8. In 2016, Stefano Dionisi (who plays Leggio) was arrested for possession of marijuana, and articles are quick to point out Dionisi’s role in L’ultimo dei Corleonesi (De Santis 2016). Dionisi also played a drug dealer in the Rai television series La narcotici (Michele Soavi, Narcotics, 2011–2015). 9. John Dickie explains the criminal organization’s relative “invisibility” with respect to other mafas because Calabria, unlike Campania or Sicily, “is not a key political region” (Dickie 2013, 201). 10. Like the performance of normalcy at work in Dexter, the staging of mun- daneness in “Niente di personale” lays bare “the excuses society is willing 58 D. RENGA

to extend to masculinity, and the expectations placed on women to support manly behavior” (Boudreau 2016, 177). 11. For complete viewing numbers, see the Tables in this book. On Rai, Il Sistema averaged 4,280,000 viewers for the six-episode series and the miniseries L’ultimo dei Corleonesi drew in 6,360,000 viewers. On Mediaset, Il capo dei capi saw 7,540,000 viewers for each of the six episodes, the miniseries L’ultimo padrino banked 5,930,000 viewers, the eight-episode Il clan dei camorrista averaged 4,443,000 viewers per episode, and the fve season L’onore e il rispetto attracted 4,900,000 average viewers. 12. Paolino’s comment is most likely in response to an interview that Scamarcio gave in the magazine Grazia when the actor compared Caronia to Dr. House. According to Scamarcio, Caronia isn’t the “good, romantic hero. On the contrary, he has all of the qualities of an antagonist, a bit like the protagonists of recent American television series, like Dr. House” (Speich 2011). 13. See O’Rawe’s 2014 book and O’Rawe and Jacqueline Reich’s co-authored volume (2015, 139–44) for thorough and productive discussions of Scamarcio’s career as star. In particular, in O’Rawe’s book, chapter one addresses Scamarcio’s career trajectory (23–44) and a subsection of chapter six addresses controversies around casting Scamarcio as a terrorist in La prima linea (141–47). 14. O’Rawe observes that Scamarcio’s “lack of affect is part of the flmmaker’s avowed attempt to distance the audience from the character following the polemics that accompanied the flm’s production” (O’Rawe 2014, 146). 15. Comments such as these speak to O’Rawe’s point about Scamarcio’s career “being marked by a perceived desire for legitimacy” (O’Rawe 2014, 35). 16. The two exceptions are Lucas, who mentions Scamarcio’s roles in the Luchetti and Ozpetek flms (2011), and Robiony who cites Mine vaganti and La prima linea (2010). 17. Such references are plentiful. For example, see Armocida (2010), Lucas (2011), and Domy93 (2011). 18. Zamperetti is not alone in his opinion regarding Il segreto dell’acqua’s relative unpopularity as tied to its star cast. Lucas notes that Scamarcio and Lodovini are two “two anomalous faces for Italian television” (Lucas 2011). 19. Similar reactions are found on several other Riccardo Scamarcio Facebook fan pages. 20. For example, see Blogo (2011). Also, Fsfrau (2011) comments that such scenes liven up “a really heavy series.” 2 RAI: “EDUCATE WHILE ENTERTAINING—ENTERTAIN WHILE EDUCATING” … 59

References Abruzzese, Alberto. 2004. Lessico della comunicazione. Roma: Meltemi. Armocida, Pedro. 2010. “Scamarcio deluso dal cinema s’inventa detective televisivo.” Ilgiornale.it, July 5. Accessed May 18, 2018. http://www.ilgiornale.it/ news/scamarcio-deluso-cinema-s-inventa-detective-televisivo.html. Barra, Luca, and Massimo Scaglioni. 2015. “Saints, Cops, and Camorristi. Editorial Policies and Production Models of Italian TV Fiction.” Series: International Journal of TV Serial Narratives 1: 65–76. Bauman, Rebecca. 2018. “Masculinity, Melodrama and Quality TV: Reviewing La piovra.” Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies 6 (2): 209–22. Bertazzoni, Chiara. 2007. “L’ultimo dei Corleonesi.” Thriller Magazine, January 3. Accessed September 17, 2017. http://www.thrillermagazine. it/4156/l-ultimo-dei-corleonesi. Boudreau, Brenda. 2016. “‘Out Like a Man’: Straddling the Postfeminist Fence in Dexter and Breaking Bad.” In Screening Images of American Masculinity in the Age of Postfeminism, edited by Elizabeth Abele and John A. Gronbeck- Tedesco, 181–86. Lanham: Lexington Books. Brevini, Benedetta, and Lukasz Swiaket. 2017. “Mediaset (Gruppo Mediaset).” In Global Media Giants, edited by Benjamin Birkinbine, Rodrigo Gomez, and Janet Wasko, 181–190. London and New York: Routledge. Buonanno, Milly. 2012. Italian TV Drama and Beyond: Stories from the Soil, Stories from the Sea. London and Chicago: Intellect. Capasso, Gabriele. 2007. “Stasera ‘L’ultimo dei Corleonesi.’” TVblog, February 14. Accessed September 16, 2017. http://www.tvblog.it/post/4432/stasera- lultimo-dei-corleonesi. Chiarenza, Franco. 2002. Il cavallo morente: Storia della RAI. Milano: Francoangeli. Chimera, Manuela. 2012. “Il segreto dell’acqua: estorsione della mafa a danni della fction con Riccardo Scamarcio.” Televisionando.it, October 23. Accessed May 20, 2018. https://www.televisionando.it/articolo/il-segre- to-dell-acqua-estorsione-della-mafa-a-danni-della-fction-con-riccardo-scamarcio/81995/. Comazzi, Alessandra. 2011. “I segreti dell’segreto dell’acqua.” La Stampa, September 30. Accessed May 18, 2018. https://www.lastampa.it/2011/ 09/30/blogs/cose-di-tele/i-segreti-del-segreto-dell-acqua-VXwsgmxZiKZb- NUgFPSJ5EL/pagina.html. Costantini, Emilia. 2007. “Lite Rai—Mediaset per la fction sui boss di mafa.” Digital-news.it, February 13. Accessed September 16, 2017. https://www. digital-news.it/news.php?id 8358. = 60 D. RENGA

De Santis, Giulio. 2016. “Droga, 4 mesi a Stefano Dionisi: Il processo dopo una notte in cella.” Corriere della sera, May 9. Accessed September 25, 2017. http://roma.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/16_maggio_09/droga-4-mesi-stefano-dionisi-processo-una-notte-cella-d7042e48-160f-11e6-b246-a80944d- 1fa5b.shtml. Dickie, John. 2013. “Historicizing Italy’s Other Mafas: Some Considerations.” The Italianist 33 (2): 201–4. Domy93. 2011. “Il segreto dell’acqua.” News TV, September 11. Accessed May 19, 2018. https://notizietv.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/il-segreto-dellacqua-ecco-la-trama-delle-prime-due-puntate-in-onda-domenica-e-lunedi-su- raiuno-alle-21-15/. Facebook. 2011. “Stasera su Rai una alle 21:30.” Facebook, September 11. Accessed May 18, 2018. https://www.facebook.com/Riccardo-Scamarcio- 275418929141345/. Ferrari, Chiara. 2012. “‘National Mike’: Global Host and Global Formats in Early Italian Television.” In Global Television Formats: Understanding Television Across Brders, edited by Tasha Oren and Sharon Shahaf, 128–47. New York and London: Routledge. Fsfrau. 2011. “Riccardo Scamarcio nudo in ‘Il segreto dell’acqua.’” Tuttouomini, September 15. Accessed May 19, 2018. https://www.tuttouomini.it/riccardo-scamarcio-nudo-in-il-segreto-dellacqua/22959/?utm_source twitter- = feed&utm_medium twitter. = Fumarola, Silvia. 2007. “Ascesa e caduta dei Corleonesi.” La Repubblica, February 13. Accessed September 16, 2017. http://ricerca.repubblica.it/ repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2007/02/13/ascesa-caduta-dei-corleonesi. html. Giomi, Elisa, and Sveva Magaraggia. 2017. Relazioni brutali: Genere e violenza nella cultura mediale. Bologna: Il Mulino. Haworth, Rachel. 2015. “Marking a Star on the Small Screen: The Case of Mina and RAI.” Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies 3 (1–2): 27–41. I veri numeri. 2017. “Sono gli anziani a salvare gli ascolti della Rai.” I veri numeri, June 12. Accessed June 10, 2018. https://www.truenumbers.it/ ascolti-rai/. Keslassy, Elsa, and Nick Vivarelli. 2017. “Rai Fiction Looks to Conquer International Audiences.” Variety, November 29. Accessed June 10, 2018. https://variety.com/2017/tv/global/rai-fction-looks-to-conquer- international-audiences-1202625573/. La prealpina. 2016. “‘Il sistema’, su Rai1 lotta alla Mafa Capitale con Gioè e Pession.” La prealpina, April 14. Accessed June 10, 2018. http://www.prealpina.it/pages/il-sistema-su-rai1-lotta-alla-mafia-capitale-con-gioe-e-pession-113391.html. 2 RAI: “EDUCATE WHILE ENTERTAINING—ENTERTAIN WHILE EDUCATING” … 61

Lucas, Lord. 2011. “Non è una tv per il cinema: i fop più clamorosi di Scamarcio, Lodovini e Timi.” Blogo, September 13. Accessed May 17, 2018. http://www.tvblog.it/post/27385/non-e-una-tv-per-il-cinema-i-flop- piu-clamorosi-di-scamarcio-lodovini-e-timi. Monteleone, Franco. 2005. Storia della radio e della televisione in Italia. Costume, società e politica. Venezia: Marsilio. O’Rawe, Catherine. 2014. Stars and Masculinities in Contemporary Italian Cinema. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. O’Rawe, Catherine, and Jacqueline Reich. 2015. Divi: La mascolinità nel cinema italiano. Rome: Donzelli editore. Padovani, Cinzia. 2007. A Fatal Attraction: Public Television and Politics in Italy. Lanham and Boulder: Rowman & Littlefeld. Paolino. 2011. “Il segreto dell’acqua: un poliziesco psicologico che rischia di annoiare, complice uno Scamarcio snob (per necessità o natura?).” Blogo, September 11. Accessed May 16, 2018. http://www.tvblog.it/post/27325/ il-segreto-dellacqua-prima-puntata-recensione. Pekic, Branislav. 2017. “Italy: Audiences Down for Rai, Sky; Up for Mediaset.” Advanced Television, October 24. Accessed June 3, 2018. https:// advanced-television.com/2017/10/24/italy-audiences-down-for- rai-sky-up-for-mediaset/. Rai. 2014. “Cenni storici.” Rai, Accessed June 9, 2018. http://www.rai. it/dl/rai/text/ContentItem-20844e48-74d8-44fe-a6f4-7c224c96e8e4. html?refresh_ce. Ranucci, Simone. 2011. “Recensione: il segreto dell’acqua.” NewNotizie, September 16. Accessed May 13, 2018. https://www.newnotizie. it/2011/09/16/recensione-il-segreto-dellacqua/. Rosenstone, Robert A. 2017. History on Film: Film on History, 3rd ed. Oxon and New York: Routledge. Speich, Marina. 2011. “Riccardo Scamarcio: Re Riccardo.” Grazia, September 8. Accessed May 19, 2018. https://www.grazia.it/stile-di-vita/interviste/ riccardo-scamarcio-re-riccardo. Statista. n.d. “Average Daily Audience Share of TV Broadcasters in Italy in 2015 and 2016.” Statista, no date. Accessed June 9, 2018. https://www.statista.com/statistics/803588/average-daily-audience- share-of-tv-broadcasters-italy/. Twitter. 2018. “Informare, educare, divertire e valorizzare il patrimonio cul- turale.” Twitter, March 20. Accessed June 8, 2018. https://twitter.com/ Raioffcialnews/status/976141517613096960/. Vivarelli, Nick. 2017. “Rai Raises the Drama Series Bar.” Variety, October 16. Accessed June 11, 2018. https://variety.com/2017/tv/markets-festivals/ rai-raises-drama-series-bar-1202588628/. 62 D. RENGA

Wikipedia. 2017. “L’ultimo dei Corleonesi.” Wikipedia.it. Accessed September 18, 2017. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27ultimo_dei_Corleonesi. Zamperetti, Nicola. 2011. “Il segreto dell’acqua con Riccardo Scamarcio: un insuccesso di Rai 1 senza troppi segreti.” LaNostraTV.it, September 20. Accessed May 20, 2018. http://www.lanostratv.it/2011/09/il-segreto-dellacqua-con-riccardo-scamarcio-un-insuccesso-di-rai-1-senza-troppi-segreti/. CHAPTER 3

Mediaset’s Middlebrow Model: Il capo dei capi, L’ultimo padrino, Il clan dei camorristi, and L’onore e il rispetto

This section treats one miniseries and three series that all screened on Mediaset’s leading “fagship” channel Canale 5 to much popular success between the years of 2006 and 2017: L’onore e il rispetto (Honor and Respect, various directors, fve seasons: 2006, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2017) Il capo dei capi (The Boss of Bosses, Enzo Monteleone and Alexis Sweet, miniseries: 2007), L’ultimo padrino (The Last Godfather, Marco Risi, one season: 2008), and Il clan dei camorristi (The Camorra Clan, Alexis Sweet and Alessandro Angelini, one season: 2013). With the exception of the soap-operaesque L’onore e il rispetto that was produced by Ares Film, the other programs came out of Taodue. Taodue is a production company known for putting out a diverse programming palette with a signature style that hooks viewers who have come to expect a slate of popular and fast-paced narratives with a criminal focus.1 In 1984, Silvio Berlusconi ruled the commercial Italian television networks through the Italian holding company Fininvest that is now controlled by the Berlusconi family. Fininvest created a duopoly in Italian broadcasting, giving its public competitor Rai a run for its money (Mediaset.it, 2017). As Luca Barra and Massimo Scaglioni note, the 1980s should be considered a signifcant turning point in Italian media culture in that “Berlusconi’s TV profoundly transformed Italy’s media world and cultural milieu.” In particular, they point out how Berlusconi channels expanded the scope of genre offerings, dramatically altered how programs were scheduled, and introduced an elaborate network of advertisers and marketing strategies (Barra and Scaglioni 2013, 80–82).

When it was founded in 1987, the commercial, private, and fnancially robust television network Mediaset looked to American prime-time serials for inspiration and added original programming to a familiar network lineup of Italian movies and American television series. Mediaset has a lengthy history of producing police thrillers that have drawn in large audiences who watch the action unfold in their homes over the course of months or years. The network’s programming is quite variable, however, and consists of original content that aired primarily on Canale 5. In addition to the popular cop shows, the network produced soap operas, sitcoms, family dramas and comedies, and “mega popular melodrama” (Barra and Scaglioni 2015, 69). Mediaset content expanded upon current offerings available only on the public channels and “flled a programming gap” that Rai could not achieve (Amienyi and Soler- Burguillos 1966, 88). Mediaset, principally owned with a 39.5% share by Fininvest, is the largest commercial broadcaster in Italy (Mediaset.it, 2017). In the context of proft-oriented television programming, Berlusconi is frequently synonymous with the “velina” or television showgirl, a term that “redefned popular culture,” particularly because many Italian television showgirls featuring on Mediaset’s channels followed Berlusconi into politics after his party’s 1994 victory, a win that launched him into offce as prime minister (Wolff 2009). Aside from a joke here or there, television showgirls do not speak, and they spend their screen time dancing, sometimes singing, or silently standing by, aiding the star persona. As Danielle Hipkins has shown, the media has a history of vilifying girls who work toward stardom through performance. Ironically, however, the “fgure of the showgirl is the most internationally notorious trade- mark of Italian television” (Hipkins 2012, 154–55), a national emblem most likely created in the media as a result of the many global scandals associated with Berlusconi involving young and under-aged women, many of whom made their breakthrough in television while working as showgirls.2 Needless to say, the focus on the sexualized (and frequently voiceless) female body on the small screen participates in a gendered typecasting system frequently at work on Rai and Mediaset programming (and to a lesser extent on Sky and Netfix). For example, female characters are represented as perennially supportive wives and mothers; straight and narrow defenders of justice who rarely have an onscreen love interest; doomed seductresses out for revenge, power, or money; innocent and beautiful women who fall for the wrong guy and pay for their 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 65 poor choices (most frequently with their demise which is meant to punish their love interest); or desexualized characters who support the men in their lives, never expecting anything in return (often because these women feel that they do not deserve happiness). For the most part, and unlike in the programs discussed in the section devoted to Sky TV, the women who appear in the four Mediaset series and miniseries treated in this section are quite fat in their representation. Female characters fall into two principal categories. The frst represents women who unfalteringly love and support the men in their lives, be they bad guys or good guys, and this is the case with Il capo dei capi, L’ultimo padrino, and Il clan dei camorristi. The second involves women who are cast as law enforcement offcers, frequently in marginalized roles, and work tirelessly to bring about the downfall of the criminal wrongdoer, a dynamic most apparent in Il clan dei camorristi. On the other end of the spectrum, L’onore e il rispetto is the most interesting Mediaset program in terms of gender, as, primarily due to the soap opera nature of the long-running series, bad women are redeemed and switch sides and good female cops fall for bad male leads. Whether madly in love with them, steadfastly standing by them, or implacable in their mission to bring them to justice, the lives of the women in these programs are centered around the men in their lives, and this is particularly the case with women attracted to perpetrators. What, then, does the Mediaset focal villain look like? With the exception of Il capo dei capi’s Salvatore (Totò) Riina (Claudio Gioè), the perpetrators are, to different extents, conficted about their criminal endeavors and take steps to protect friends and family in peril, make decisions to engage in minimal bloodshed when necessary, and stand against adversaries who are much more brutal and less intelligent. However, Mediaset perpetrators are lacking in the charisma that defnes the men who feature in Sky shows. For example, I intended to include a study of the police thriller Le mani dentro la città (Hands Inside of the City, Alessandro Angelini, 2014) that focuses on the battle against the ’ndrangheta (the mafa that originates in Calabria) in the fctional city of Trebbiate outside of Milan. Despite the more balanced focus on both mafosi and crime fghters apparent in the frst episode, the series, which only ran one season, is much more interested in developing the conficted persona of the crime fghter while every mobster is overtly cruel and violent and completely unredeemable. Thus, and like in many Mediaset and Rai productions, sympathies lie with the good guys. 66 D. RENGA

To return to the perpetrator template common to Mediaset programming, with the exception of L’ultimo padrino whose protagonist is elderly and infrm, these men are conventionally attractive, and women easily fall under their spell and for the most part ignore their criminal exploits as the payoff (sex, wealth, exhilaration) outweighs associated risks. Like their Sky equivalents, Mediaset men are crafty and out-plan their opponents to ensure personal gain and professional advancement. Further, and dissimilar to most Sky programs addressed in this book, Totò Riina, “Uncle” (Michele Placido, L’ultimo padrino), Francesco Russo (Giuseppe Zeno, Il clan dei camorristi), and Tonio Fortebracci (Gabriel Garko, L’onore e il rispetto) are all pitted against someone on the “right” side of the law, and this homosocial rivalry drives the narrative, creates suspense, and creates spaces for the chase and surveillance scenes common to these programs. At the same time and similar to the Rai series, signifcant space is allotted to the development of the hero narrative. This narrative continuity renders these programs and the villains who feature in them much less ambiguous than Sky and Netfix series, while allowing for narrative closure wherein the bad guy is arrested and brought to justice and good triumphs over evil (this is the case in Il capo dei capi, L’ultimo padrino, and Il clan dei camorristi). Such an amalgam allows for multiple viewing positionalities as fans can root for the bad guy and then breathe a sigh of relief when he gets his comeuppance. Like Rai, a more balanced representation across the good-evil spectrum brings in more viewers while attracting advertisers who might be cautious about buying time on a network that could be seen to condone villainous behavior. Il capo dei capi, L’ultimo padrino, and Il clan dei camorristi all present a view of history whereby the mafa can be defeated (albeit momentarily). At the same time, the majority of the Mediaset series covered here ignite controversy regardless of their more tempered representation of malfeasance, most particularly because content is based upon real historical fgures and events (with the exception of L’onore e il rispetto). Given their immense popularity, star casts, and the polemics that the programs raise, it is interesting that scholarship on these series is nonexistent (except for a brief mention here or there in an essay or a compendium). The perceived middlebrow character of these four programs might have suppressed meaningful dialogue on and around them. This section remedies this lacuna by foregrounding how these programs engage with matters of identity (in the programs themselves and of those 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 67 who watch them), participate in a process of negotiating “social change,” and “contribute to the writing of [television] history,” three important considerations surrounding middlebrow cinema that can productively be applied to television studies.3

Antihero/Hero Antecedents When composing the television corpus for this book, I initially planned to include a chapter on Michele Soavi’s popular 2001 miniseries Uno bianca.4 Starring the good-looking Kim Rossi Stuart in one of his earlier roles, the title of the miniseries announces a focus on the notorious criminal gang of the same name that was headed by brothers Roberto, Fabio, and Alberto Savi. With the exception of Alberto Savi, the gang was composed of policemen and was active in the Northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Promotional material out of Mediaset announces that Uno bianca tells the story of “two antiheroes involved in events larger than they are” (Mediaset.it, 2001). Ten minutes or so into the series, I wondered when I would meet these antiheroes, as narrative had up until then focused on a group of outwardly upstanding policemen who seemed anything but corrupt. Inspectors Valerio Maldesi (Rossi Stuart) and Rocco Atria (Dino Abbrescia) are heroes and not antiheroes, and work tirelessly to put an end to the criminal organization that had historically “terrorized” the region for seven years and allegedly killed twenty-four people and wounded 114 (Lillo 2012). Uno bianca is a striking counterexample to the rest of the visual documents treated in this book and makes clear the dramatic transformation in the representation of the villain on Italian television from 2001 to 2006. The title and promotion around the series announces a focus on perpetrators. Instead, the vast majority of the series centers upon Maldesi and his quest to bring down the gang and avenge the death of Emilio, Valdesi’s best friend and partner murdered early in the program. Rossi Stuart accentuates Uno bianca’s ethical stance, noting that “evil is everywhere […] and when it arrives at the level of the Savi brothers it is diabolical.” He describes the policemen who took down the gang as “exceptional, generous” and dedicated (Cesarale 2001). Unlike other recent small-screen Italian antiheroes, bad guys in the miniseries are far from glamorous and are lacking in any redeeming qualities—for example they commit murder without remorse—and are depicted as brutish, 68 D. RENGA sadistic racists motivated by a thirst for wealth (possibly, as they are so underdeveloped). Some criminals are cruel to love interests, most of them grimace regularly and rarely smile or laugh, and we know little to nothing about them outside of their illegal activity. However, the good guys are just that and share some of the qualities intrinsic to the serial perpetrator identikit discussed earlier in the introduction: They feel profoundly, have love interests, and other individuals on the side of justice look up to them. In that they are on the just path; however, they do not do anything “wrong” for which they need feel badly, and they are lacking in a backstory that would need to explain their villainous behavior. Music and montage also underscore the flm’s Manichean message: Slow motion camera is a frequent trope to accentuate Maldesi’s focus on the task at hand or his consternation regarding, for example, police ineff- ciency or the wrongdoers’ achievements; close-ups emphasize scowling villains or determined good guys; the suspenseful (and repetitive) score is heard during police chases to position viewers on the side of justice. Further, contrary to historical events, the real-life Maldesi never infltrated the gang and experienced how they functioned from within. Uno bianca follows the traditional cop-show “formula” as discussed by Madeleine K. MacMurraugh-Kavanagh whereby at the outset the villain disturbs the status quo, and then, the “‘maverick’ detective hero” discloses the villain’s identity before said villain is apprehended. In the end, all can rest assured that the bad guys deserve what they had coming to them and that social order is as it should be (MacMurraugh-Kavanagh 2000, 40). Such programs put forward a clear-cut good/bad guy binary while reassuring and comforting viewers. However, like many programs treated in this book, Una bianca still met with controversy from both victims and perpetrators. Ex-Uno bianca members and those close to them took legal action to block the series, and as a result, all names were changed when it was eventually released (Dipollina 2001 and Cesarale 2001). This historical elision led family members of victims to be quite upset.5 Moreover, Anna Maria Stefanini, who is the mother of a policeman killed by the gang, laments that the narrative focus is on the “two good policemen who come to the rescue” and not the corrupt policemen who were focal gang members. Further, Rosanna Zecchi, who heads the Uno bianca Victim’s Association, notes that the miniseries fails to represent the “cruelty” of the Savi brothers (Fumarola 2001). Zecchi also believes (at the time of writing) that Uno bianca members should not be forgiven for their crimes—this is her response to Alberto Savi’s 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 69 request for forgiveness from Archbishop Zuppi in Bologna in 2016 (Bignami 2016). Interesting here is the apparently impossible position of Italian television programs based on historical fact: The suggestion is that unless products such as these present a verbatim, historically and factually accurate depiction of events with a special focus on unambiguous villainy, they are subject to attack. Even if, as is the case with Uno bianca, such programs feature good guys who put an end to a reign of terror and ensure that perpetrators who are depicted as anything from sympathetic are behind bars. The shift in focus from hero to antihero that emerges in the mid-2000s to late 2000s and becomes a feature of Italian criminal television creates further tensions and fascinations around the perception and reception of perpetrators.

Il capo dei capi’s Didactic Message The six-episode series Il capo dei capi (The Boss of Bosses, Enzo Monteleone and Alexis Sweet, 2007) recounts the rise and fall of Salvatore (Totò) Riina from his impoverished adolescence in Corleone in 1943 to his arrest ffty years later after spending twenty-four years on the run. Riina, nicknamed “the beast” due to his ruthlessness and passion for bloodshed, was the “boss of bosses” of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and is convicted of involvement in over 100 murders, including ordering the 1992 assassinations of antimafa prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. Riina died at the age of eighty-seven while serving multiple life sentences since his 1993 arrest. Although he was physically cordoned away from public life, he was regularly the subject of popular debate, in particular surrounding his post-incarceration allure that circulates in the press, on Facebook pages, and on the small screen. The most iconic image of Riina is his 1993 mug shot that features his round and stout face, slightly downturned lips, and indented and expressionless eyes above deep bags. This image resists conventionally alluring representations of masculinity in the Sky and Netfix series discussed in this book. At the same time, the photograph has generated much fascination and is the principal profle picture for a handful of public Facebook pages dedicated to Riina that collectively have thousands of likes and subscribers and that were the center of much controversy in 2009 as Robin Pickering-Iazzi addresses.6 Riina became, in the words of one commentator, a “hero,” and posts dedicated to him are commented 70 D. RENGA upon by many users who self-identify as being under house arrest and therefore are forbidden from using social media and thus risk breaking the terms of their sentence, Milazzo (2016). John Dickie discusses this dynamic whereby gangsters are “producers of representations about themselves in the public domain” while at the same time “avid consumers of representations of organized crime in the culture.” This “strange feedback loop” is central to the circulation of images and representations of Riina and is the fulcrum of this section whereby “art imitates life, imitates art” (Dickie 2013, 203–204). Indeed, Riina infamously watched the series from his high-security Milanese prison cell. According to Riina’s lawyer Riccardo Donzelli, the ex-boss was a fan of the series, so much so that at times “his eyes sparkled” while reliving a part of his life. Another of his lawyers (Luca Cianfaroni) remarks that Riina “passionately” watched the series and felt that Gioè’s performance was “extraordinary” (Corriere della Sera 2007b). Riina was not the only high-profle viewer with involvement in organized crime. Michele Catalano, who apparently had ties with then Cosa Nostra boss-of-bosses Salvatore Lo Piccolo, was arrested while watching Il capo dei capi and was “quite absorbed in the fction,” possibly so much so that he became an easy target for capture (la Repubblica 2007). I have written elsewhere about how gangsters are obsessed with onscreen representations of criminality (Renga 2013, 145–46), and this dynamic is at work both in Riina’s fan base and in the reception of and controversy around Il capi dei capi. In the series, Riina (Claudio Gioè) is frequently depicted watching television. He is engrossed by news programs on the moon landing, the 1978 kidnap of Aldo Moro, and the 1986–1987 maxi-trials, and he watches intently the footage of his own sentencing while he is in hiding. He also orders that TVs be placed in every room of his new safe house. For Riina, as for Tony Soprano, the television is pedagogical. While watching footage of the 1973 Chilean coup-d’état, he tells his mafa colleague Luciano Leggio, “We didn’t go to school… you can learn a lot from television.” Later, he conveys to detective Schirù (Daniele Liotti), Riina’s childhood friend and now arch- enemy who is obsessed with bringing Riina to justice, “you are like the television for me; I watch you, and watching your life I am reminded that I made a good decision choosing my own.” Such a didactic message is taken up by critics of the series who call for Il capo dei capi to be blocked, as did the Minister of Justice Clemente 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 71

Mastella. Antonio Marziale declares that it is “pedagogically destructive” in terms of the message the series offers to adolescents (Corriere delle Sera 2007a). Marziale is President of the association “L’Osservatorio sui Diritti dei Minori” whose aim is to protect minors and who created the “Codice di autoregolamento TV e minori” which, when adopted by a network, ensures “protected” programming between the hours of 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm, removes sexual and violent images from infor- mational programs, and asks networks to not represent minors in various illegal activities, including being involved in “violent situations” (among many other clauses; “Codice di autoregolamento Tv e minori”). Marziale concludes that screening a porno during the prime-time hours would have been “less harmful” (Corriere delle Sera 2007a). Marziale, an avid opponent to what he considers pornography screened on network television, would want to deem Il capo dei capi obscene, which at least in the US constitution would mean that the series would not be protected under the First Amendment. The Riina case prompted many debates around the ethics of representing historical criminals as alluring, especially when considering that Riina regularly petitioned for pardon or a reduced sentence and had a signifcant following on social media up until his 2017 death. Also, Riina is convicted of ordering the murder of many high-profle antimafa judges and activists. Il capo dei capi is a biopic on Riina, it tells his life story, while charting Italian history around his rise and his fall. According to Belén Vidal, in the biopic “an individual’s story comes to the fore” (Vidal 2013, 4). Il capo dei capi features numerous characters based upon historical fgures, from illustrious mobsters to martyrs who lost their lives battling the mafa. Several historical fgures feature in the flm who are murdered by the Cosa Nostra, the majority of which on Riina’s orders, such as Placido Rizzotto, Pio La Torre, Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino and his wife Francesca Morvillo, Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, Cesare Terranova, Pietro Scaglione, Giorgio Boris Giuliano, Gaetano Costa, Beppe Montana, and Ninni Cassarà.7 The policeman-turned agent Biagio Schirù, however, is entirely fctional. Daniele Liotti, the actor who plays Schirù, maintains that Schirù represents all of the “simple soldiers who fought the mafa” and whose names are acknowledged only after their deaths (Fumarola 2007). Schirù, however, does not die. The inclusion of Schirù in the miniseries foregrounds the homosocial narrative whereby two men on opposite sides of the law are obsessed with one another, and their enmity drives 72 D. RENGA and consolidates the narrative. Their foundational fellowship is apparent in the frst episode when a young Schirù arrests Riina while the latter is visiting his father’s tombstone and looking grief stricken. The miniseries’ fnale stresses the centrality of the male makeup/breakup scenario central to the buddy flm. When they meet in prison, Riina and Schirù face off for one fnal time, and their heads are positioned close together as they stare into one another’s eyes, with the camera tightly framing them in a low-angle close-up (see Fig. 3.1). Schirù tells Riina, “You have no one left but me. This is why you let me survive. Because you were scared, scared of being alone.” Themes of personal justice, intense rivalry, and the homosocial bond overshadow narratives surrounding the mafa, mass murder, and endemic corruption. Schirù is constantly in the thick of the antimafa battle and interacts regularly with many of the illustrious corpses mentioned above. He also develops a bond with Falcone who confdes in him. That he survives when so many others perish is interesting, in particular with regard to the process of humanization that the miniseries caries out.8 As Vidal notes, in the biopic, “personality and point of view become the conduit of history in stories that often boil down complex social processes to gestures of individual agency” (Vidal 2013, 4). The miniseries’ emphasis on Schirù and Riina’s coming-of-age tale softens Riina and allows viewers

Fig. 3.1 Totò Riina (Claudio Gioè) and Schirù (Daniele Liotti) face off in Il capo dei capi’s fnale 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 73 to learn more about him, even though ultimately Riina’s thirst for blood and vengeance and desire to control Cosa Nostra at all costs cast him in a more negative light than several of the serial offenders discussed in the chapters on the Sky and Netfix programming. Schirù is a necessary invention that positions viewers to align with or against Riina, and alignment does shift throughout the miniseries. The series begins and ends in prison after Riina’s capture when Schirù comes to speak with him. Present in the framing sequences is a small toy motorcycle, a Macguffn that will appear throughout the series and that symbolizes Riina’s childhood that is marked by loss and poverty as his brother and father were killed by a US landmine in 1943 when his brother was holding a similar plaything. The motorcycle connects the pair, as Schirù tells his wife that the motorcycle is a “thread” that he follows on his investigative journey, which is also a journey into Riina’s past. Riina’s tragic backstory signals his desire to escape from poverty. During his early career as a criminal, he is depicted as a Robin Hood who helps the disenfranchised. His traumatic background defnes him, and he frequently makes references to his impoverished past that he blames on a negligent state that does not care for the welfare of its citizens. Further, he is a man with feelings as he is visibly moved following the murder of his close friend Calogero Bagarella. Riina’s humanization is furthered as he, like Don Vito Corleone before him, is cast as a man of the soil who ages, and cares for those who work for him (as long as they are unwaveringly loyal). He frequently wears brown, works the felds, and is shown several times in a chicken coop. Like the patriarch from The Godfather Part I and Part II from which the miniseries draws much inspiration, Riina is a family man who frequently plays with his children outside and we never see him with a mistress. Vidal notes that the biopic has “the potential to intervene in the discourses of history” (Vidal 2013, 4). Like all biopics, Il capo dei capi manipulates historical events so as to tell a particular story about a historical fgure. For example, the micro-story of the labor union organizer and antimafa martyr Placido Rizzotto who was murdered by the mafa of Corleone in 1948 presents communists as agitators out to cause trouble and who are deserving of punishment. Further, Placido comes off as a bully who at one point violently shoves the mafoso Luciano Leggio, and his hot-headed anger constructs him as more deserving of death. This is a completely different story than that told in Pasquale Scimeca’s 2000 eponymous biopic on Placido Rizzotto that presents Rizzotto 74 D. RENGA in unambiguous terms as a martyr fgure who died for a cause. Il capo dei capi is also in line with other flms and narrative accounts that vil- ify Rizzotto’s real-life girlfriend Leoluchina Sorrisi by implying that she was involved romantically with Leggio, Rizzotto’s killer. Such a move is in line with the miniseries’ gender politics whereby women with good morals willingly sacrifce and make good choices in love and life and are thus rewarded, while those interested in fnancial well-being and criminal allure are depicted as cold and obedient. Il capo dei capi tells many stories. Released one year before the Sky phenomenon Romanzo criminale. La serie, the Monteleone and Sweet miniseries present a hardened criminal in a contradictory light while placing the blame for Riina’s rise to power on the Italian state (producer Pietro Valsecchi asserts that the miniseries explores the “grey zone” between good and evil; Fumarola 2007). Riina is a murderous uber- boss with a penchant for vengeance while simultaneously reading as a wounded soul who was wronged by the Americans (keeping in mind that the grenade that killed his brother and father was of US-made). Several of the controversies surrounding the miniseries, like so many debates on the Rai, Mediaset, and Sky television series discussed in this book, center upon the program’s heightening of Riina’s criminal allure.9 Other points of contention are noteworthy when considering how the miniseries, in the words of one reviewer, “puts Italy in front of unfattering – if engrossing – mirror of itself” (Povoledo 2007). Different stakeholders had different objections to the miniseries. The wife of police chief Giorgio Boris Giuliano who was murdered on Riina’s ordered publicly objected to the miniseries’ depiction of her late husband who, she claims, came off as a Sicilian stereotype (Corriere delle Sera 2007a). On the other side of the judicial spectrum, Riina’s wife Ninetta Bagarella fled a defamation suit against both Mediaset and the series’ producers. In the invented image-wounding scene, Schirù’s wife is held captive until Riina’s wife, who is on trial for mafa collusion, is set free (Corriere delle Sera 2007b). Image, it seems, is at stake in all of these debates. About a decade ago, the town of Corleone engaged in a process of reinvention focusing on mafa tourism and a proposed name change to “Lion Heart.” I’ve discussed elsewhere that the town of Corleone and its surroundings have become minor tourist attractions, all the while Cosa Nostra continues to operate effectively (Renga 2013, 36–38). Similarly, on the same day that Confesercenti, one of the leading Italian business associations, announced that mafa is the most lucrative business in Italy 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 75 with an annual proft of ninety billion, Il capo dei capi was screened in Corleone with an accompanying dinner hosted in one of the villas con- fscated from Bernardo Provenzano, Riina’s successor (Fumarola 2007). Like the debates discussed above, these narratives of mafa and antimafa stand in confict. Claudio Gioè remarks that the series marks a type of “collective catharsis” because “we could fnally tell this story” (Fumarola 2007), the implication being that the act of narration will help heal the wounds inficted by Riina and by the mafa. At the same time, the success of Il capo dei capi launched a quasi-sequel on Provenzano who was arrested in 2006 called L’ultimo padrino. The Riina case and its televisual account contribute to the “Provenzanomania” that has been gripping Italy for over a decade and that feeds a “national hunger for mob-based stories” (Povoledo 2007).

Mafia, Antimafia, and Male Aging in L’ultimo padrino Marco Risi’s 2008 miniseries L’ultimo padrino (The Last Godfather) chronicles the fnal period of Bernardo Provenzano’s epic forty-three years as a wanted man. Provenzano purportedly acted as Cosa Nostra “boss of bosses” from 1993 following the arrest of Salvatore “Totò” Riina up until when Provenzano was himself apprehended in 2006. Initially referred to as “Bernardo the Tractor” because of his adeptness, according to an informant, in mowing down his opponents (BBC News 2006) he was later called “the Accountant” due to his “astute business and political brain” (Dickie 2004, 325). A deeply religious man, Provenzano lived out his fnal pre-incarceration years in the Sicilian hin- terlands while coping with prostate cancer for which he underwent surgery in a clinic in Marseilles in 2005. The narration of L’ultimo padrino moves between “Zio’s” (Michele Placido)—as Provenzano is referred to—perambulations and evasions and the exploits of the so-called Gruppo Duomo dedicated to bringing the fugitive to justice. Headed up by the determined Roberto Sanna (Daniele Pecci; based upon police chief Giuseppe Linares), the members of the Gruppo Duomo, like many of those on the side of justice on Mediaset programs, are stereotypically rendered as determined, underdeveloped do-gooders ready to take on any risk to forward their mission. Sanna is the most patient of all, spending years of his life on the case during which time he “lost everything.” Like the other Mediaset programs discussed in this section, the hero and the antihero are represented 76 D. RENGA as having a deep connection: in the case of L’ultimo padrino, Zio and Sanna think of one another intensely and at one point in the miniseries they watch the same television program on the Italian elections simultaneously. Such a bond propels the narrative forward toward the inevitable moment of the arrest when the bad guy is apprehended, good conquers evil, and a lifetime of sacrifce is rewarded. The protagonists of Il capo dei capi, with one exception, go by the names of the historical fgures upon which they are based. This is not the case in L’ultimo padrino which omits reference to any nonfctional personae.10 For example, Provenzano’s name never appears in the miniseries. Co-writer Giovanni Bianconi asserts that the miniseries is purely fctional and notes that many events that add suspense and sentiment to the story, such as Zio’s encounter with his wife and the police raid on the clinic in Marseilles, were dramatized. He also adds that it was “more proper to use false names” (Vitali 2008) most likely to avoid upsetting families and sidestepping the controversy that plagued Il capo dei capi from the previous year as well as all of the Sky series discussed in this book. Provenzano was convicted of twenty life sentences, over thirty-three years of solitary confnement, a forty-nine plus year jail sentence, a year and a half of detention, and a series of fnes (la Repubblica 2014) for, among many other crimes, the murder of several high-profle antimafa activists and judges such as Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino, Carlo Alberto della Chiesa, Cesare Terranova, Pio la Torre, and Boris Giuliano, among many other victims. Advertising and publicity around the series state that the focal character is based upon Provenzano.11 Also, Provenzano in the miniseries is an aging and likable man, a grandfather fgure who—at least in the present day—is gentle, kind, avoids violence, communes with nature, wears three crucifxes, is likened frequently to a priest, or even Moses, Christ, or Padre Pio, and who appears to have profound misgivings about his violent past. Michele Placido notes in several interviews that Padre Pio was inspirational for his interpretation of Provenzano, for example: “My Provenzano is mystical like Padre Pio” (Scotti 2008) or “To interpret him I was inspired by Padre Pio” (Costantini 2006).12 This, together with the historical content of the miniseries that focuses on a man held responsible for the deaths of the majority of the most celebrated and mourned Italian antimafa martyrs of the last almost forty years, seems to make for a perfect formula for inciting controversy (recall the debates on Faccia d’angelo discussed in Chapter 5). 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 77

Interestingly, unlike the disputes surrounding, for example, Il capo dei capi, Faccia d’angelo, Romanzo criminale. La serie, and Gomorrah, polemics on L’ultimo padrino were minimal and calls for boycotts and protests were nonexistent. The exception is Minister of Justice Clemente Mastella (who hadn’t yet seen the miniseries) who insisted that Provenzano and Riina should not be rendered as mythical fgures so as to avoid inducing young Italians to emulate these men. He also suggested that the broadcast of L’ultimo padrino should be accompanied by a debate involving judges, victims, and psychologists so as to position the events narrated in the miniseries in a “real context” (Traversa 2008).13 Indeed, much more commotion surrounded the Facebook fan pages devoted to Provenzano than the mobster’s benign representation in the miniseries.14 How to account for this dramatic alteration in reception given the series’ critical acclaim and popularity?—Marco Risi won best miniseries director at the Rome Fiction Fest, and the miniseries had an average viewership of about six million per episode, just about one million lower than the 2006 miniseries on Riina (Calabriainciak.it. 2010). The answer, I feel, is directly related to L’ultimo padrino’s focus on the fnal years of Provenzano’s life as a free man during an interval when he is old, infrm, and nostalgic. Devoid of any of the allure, charisma, and sex appeal that characterizes, for example, the aging Don Pietro from Gomorrah, Provenzano wears his age and illness on his sleeve and is a hyper-religious man of the soil who quotes the bible, appears worn out, dresses slovenly, and has a caring relationship with his wife that borders on the chaste. Rita Borsellino—Paolo Borsellino’s widow and outspoken advo- cate against screen products that might glamorize criminality—observes that it is thanks to the “skill of the actor who interpreted Riina [in Il capo dei capi] that a very desirable character was born that could be idealized” (Guidotto 2011). It would seem then that charisma, sex appeal, and con- ventional good looks up the ante with regard to the polemics surrounding the representations of criminals. Old men are easy to forgive both onscreen and offscreen, especially when they are diagnosed with cancer and (apparently, as the miniseries works to foreground) grappling with a guilty conscience. This is where the title “The Last Godfather” is telling. The fugitive mafoso who traverses the Sicilian countryside in search of roots and a meaning in life of course fnds its antecedent in Coppola’s trilogy in the character of Don Vito Corleone (in the miniseries one affliate notes that Zio was 78 D. RENGA obsessed with the music from The Godfather which he saw fve times). Both men hail from Corleone, and like Don Vito before him, the elderly Provenzano (in real life and fction) avoids violence in favor of negotiation and worked to make Cosa Nostra “clean” by infltrating the organization further into politics, big business, and beyond. Reminiscent of Don Vito, Zio notes that Cosa Nostra need not cause more bloodshed and makes clear to his underlings that they shan’t die for him. Zio is represented in contradistinction to his predecessor Riina who in Il capo dei capi is cast as bloodthirsty and vengeful. Slow motion, zoom-in shots of the aging don as he contemplates his cancer diagnosis or a drawn-out confession scene when he just nearly comes clean with the priest regarding his many sins might prompt viewers to positively ally with him and feel sympathy for him, recalling Murray Smith’s “structure of sympathy” discussed in the introduction. Some viewers might recall Michele Placido in the feature role of Commissioner Cattani from the hit Rai television series La piovra (The Octopus, 1984–2001) that ran for ten seasons on Rai and featured Placido as a “antimafa hero par excellence” (Buonanno 2012, 123) and thus are positioned to judge his actions less harshly. Placido even notes that to prepare for the role he reviewed post-World War II mafa history in order to understand the origin of the “criminal mentality” and concludes that mafa bosses follow their own moral code (Costantini 2006). Placido’s Provenzano is bestowed with such a code, which assists in humanizing him. Further, missing in L’ultimo padrino is the bloody backstory that chronicles his rise to power. The miniseries includes only one quite brief fashback of a young Provenzano who, together with his criminal counterparts, guns down men in a car. Rather than casting Zio as a butcher, the brief fashback, which occurs as the ailing man is suc- cumbing to anesthesia prior to his prostate surgery while looking saddened, implies that he reminisces on a life ill-lived, a past that might have brought him to where he lies in that moment. In Risi’s restaging, Provenzano emerges as a somewhat harmless soul who might be read, like many aging men as discussed by David Jackson in his study of aging masculinities, as “without gender” or “ungendered” (Jackson 2016). For example, his relationship with his wife is tender and lacking in any sexual charge. Also, his wife is frequently discussed by the police who pursue Provenzano as persistently in tears as she is so concerned for him, which could prompt viewers to feel pity for him. In addition, Provenzano—in real life and in fction—is afficted by prostate 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 79

Fig. 3.2 Zio (Michele Placido) contemplates his past prior to surgery in L’ultimo padrino cancer, an illness which further marginalizes the aging male body due to the gland’s function, as Antje Kampf argues, in “nourishing and protecting sperm fuid” (Kampf 2013, 55). Zio’s cancer diagnosis and treatment desexualize him while making him warranting of compassion. Unlike with the other focal perpetrators discussed in this book, in L’ultimo padrino allure takes a back seat to warmth and pity; for example, prior to surgery he is framed in a low-angle medium shot appearing solemn and thoughtful, and the lengthy duration of the take invites viewers to sympathize with him (see Fig. 3.2). This is a similar process at work in terms of viewer engagement with Breaking Bad’s Walter White (at least in the earlier part of the series) who, like Zio, does not come across as sexy or alluring. Zio does garner the respect of the men who work for him and the concern of his wife, and his charm is associated his caducity and a sense of pietas. In the words of producer Pietro Valsecchi, “We were inspired by Coppola’s The Godfather precisely because Provenzano is in some ways the last godfather” (Costantini 2006). Provenzano is thus recast as a benevolent grandfather fgure aligned with old-world values, just vendetta, family, hearth, and home. The fnality of the title lends closure to Provenzano’s life story and also to the organization he administered. 80 D. RENGA

Akin to many of the serial programs offering fctional takes on Italian organized crime syndicates, terrorist organizations, and criminals, L’ultimo padrino suggests that good conquers evil and wrongdoers are punished through death or incarceration. In particular, this miniseries suggests that the arrest of Zio means that Cosa Nostra is in decline, and as such advances the postmafa mentality at work in, for example, Faccia d’angelo.15 Provenzano—the mystique around his lengthy period on the lam, the epic operation that fnally leads to his capture, his dramatic policy shift as Cosa Nostra uber-boss where he privileged negotiation, invisibility, and white-collar crime over clan warfare, targeted assassinations, and the drug trade—was for many a mythical fgure who was synonymous with Cosa Nostra.16 According to mayor of Corleone Leoluchina Savona, Provenzano’s death in 2016 represents a “liberation from cancer, from an evil offspring that torments [Corleone’s] citizens” (Corriere di Ragusa 2016). With the last godfather’s death, Savona implies that Corleone is now free from the mafa scourge, a statement which of course represses Cosa Nostra’s global reach, vast power, and immense proftability. The Provenzano as cancer metaphor is interesting considering that in the miniseries illness humanizes the mafa chieftain while here the disease is endowed with purely malignant associations. Such contradictions emerge from the miniseries and its reception as well. L’ultimo padrino opens with a title sequence made up of a montage of documentary photographs including mafa-related murders, funeral announcements and marches, and antimafa protests. Interspersed with such clear antimafa material are photographs of several of Zio’s fctional colleagues and two images of actual “pizzini” written to or from Provenzano (pizzini are small pieces of papers Cosa Nostra used for high-level communications, many of which were found and used as evidence in prosecutions). This is accompanied by a voice-over of several men reading pizzini addressed to Provenzano (who they call “Zio”). Less than a minute into the title sequence, Zio is shown looking thoughtful and weary while typing a pizzini which speaks to the importance and diffcult nature of their “cause” which requires that they undergo many trails and therefore must have much patience and “God’s mercy.” In her intriguing study of mafa, antimafa, and new media, Robin Pickering-Iazzi notes that some web-based materials that bear witness to those harmed by the mafa manipulate the present and the past so as to engage in the creation of “new memory” that foregrounds a culture of 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 81 legality while promoting “human dignity, moral action, justice, and freedom of speech” (Pickering-Iazzi 2017, 19–20). Instead, the amalgam of mafa and antimafa and present and past in the opening moments of L’ultimo padrino is not progressive and positions spectators on the side of who Risi calls a “a good grandpa” who is represented in benign terms as the last of his kind. Risi also states: “I dare anyone to have such a grandpa in your home” (Scotti 2008), a cautionary tale that underpins the fascination with criminal antiheroes.

Il clan dei camorristi: “An Unending Controversy” Il clan dei camorristi (The Camorra Clan, Alexis Sweet and Alessandro Angelini, 2013) is the frst television series to focus on the Camorra, the mafa of the Campania region, from the inside and is set in the small fctional town of Castello d’Aversa, a very loosely veiled renaming of Casal del Principe, a notorious Camorra stronghold governed by the powerful Casalesi clan. Originally entitled Il clan dei Casalesi after the eponymous crime gang, the eight-episode series came under intense public scrutiny for a variety of reasons. For example, the antimafa activist group Libera campaigned successfully to change the name of the series before it aired with the aim of distancing the fctional program from the historical Camorra clan; mayor of the town of Aversa Giuseppe Sagliocco demanded reparations from production company Taodue (a Mediaset subsidiary) due to glaring similarities in the names of the series locale and the town he governs, which, he feels, defames the honest people of Aversa and overshadows progress made by the state in battling the mafa—in addition to the new title, the local newspaper in the series is unambiguously called “L’Aversano” (Corriere del mezzogiorno 2013); additionally, ex-head of the now-defunct political coalition the “Great South” defned the series an “outrage” due to its confation of Southern Italy with the Camorra and violence (Cecchini 2013). None of these three stakeholders emerges the winner as the series’ name change desired by Libera results in a perceived defaming of an entire town which in the words of one reviewer equals “the Camorra territory par excellence” (Duello 2013). Even though facts are altered and monikers and locations are changed, for many Il clan dei camorristi reinforces the mafa equals Southern Italy stereotype circulating in the popular imagination since Italian unifcation. The series is particular in Mediaset programming as it is a bridge program that adheres to many production and generic conventions of the 82 D. RENGA

Rai and the earlier Mediaset series and miniseries with a criminal focus while adopting several practices familiar to the Sky model. Affnities with programs such as Il capo dei capi include the staging of a Manichean battle between an alluring bad guy endowed with a handful of redeeming qualities and an upstanding, morally sound, and seemingly perennially committed law enforcement offcer; retrograde gender politics whereby women desire to procreate and stand by their men at all costs who are the chief providers and embody traditional family values; an explicit message that good trumps evil and the mafa is, albeit momentarily, defeated (like in L’ultimo padrino the mafa here too is referred to a “evil offspring” that can be stopped); an original and conservative musical score that is deployed primarily to heighten suspense and is devoid of well- known songs; unimaginative dialogue similar to that found in other such programs; and a stereotypical representation of Southern Italy to include, in the case of Il clan dei camorristi, scenes of laundry hanging from win- dows, pizzas tossed high in the air, and accordion players serenading diners at restaurants adorned with red checkered tablecloths. The series however also diverges from Rai programs and Mediaset predecessors both extradiegetically and diegetically. In terms of the former, we see the casting of well-known actor Stefano Accorsi in the feature role as well as other interesting casting choices that I discuss below and higher production values such as rapid editing, cross-cutting between several narrative threads, and recurrent use of handheld camera.17 Like many Sky series discussed in this book, Il clan dei camorristi places a focus on abject masculinity as bloody and pummelled male bodies feature prominently (one man is shot in the groin), urination is connected to the fow of Camorra money, and men (particularly Esposito) weep openly and often. Further, Russo’s wife Rosa Russo (Claudia Potenza) has a more active and engaged role in the criminal enterprise, and Judge Andrea Esposito’s character (Stefano Accorsi) is more developed than other Rai and Mediaset antimafa crusaders, and he is haunted and motivated by the murder of his brother. Narrative is also more complex, and a story line involving coerced sex work, illegal immigration, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic opens up the series beyond the customary emphasis on the mafa/antimafa scramble that is at the heart of other Rai and Mediaset programs. The focal story line is that of the struggle between good (antimafa) and bad (mafa) which is made manifest in Esposito’s unwavering pursuit of Francesco Russo (called ’O Malese; Giuseppe Zeno), a power 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 83 hungry camorrista rising through the ranks. Such a homosocial rivalry is a familiar narrative trope in Rai and Mediaset series that focus on alluring criminals and, in Il clan dei camorristi, guides the story line toward the inevitable arrest and downfall of Russo and the victory or Esposito. Russo’s character is based upon the infamous Camorra boss Francesco Schiavone (nicknamed Sandokan), and the series opens in 1980 with Russo’s fctional foundational tale in prison when he puts his life on the line for a higher ranking camorrista and then concludes in 1998, just shortly after Russo’s post-incarceration murder. Although Schiavone was arrested in 1998, unlike his fctional counterpart he was not stabbed to death and is still alive serving out life sentence under the hard prison regime “41bis.”18 The Schiavone clan features prominently in Roberto Saviano’s 2006 exposé Gomorrah, and, according to an informant, the Camorra sect planned on killing the author by Christmas of 2008. Il clan dei camorristi touches on many Camorra-related issues raised in both Saviano’s book and Matteo Garrone’s eponymous 2008 flm. Principally: the Camorra’s involvement in the traffcking of toxic waste which then poi- sons local communities, the rapidly growing number of adolescents eager to move up the mob hierarchy, and the crime syndicates’ attack on a group of African immigrants in Castelvolturno.19 The series also features a nod to the iconic “The World is Ours” scene in Garrone’s flm that fnds inspiration in Saviano’s book. In the chapter “Hollywood,” Saviano describes Walter Schiavone’s (brother to Francesco) mega-mansion, which Schiavone dubbed “Hollywood” and modeled after Tony Montana’s villa in Scarface. The once opulent villa is now dilapidated, as after his arrest Schiavone ordered it destroyed. Garrone’s flm includes a scene shot on location in “Hollywood” when aspiring mobsters Marco and Ciro act out the fatal sequence from De Palma’s flm. Marco reclines in an indoor pool (a replica of the one featured in the De Palma flm) and tells Ciro “the world is ours,” a modifcation of the mantra “the world is yours” frst borrowed from Howard Hawks’ Scarface (1932). In Il clan dei camorristi, camorrista Ciccio Capuano (Francesco Di Leva) tells Vincenzo De Marchi (Salvatore Striano) that he feels as if he is living in a flm (a clear nod to the Saviano text) and that he is a sculptor capable of crafting his life as he sees ft before announcing “the world is yours,” thus declaring his desire to seize power. The inclusion of the “world is yours” trope in the series alludes to the meta-cinematic nature of many mafa movies and television programmes, 84 D. RENGA in particular the mobster’s obsession with onscreen mobsters and their penchant for all out violence. Mobsters mimic Hollywood gangsters and fnd in them an ego ideal to emulate to the point of maximum identifcation (frequently death or incarceration). In Il capo dei capi, more central camorristi Vincenzo De Marchi is played by Salvatore “Sasà” Striano who in 2000 was incarcerated for fourteen years and eight months for Camorra-related crimes but was released from jail in 2006. Subsequently, he has appeared in several mafa-centered flms, playing a camorristi in the flm Gomorrah (Matteo Garrone, 2008), in Marco Risi’s antimafa biopic Fortapàsc (2009), and Alessandro Piva’s Camorra thriller I mil- ionari (The Millionaires, 2014), and an imprisoned ex-Camorra soldier-turned thespian in Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s docudrama Cesare deve morire (Caesar Must Die, 2012).20 Striano’s repeated casting as a Camorra criminal speaks to how performance functions, according to Diana Taylor, “as vital acts of transfer, transmitting social knowledge, memory, and a sense of identity through reiterated, or what Richard Schechner has called ‘twice-behaved behavior’” (Taylor 2007, 2–3). For the viewer familiar with other flms in which Striano plays a part— especially Caesar Must Die which in the fnal credits renders explicit his criminal past and current status as a free man—acting and performance are imbued with a sense of historical legitimacy. This is because a real ex-camorrista plays a fake one onscreen over and over again, and in each installment, Striano’s facial expressions, costume, voice, exclamations, and level of intensity are consistent. In these “acts of transfer” between performer and viewer, Striano has street credibility while transmitting a criminal identity as redeemed.21 Controversy around Il clan dei camorristi most likely increased due to protests earlier in 2013 surrounding the flming of Gomorrah 1, in particular objections raised by Angelo Pisani, former President of the Municipality of Scampia where much of the flming of the series would take place. Pisani led the charge against the series putting forth familiar accusations regarding defamation, how the series confates illegality with geography, the obligation to protect youth from harmful images, and a perceived misappropriation of monies paid for rites which should be directed, in his opinion, toward local schools (la Repubblica Napoli. it, 2013)—however after watching the frst two episodes of Gomorrah 1, Pisani declared the series a “masterpiece” (Abate 2014). Hence, names of towns, clans, and historical fgures were altered and flming locations 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 85 were changed—as one actor in the series notes, “it is best to distance yourself from reality when you interpret it” (Abete 2011)—and the series premiere was delayed by two weeks. Ultimately, however, the common- place debate ensued regarding whether the series glamorizes criminality or can be put forward as a pedagogical example surrounding the import and advances of the antimafa struggle. Director Angelini insists on the critical tone of the miniseries whose actors avoid “beautifying camorristi with stopgaps that would endow them with pathos” (Missione, 2013) while others point out the series’ social mission or note that Il clan dei camorristi contains neither criminal idols nor antimafa martyrs (Emolare 2013). However, of all of the focal villains of the Mediaset and Rai perpetrator programs released through 2013, Russo most clearly resembles the alluring criminal antiheroes featured in Sky programs. Conventionally attractive with a chiseled body and frequently flmed only partially clothed, sensitive to the needs of his wife to whom he remains faithful, comfortable on his farm where he is content to watch buffalo, and at times depicted as funny, thoughtful, troubled, and sympathetic, Russo is the antithesis to Riina in Il capo dei capi. Further, he is regularly depicted as “less bad” than several of the men who aspire to take his place. Like Ciro from Gomorrah or il Toso from Faccia d’angelo, Russo is portrayed as merciful as he refuses to eliminate the local priest Don Palma (Massimo Popolizio; based upon historical antimafa martyr Don Giuseppe Diana who was murdered by the Camorra in 1994) and in the end gives himself up from his safe house without violence to save his wife and son. Like gang member Libanese from Michele Placido’s flm Romanzo criminale (2005), he pays the price for his sins when he is stabbed to death in a manner evocative of the murder of Julius Caesar. At the same time, he is ruthless, violent, and power hungry, beats up focal hero Esposito, and arranges to have his rival’s young son kidnapped so as to send a message regarding his power position (children of law enforcement offcers are frequent hostage victims in Mediaset programs). Such contradictory attributes (including his fctionalized murder) construct Russo as a complex character who is endowed with what Jason Mittell describes as “interesting interior states” and who engages viewers to spend time with him.22 Those involved in the production of Il clan dei camorristi work to foreground the series’ engaged nature. The Mediaset webpage devoted 86 D. RENGA to the series highlights that, while focusing on a ruthless, violent, and evasive criminal organization, Il clan dei camorrista tells another digni- fed story of the civic battle against the Camorra (Mediaset.it, 2013). Also, at The University La Sapienza in Rome in November 2013, Angelini and Sweet together with producer Pietro Valsecchi, three screenwriters, Taodue’s editorial director, and Giuseppe Zeno (who plays Russo) presented a condensed two-and-a-half-hour version of Il clan dei camorristi that was followed by a discussion with college students. Topics covered included the problematics of depicting alluring criminals, tactics taken to ensure that antiheroes did not come off as meriting viewer sympathies, and the necessity, according to Zeno, of narrating criminal allure “with a critical eye.” On the potential dangers brought on by viewers not comprehending the series’ engaged tone, Angelini notes, “Politically engaged flms [from the 1960s and 1970s] presented information that people were not aware of; instead nowadays when you watch something, the subject matter is already common knowledge” (Natali 2013). This statement speaks to a throughline of this book which is that viewers are engrossed by television programs that chronicle real-life events, frequently relating to organized crime, while at the same time these programs are the focus of much controversy and protest. Several focal actors in Il clan dei camorristi discuss how they prepared to interpret fctional villains and heroes based upon real people. Zeno notes that his Neapolitan origins were quite useful in playing a Camorra boss (TGCOM24 2013); Massimo Popolizio who portrays the martyred priest points out that the actual letter Don Diana wrote to denounce the Camorra was used in the series and is grateful to a group of elderly women who gave him pointers on how to appear most sacerdotal (Abete 2011); Claudia Potenza watched many videos and listened to several wiretappings so as to immerse herself in the role of a Camorra wife (Panorama.it, 2013). Furthermore, in an interview Francesca Di Leva who plays camorrista Ciccio Capuano underlines the series’ signifcance in opening viewers’ eyes to Camorra-related violence (Colella 2013). These examples speak to an obligation for historical accuracy that is at odds with the aforementioned name and location changes made to appease objectors. At the same time, such tensions create fascinations around programs featuring alluring antiheroes that open up the narrative universe and contribute to how perpetrator history is represented. 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 87

“Imprisoned by Beauty” in L’onore e il rispetto The popular fve season Ares Film series L’onore e il rispetto (Honor and Respect, 2006–2017) is a redemption narrative that focuses on the fctional mafoso-family man Tonio Fortebracci (Gabriel Garko) who in each season faces a spate of obstacles that challenge his mob allegiances. Wives, lovers, and family members die routinely (so much so that it is hard to keep count), and his daughter Antonia (Beatrice Galati) is kidnapped and held hostage for almost the entirety of season four. Fortebracci is shot, stabbed, punched, and at the center of a bombing over and over again, he is frequently tortured, tied up, and held captive, he is declared dead and comes back from the dead, and he loses his memory for almost half of season fve, yet always bounces back unscathed. Fortebracci is the fulcrum on which the world of the series spins, and he is endowed with all of the properties (and then some) pos- sessed by the alluring antiheroes that feature in the Sky programs: tragic backstory, charm, indestructibility, business savvy, arresting face and sculpted body, a moral compass, relative goodness, a penchant toward helping those in need, and protecting and spending time with his family, privy to intense bonds with children (he has a loving and constantly devoted daughter), and he attracts droves of admirers ready to sacrifce anything to help him.23 Further, he is depicted as the lesser evil throughout the series as, when it suits him, he does not believe in harming women and children (other mafosi take delight in rape and mass slaughter), he stands up for the truth, he struggles to reform himself and be a good man for his children (and his many wives and lovers), and he aids in reforming several fallen characters who were victim to his enemies. Finally, Garko has a huge cult following and his personal life and his beauty (he is also a model) is a recurrent topic of discussion in gossip magazines, blogs, and fan sites.24 L’onore e il rispetto, whose plot unfolds principally in the fctional and familiar sounding Sicilian town of Sirenuse, is a mafa saga spanning roughly twenty years (1956–the early 1970s). Narrative centers on various struggles for power between mafa chieftains in Sicily, Turin, and New York, with Fortebracci at the heart of all conficts (the exas- perated expression “Tonio Foretebracci!” by someone fast on his tail or frustrated at being outsmarted by him is heard in almost each episode, frequently more than once). To a greater extent than the other series discussed in this section, romance narratives feature prominently, and 88 D. RENGA

Fortebracci has numerous lovers and wives who are helpless in front of his beauty and allure, who wait for and forgive him, and who, for the most part, die as a result of falling victim to his charms or frequently because they literally take a bullet to save him—Milly Buonanno notes that Fortebracci’s character is more “romantic than sinister” (Buonanno 2012a, 127). All of this—a dashing sympathetic perpetrator who is redeemed time and time again, the staging of ruthless violence against innocent victims of the mafa, the popularity of the series which drew in between three and fve million viewers per episode (see Table A.10)— seem the perfect formula for inciting debate and dissension.25 L’onore e il rispetto however is the only Mediaset production treated in this book that is not based upon historical events. The purely fctional nature of the series allows it to be untethered from the controversies, scandals, and polemics regarding the problematics of representing fascinating bad guys that plagued the Sky series and also Il capo dei capi and Il clan del camorristi (and to a lesser extent L’ultimo padrino). The series was criticized for reasons other than whether L’onore e il rispetto is factually and historically sound or might create a sense of viewer unease that a seductive, leading antihero might ensnare Italian youth in his treacherous mafa machinations. Instead, the prime target was Garko’s actorly prowess, and Domenico Naso notes that Garko is one of the “worst actors” of the last twenty years and wishes that he would just stick to the theater (Naso 2015). Comments on his beauty are widespread, and one reviewer notes that Garko is “imprisoned by beauty.” Garko himself notes that when he is considered for “important” roles, everyone always says the same thing: “too young and too beautiful” (Fumarola 2012). Commenters on Garko’s good looks take quite a different tone than those who criticized the casting of Riccardo Scamarcio in the role of Sergio Segio, ex-member of the left-wing terrorist group Prima Linea, in La prima linea (Renato De Maria, 2009). As Catherine O’Rawe discusses, Scamarcio’s face, according to the title of one review of the flm, is “too Beautiful for Evil,” meaning that casting the actor as a terrorist would inevitably attract viewers who, after watching the flm, would eagerly follow Scamarcio/Segio toward the dark side (O’Rawe 2014, 142). Garko’s beauty in L’onore e il rispetto does not translate into one of the negative role models addressed throughout this book.26 One reviewer notes that Garko is so attractive he could just as well read a phone book and succeed in breaking the hearts of “housewives” 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 89 everywhere (Fumarola 2012), a barb directed at his aptitude as an actor (and toward the alleged demographics of his fan base). Garko has had central and supporting roles in several Italian flms and television series and is generally only lauded for one “serious” part: that of Ernesto, a gay man dying of AIDS in Ferzan Özpetek’s critically acclaimed flm Le fate ignoranti (Ignorant Faries, 2001).27 Elsewhere, and especially in the case of his participation in L’onore e il rispetto, comments on Garko’s beauty extend to judgements on the quality of the series, which according to some has a “lowbrow” appeal (Barra and Scaglioni 2015, 70) or offends “the average viewer’s intelligence” (Naso 2015). In my view, such a focus on the aesthetics of the face of L’onore e il rispetto and the derogatory stance toward those who watch it overlooks the series’ somewhat progressive message regarding gender, audiences, and power. In watching the series in a condensed time frame (thirty-two episodes each lasting between ninety and 110 minutes in a total of eight days), its affnity with the soap opera genre became clear. Like many soaps, L’onore e il rispetto is replete with cliffhangers, love triangles (and quadrangles), characters who apparently die and then come back to life, and focuses on families under siege from within and without, many members of which are set on revenge at all costs. According to Anna McCarthy, soap operas are a type of “serialized” narrative that require “close, readerly attention.” Like quality television, soap operas reward viewers for their sustained attention, especially as the genre is characterized by a number of interwoven plotlines that preclude one “fnal resolution of confict” so that stories feed into one another and characters transform and shift alliances. A perfect mafa formula, soap operas focus on several generations of kinship sodalities and are characterized by “a long history of feuds and alliances” (McCarthy 2015, 73) which aids at establishing rich backstories to characters who, in the case of L’onore e il rispetto, are frequently in and out of comas, lose and regain their memories, discover long-lost progeny, change their names, and traverse the globe to eventually return home seeking justice. Soap operas are predicated on hooking viewers who follow assorted story lines (that are frequently inconceivable) simultaneously, and who guess and second-guess how things might turn out. Magriet Pitout sus- tains that the soap opera is quite interesting for spectators as it is structured around the tenant of “paradigmatic complexity” which encourages viewers to become active in imagining “all sorts of possible connections” (Pitout 2006, 250) which might also occur offscreen when some fans 90 D. RENGA try to take matters into their own hands so as to manage the course of the narrative.28 Frequently dismissed as the “lowliest of genres” (Seiter and Wilson 2005, 136), soap operas are instead highly political in their engagement with several issues, which in L’onore e il rispetto includes rape (and gang rape), incest, abortion, homosexuality, bisexuality, inden- tured servitude, women coerced into the convent, and workplace equity, scenarios that potentially resonate with women living in societies where men make and break the rules and frequently get away it.29 Further, in soap operas the attribution of paternity “is something of an obsession” (Mumford 1995, 94).30 In L’onore e il rispetto, fatherhood is on center stage as women attempt to trap man into marriage or hide offspring from them, unplanned pregnancies abound, men at long last discover children they never knew they had only to lose them, and in one case a father repeatedly rapes his daughter who suffers from an unnamed mental disorder (who then becomes pregnant with her rapist’s child). Such an epistemological fxation with fathers is “overdetermined” (Mumford 1995, 94) and speaks to anxieties surrounding fatherhood which in L’onore e il rispetto is repeatedly depicted as defcient. In the soap opera, intricate hurdles stand between “desire and its ful- fllment” (Modleski 1979, 12). Such a prolonged anticipation of a cli- max endlessly postponed places an emphasis on waiting while repeatedly retarding any defnitive conclusion. Tania Modleski argues that the centrality of delayed expectations in the soap opera speaks specifcally to female viewers, many of whose lives are spent waiting. Pleasure in the soap opera, Modleski notes, is not found in the resolution of confict and the tying up of loose ends, a denouement common to the melodrama, because “soap operas do not end.” The soap opera does not privilege a unifying telos and instead lays bare that “everyone cannot be happy at the same time,” even if characters are worthy of joy (Modleski 1979, 12). Like most soap operas, L’onore e il rispetto places an emphasis on the inadequacy of the family (both that of mafa and blood and bonds) which is abusive, sadistic, and in disarray—bands of brothers gang-rape innocent young women, entire families are killed off, fathers kill sons, and mothers kill daughters. One novel narrative for an Italian primetime serial focuses on the love story between Michele (Thyago Alves) e Daniele (Luca Loi), two men who attempt to fee from the mafa to America with the help of Michele’s mother Mara Pia (Lina Sastri), but are instead hunted down and savagely killed by their fathers when the couple refuses to rape a woman so as to prove their masculinity. Maria 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 91

Pia then exacts vengeance for the death of her son, killing both fathers and her own daughter. In the end, the fathers read as the villains, the gay couple are remembered innocent victims, and the mother is cast as the just avenger. Hence, in their emphasis on unresolvable confict, unstable families, and lacking fathers, soap operas are not “conservative, but lib- eral” (Modleski 1979, 15). Traditionally gendered a female genre, soap operas have a “historical association with female spectatorship” (McCarthy 2015, 74). L’onore e il rispetto narrates a world where women live under the threat of con- stant violence, although many female characters take control and retaliate against those who wronged them (rape revenge plotlines are common in the series). Women also experience dramatic transformations in their character, metamorphosing from a ditsy party girl or a supremely evil villainess out for vendetta (at times against Fortebracci) into a kind, mother fgure ready to settle down (most frequently out of love for Fortebracci). Then, with only one exception that I discuss below, these women all die tragically. I would like to push past the traditional reading regarding the masochism of the female spectator that might be at play in the series à la Laura Mulvey (Mulvey 1989) in her foundational essay treating spectatorship, voyeurism, and identifcation in the cinema. As Modleski and Judith Mayne remind us, identifcation is much more complicated. The female spectator might be “caught up in a double desire,” identifying both with the “passive (female) object” and the “active (usually male) subject” (Modleski 1989, 2). Mayne cautions against conceptualizations of “‘the’ cinematic spectator” in favor of readings that engage “multiple desires, contradictory effect and multiple stagings” (Mayne 2002, 45, 38). L’onore e il rispetto most certainly allows for diverse alignments on the part of the viewer and for diverse viewing publics: Women of all ages might root for the villainess as she requited the wrongs inficted upon her and revel in the abject condition to which villainous men are routinely reduced (in addition to being riddled by bullets, beaten, and stabbed, men are decapitated, eaten by alligators, and a few are shot in the groin); a variety of viewers are drawn to the two story lines featuring positive, gay (season four), and bisexual (season one) characters, both of which were hot topics on queer blogging sites31; men and women can take pleasure in watching Garko’s muscled body, depicted in perfectly tailored suits, shirtless, in the throes of passion, or emerging from the waves (Garko is much discussed as a “gay icon” and debates around his sexual preferences or circumcision status feature on gay Web sites and in 92 D. RENGA

Fig. 3.3 Tonio (Gabriel Garko) gazes at the viewer in L’onore e il rispetto chat rooms).32 The camera frequently lingers on Tonio for quite some time, for example, when he is at the seaside awaiting his lover he is shot in focus and positioned in the center of the frame. He looks out toward the camera, breaking the fourth wall and almost gazing at the view (see Fig. 3.3). Fortebracci’s narrative is in line with that of many contemporary small-screen antiheroes: He is led to vengeance at an early age, inficts pain on those who wronged his parents and brother, is made to suffer as a result of his extreme retribution, and in typical male melodrama mode, is redeemed time and again through the distress of those who love him, and die for him. Throughout the series, he is haunted by memories of loss: of his parents, of his “good” brother, of his daughter from whom he is almost perpetually separated, of the many women who died for him. Consequently, as is frequently the case in male melodrama, he spends quite a lot of time in the cemetery mourning a series of losses who live on in Fortebracci’s memory, and motivate his own revenge cycle which allows for him to form new attachments that play out in a similar, cyclical fashion. Forgetting (i.e., the lost memory narrative of season four), repression, displacement, and eventual repetition position the narrative of L’onore e il rispetto in line with repetition compulsion, which Freud notes is not “a matter belonging to the past, but as a force 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 93 operating in the present” (Freud 2006, 296). Modleski has discussed how repetition compulsion in soap operas structure narrative (e.g., in the villainess’ repeated, and for the most part failed, attempts to manipulate those around her) while allowing spectators to “act out fantasies of power” by appealing to viewers’ own “compulsion to repeat” that is made manifest by the desire to return to the same narrative, and align with a character so as to “achieve, temporarily, the illusion of mastery denied him in real life” (Modleski 1979, 17). Fortebracci allows for such a provisional fantasy for the viewer as he is repeatedly under assault and travels around the world and through the bodies of women to return, time and time again, steadfast in his resolve to live for lost love. His body never changes, bullet holes and other wounds heal rapidly, his hair, skin, and attire are immaculate (with the exception at the beginning of season fve when he is disheveled and has grown a beard), and although alliances change, his commitment to “honor and respect” is unwavering. How then to conclude a story that, for over ten years, has hooked viewers with the promise of eternal renewal of more or less the same? In the fnal episode of season fve that closes the series, Fortebracci has again found love with the very young Giada Cusano (Olga Shutieva), a recovering drug addict/party girl, who out of love for Fortebracci has changed her ways and settled down. The pair moves to the Bahamas where Fortebracci (as he frequently does) vows to live a mafa-free life (which ironically is only possible with the mafa money he withdrew from his Swiss bank account). Then, in an emotional moment so perfect it seems dreamlike, Fortebracci is at long last united on the beach with his daughter Antonia, son Jonathan, and loyal best friend Ricky as the series concludes (he tells Giada “This is my family, and they are all alive!” conveniently forgetting about all of his other deceased loved ones). Figure 3.4 depicts the reunion between Tonio and his reconsol- idated family. They are shot in a slight low angle in deep focus as they smile and look toward Giada, and toward the future. Such an improbable fnale that fnally grants the central protagonist the perfect family he has been longing for is in keeping with the narrative twists and turns of L’onore e il rispetto and is most likely crafted to lend closure to the series, letting fans off the hook to look elsewhere for their mafa fx. Also, the creation of this new nuclear family has an address to Garko’s fan base as at the time of the fnale he was involved in a long-term relationship with twenty-three-year-old Adua Del Vesco, who is roughly the same age as Fortebracci’s fctional love interest. Instead, this coda left viewers 94 D. RENGA

Fig. 3.4 Tonio is fnally reunited with his family in L’onore e il rispetto’s fnale

“with a bitter taste in their mouth” (Paolino 2017); they felt ill at ease and wanted more as the concluding moments seemed hurried and left too many story lines unresolved (Bellu 2017). Perhaps to counter this reaction, Ares Film released an alternative, and much more open and plausible ending, one in which Fortebracci is again under siege and pur- sued by mafa henchmen. This way, viewers can have it all: They can take pleasure in the improbable fantasy family Fortebracci always hoped for while hanging onto the hope that there will be a sixth season, and that the saga will continue (although Ares Film has denied this possibility). In the words of Garko, “we are entertaining people, we need to make them dream” (Valenza 2016), and purely fctional programs such as L’onore e il rispetto seem quite capable of accomplishing just that.

Notes 1. Luca Barraand Massimo Scaglioni discuss Taodue’s “distinctive style” in terms of a series of “hallmarks” including narratives centred on law enforcers, mafosi, and other lawbreakers that are “told with clear references to the flm and television action genre; a pacey, spectacular story structure that holds the audience’s attention […] and a powerful narrative tension” (Barra and Scaglioni 2015, 68). 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 95

2. During the height of the Berlusconi/television showgirl scandals, the eponymous television program Veline was the “most popular non- sporting programme on Canale 5.” The thirty-minute show treats the scouting of television showgirls all over Italy (Ross 2013, 405). 3. For a thorough discussion of middlebrow cinema and strategies for approaching it as a critical category, see Sally Faulkner’s introduction to Middlebrow Cinema (Faulkner 2016, in particular pp. 2–3). 4. The frst installment of Uno bianca had the highest network share of the evening on Canale 5 with 8,153,000 viewers (Cologno 2001). 5. Producer Pietro Valsecchi reported that they received “threats and pressure, even from the Savi family” (Fumarola 2001). 6. Many fan pages devoted to Riina and to Bernardo Provenzano, the subsequent boss of bosses of Cosa Nostra, have been taken down. Pickering- Iazzi opens her edited volume by discussing the 2009 controversy surrounding Facebook fan pages dedicated to Riina, “whose posts on his wall portrayed him in superhuman light, and brought new meaning to becoming a friend of friends” (Pickering-Iazzi 2017, 3). 7. Many mobsters and corrupt politicians feature as well, for example, Bernardo Provenzano, Calogero Bagarella, Michele Navarra, Luciano Leggio, Tommaso Buscetta, Gaetano Badalamenti, Giuseppe Calderone, Leoluca Bagarella, Salvo Lima. John Gambino, Giovanni Brusca, Michele Greco, Vito Ciancimino, Salvatore La Barbera, Stefano Bontade, Salvatore Inzerillo, Peppe Di Cristina, Marino Mannoia, Ignazio Salvo, Balduccio Di Maggio, and Ciccio Coniglio. 8. One reviewer notes that it is compelling that Riina is so dedicated to taking out anyone in his way, yet, Schirù is left (more or less) alone even though Schirù seems to be the “greatest expert on the mafa in Sicily, the only one who saw and knew Riina since when he was quite young” (Osservatori esterni 2009). 9. Various stakeholders claim that the miniseries is dangerous. One asserts that it “creates a positive iconography of mafosi,” while another claims that the character of Riina is “too positive” while a third notes that Il capo di capi presents Riina as “an icon of Italian folklore” (Osservatori esterni 2009). 10. Concluding credits include a script stating that although the flm is inspired by “actual events,” all references to people, places, names, and events is coincidental. 11. For example, all newspaper reviews point out the historical content, and the Mediaset site reads “A fugitive for forty years, the elderly boss of Cosa Nostra Barnardo Provenzano (Michele Placido)…” (Mediaset.it, 2014). 12. Placido played the part of Padre Pio in the Rai miniseries Padre Pio—Tra cielo e terra (Padre Pio—Between Heavan and Earth, Giulio Base, 2000). 96 D. RENGA

13. Aside from the Mastella statement, I was unable to locate any declara- tions from victims groups such as those who protested Faccia d’angelo, organizations advocating to protect minors who spoke out vociferously against Il capo dei capi, or the many individuals and groups calling for the boycotting and halting of flming of Romanzo criminale. La serie and Gomorrah (controversies are discussed all at length in the individual chapters and sections on the series in this book). 14. For more on debates around fan pages for mafosi such as Bernardo Provenzano and Totò Riina, see Donadio (2009) and the section “Social Media” in Pine (2011). 15. William Hope makes the point that the miniseries’ focus on an aging and religious Provenzano “obfuscates the character’s pivotal role within the repressive socio-economic network that he helped to perpetuate” (Hope 2010, 6). 16. Much less fanfare and is devoted to Provenzano’s predecessors Salvatore Lo Piccolo (2006–2007) and Matteo Messina Denaro (2007–). As of the time of writing, no flms or miniseries have been made centering on either of these men. 17. According to director Alessandro Angelini, the choice of hand held camera was used to emerge the viewer in the story, to give the impression that “everything was happening live” (Natali 2013). 18. The harsh 41bis prison regime, much criticized by human rights groups, suspends “the rules that govern prison treatment” and prohibits or greatly limits, among other things, visits with family, communication with other prisoners and the outside world, and involvement in any cultural or athletic activities (di Amato 2011, 211). 19. The timing of some of these events is a bit off however (e.g., the Castelvolturno massacre took place in 2008 and not during the 1990s when the episode of the series is set). 20. Il clan dei camorristi and the Gomorrah franchise share several actors: Salvatore Cantalupo who plays Pasquale the tailor in the Garrone flm is also cast in Il clan dei camorristi as a farmer who is manipulated by the Camorra into selling his land to Russo. Salvatore Esposito who is cast as prodigal son Gennaro Savastano in Gomorrah also has a role in Il clan dei camorristi as a Camorra soldier. 21. In September following the release of Il clan dei camorristi, newspaper headlines covered the arrest of Alessandro Corvino, suspected member of the Casalesi clan who is nicknamed “’O Malese,” “like the fctional boss” (La gazzetta del mezzogiorno.it 2013). Hence, viewers are primed to look out for interesting cross-overs between reality and fction. 22. According to Jason Mittell, “characters who we are aligned with, connected to, and invested in are typically those we spend more time with 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 97

and who provide the most interesting interior states, balancing scrutable access with complex dimensionality to engage us as active mind readers” (Mittell 2015, 132). 23. Pino Farinotti writes that onscreen positive heroes are no longer of interest and points out that Garko who is described as “cursed and unsettling, in addition to extremely beautiful” is the perfect embodiment of the antihero in L’onore e il rispetto (Farinotti 2010, 283). In his discussion of the more contemporary televisual image of the mob boss, Francesco Anello notes that one need only think toward the “elegance, beauty and unbiased and criminal allure of Gabriel Garko in L’onore e il rispetto” (Anello 2013, 238). 24. For example, numerous fan clubs are devoted to Garko. A Facebook search on July 18, 2017, lists ninety-nine offcial and unoffcial Garko fan pages and clubs totaling well over a million two hundred thousand “likes” (Facebook 2017). 25. On the series’ success during its frst three seasons, especially among mothers and daughters and adolescents see Grasso (2012). Grasso also notes that L’onore e il rispetto’s largest audiences are from the South of Italy. 26. Buonanno however discusses how Fortebracci’s violence is “redeemed” by Garko’s “elegant physique of a fashion model romantic air of a man with dark good looks” (Buonanno 2012a, 121) 27. According to Fumarola, Ozpetek succeeds in transforming Garko from a “Mark Anthony” character into a “suffering, enamored melancholic, with a shaved head and greyish circles under his eyes” (Fumarola 2012). 28. See Tania Modleski who addresses correspondence to soap opera actors where fans give advice or “warn the heroine of her impending doom” (Modleski 1979, 14). 29. Modleski notes that soap operas frequently engage with “controversial social issues” such as rape, issues that are frequently “handled in a sensitive manner” (Modleski 1979, 13). 30. See also Seiter and Wilson who maintain that the soap opera unveils a “paranoid obsession with disputed paternity and sexual relationships” (Seiter and Wilson 2005, 136). 31. For example, the blogging site www.davidemaggio.it paid close attention to the story of Michele and Daniele (see Stefanelli 2015) while www.cinemagay.it covered the story of Nella (Manuela Arcuri), a bisexual woman featuring in Season One (Cinemagay.it., 2006). 32. An Internet search will unveil several sites debating Garko’s sexual preferences. For example, in 2016 Garko was happy to be called a “gay icon,” noting “if I man desires me, great” (Valenza 2016) and the gay celebrity gossip Web site The Data Lounge includes a thread where commenters debate whether Garko is gay, and whether he is circumcised (The Data Lounge 2010). 98 D. RENGA

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Cecchini, Sara. 2013. “‘Il clan dei Camorristi’ offende i cittadini di Aversa?” Today, February 27. Accessed June 15, 2017. http://www.today.it/media/ il-clan-dei-camorristi-aversa-polemiche.html. Cesarale, Sandra. 2001. “‘Uno bianca, storia maledetta anche in tv.” Corriere della Sera, February 4. Accessed December 10, 2016. http://www.mediaset. it/gruppomediaset/bin/1.$plit/corsera_04_02_01_uno_bianca.pdf. Cinemagay.it. 2006. “L’onore e il rispetto.” Cinemagay.it, September 6. Accessed July 20, 2017. https://www.cinemagay.it/serie-tv/onore-e-il- rispetto-l/. Colella, Vanessa. 2013. “Il Clan dei Camorristi, intervista esclusiva a Francesco Di Leva: ‘Dalla serie deve venir fuori il positivo.’” La nostra tv, February 8. Accessed June 29, 2017. http://www.lanostratv.it/2013/02/il-clan-dei- camorristi-intervista-esclusiva-a-francesco-di-leva-dalla-serie-deve-venir-fuori-il-positivo/. Corriere del mezzogiorno. 2013. “Il ‘Clan dei camorristi’? No grazie. Sindaco di Aversa: ‘ora chiedo i danni.’” Corrieredelmezzogiorno, February 26. Accessed June 15, 2017. http://corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it/caserta/notizie/ cronaca/2013/26-febbraio-2013/clan-camorristi-no-grazie-sindaco-aversa- ora-chiedo-danni-2114228078654.shtml/. Corriere della Sera. 2007a. “Il capo dei capi? ‘Era meglio un porno.’” Corriere della Sera, November 29. Accessed March 15, 2017. http://www.corriere. it/cronache/07_novembre_29/fction_riina_osservatorio_ee70554a-9e6b- 11dc-9968-0003ba99c53b.shtml. Corriere della Sera. 2007b. “La moglie di Riina chiede i danni Ma il boss si com- muove davanti alla tv.” Corriere della Sera, November 30. Accessed March 14, 2017. http://www.corriere.it/cronache/07_novembre_30/riina_richi- esta_danni_a948be80-9f51-11dc-8807-0003ba99c53b.shtml. Corriere di Ragusa. 2016. “La morte di Provenzano: ‘Per Corleone è una liberazione.’” CorrierediRagusa.it, July 13. Accessed May 18, 2017. http://www. corrierediragusa.it/articoli/sicilia/palermo/35395-la-morte-di-provenzano- per-corleone-e-una-liberazione.html. Costantini, Emilia. 2006. “Placido diventa Provenzano in una fction.” Corrieredellasera.it, August 4. Accessed May 8, 2017. http://www.corriere. it/Primo_Piano/Spettacoli/2006/08_Agosto/04/costantini.html. di Amato, Astolfo. 2011. Criminal Law in Italy. Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands: Kluwer Law International. Dickie, John. 2004. Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafa. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Dickie, John. 2013. “Historicizing Italy’s Other Mafas: Some Considerations.” The Italianist 33 (2): 201–204. 100 D. RENGA

Dipollina, Antonio. 2001. “‘Uno Bianca’, una fction per la memoria del Paese.” LaRepubblica, January 4. Accessed December 8, 2017. http://www.repubblica.it/online/spettacoli/unobianca/unobianca/unobianca.html. Donadio, Rachel. 2009. “On Facebook, Sicilian Mafa Is a Hot Topic.” The New York Times, January 19. Accessed August 3, 2016. http://www.nytimes. com/2009/01/20/world/europe/20italy.html?pagewanted all&_r 0. = = Duello, Gennaro Marco. 2013. “Tutti contro Il Clan dei Camorristi, il sindaco di Aversa: ‘Chiederemo i danni.’” Fanpage.it, February 26. Accessed June 27, 2017. http://tv.fanpage.it/tutti-contro-il-clan-dei- camorristi-il-sindaco-di-aversa-chiederemo-i-danni/. Facebook. 2017. Search for Gabriel Garko. Facebook. Accessed July 18, 2017. https://www.facebook.com/search/pages/?q gabriel%20garko. = Farinotti, Pino. 2010. Storie di cinema. Milan: Gelmini Editore. Faulkner, Sally. 2016. “Approaching the Middlebrow: Audience, Text, Institution.” In Middlebrow Cinema, edited by Sally Faulkner, 1–12. Oxon and New York: Routledge. Freud, Sigmund. 2006. “Remembering, Repeating, and Working Through.” In The Penguin Freud Reader, edited by Adam Phillips, 391–401. London: Penguin Books. Fumarola, Silvia. 2001. “Uno Bianca, il flm sotto accusa.” LaRepubblica, February 4. Accessed December 8, 2016. http://www.repubblica.it/online/ spettacoli/unoflm/unoflm/unoflm.html. Fumarola, Silvia. 2007. “Il capo dei capi, un flm che riscatta noi siciliani.” La Repubblica, October 23. Accessed March 16, 2017. http://www.repubblica. it/2007/10/sezioni/spettacoli_e_cultura/capo-capi/capo-capi/capo-capi.html. Fumarola, Silvia. 2012. “Il forzato della bellezza che sbanca con il melò.” La Repubblica, September 11. Accessed July 17, 2017. http://www.repubblica. it/persone/2012/09/11/news/gabriel_garko-42352739/. Grasso, Aldo. 2012a. “‘L’onore e il rispetto’, le ragioni del successo.” Corriere della sera, October 8. Accessed July 18, 2017. http://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/12_ottobre_08/a-fil-di-rete-onore-rispetto-ragioni-successo-aldo- grasso_f01ac232-1110-11e2-b61f-b7b290547c92.shtml. Guidotto, Enzo. 2011. “Il capo dei capi: tra fction e realtà. Sospette omissioni ed evidenti falsifcazioni.” Antimafa duemila. Accessed May 12, 2017. http://archivio.antimafaduemila.com/notizie-20072011/51-inchi- este/1649-il-capo-dei-capi-tra-fction-e-realta-sospette-omissioni-ed-evidenti-falsifcazioni.html?showall 1. = Hipkins, Danielle. 2012. “Who Wants to Be a TV Showgirl? Auditions, Talent and Taste in Contemporary Popular Italian Cinema.” The Italianist 32: 154–90. Hope, William. 2010. “Introduction.” In Italian Film Directors in the New Millennium, edited by William Hope, 1–37. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 101

Jackson, David. 2016. Exploring Aging Masculinities: The Body, Sexuality and Social Lives. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Kampf, Antje. 2013. “‘There is a Person Here’: Rethinking Age(ing), Gender and Prostate Cancer.” In Aging Men, Masculinities and Modern Medicine, edited by Antje Kampf, Barbara L. Marshall, and Alan Petersen, 52–67. Oxon and New York: Routledge. la Gazzetta del mezzogiorno. 2013. “Arrestato ‘’O Malese’, Come Boss Fiction.” Lagazzettadelmezzogiorno.it, September 13. Accessed June 28, 2017. http:// www.lagazzettadelmezzogiorno.it/news/italia/490036/arrestato-o-malese- come-boss-fction.html. la Repubblica. 2007. “Latitante del clan mafoso Lo Piccolo arrestato mentre guardava ‘Il Capo dei capi.’” la Repubblica, November 30. Accessed March 14, 2017. http://www.repubblica.it/2007/10/sezioni/cronaca/mafa/ arrestato-catalano/arrestato-catalano.html. la Repubblica. 2014. “Calcolate le pene di Provenzano e Bagarella: insieme hanno collezionato 33 ergastoli.” la Repubblica, March 24. Accessed May 10, 2017. http://palermo.repubblica.it/cronaca/2014/03/25/news/calcolate_ le_pene_complessive_di_provenzano_e_bagarella_insieme_hanno_collezion- ano_33_ergastoli-81854325/. la Repubblica Napoli.it. 2013. “Scampia, presidente municipalità ‘No a uso immagini per Gomorra 2.’” La Repubblica Napoli.it, January 5. Accessed June 26, 2017. http://napoli.repubblica.it/cronaca/2013/01/05/ news/scampia_presidente_municipalit_no_a_uso_immagini_per_ gomorra_2-49957279/. Lillo, Nicola. 2012. “Uno bianca, vent’anni dopo il massacre. Uno dei condannati chiede la semilibertà.” Ilfattoquotidiano.it, January 3. Accessed December 8, 2016. http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2012/01/03/ bianca-ventanni-dopo-massacro-condannati-chiede-semiliberta/181373/. MacMurraugh-Kavanagh, Madeleine K. 2000. “What’s All This Then? The Ideology of Identity in The Cops.” In Frames and Fictions on Television: The Politics of Identity Within Drama, edited by Bruce Carson and Margaret Llewellyn-Jones, 40–61. Exeter and Portland: Intellect. Mayne, Judith. 2002. “Paradoxes of Spectatorship.” In The Film Cultures Reader, edited by Graeme Turner, 29–45. New York: Routledge. McCarthy, Anna. 2015. “Studying Soap Opera.” In The Television Genre Book, 3rd ed., edited by Glen Creeber, 73–75. London: British Film Institute. Mediaset.it. 2001. “Uno bianca.” Mediaset.it, February 5. Accessed December 8, 2016. http://www.fction.mediaset.it/uno-bianca/stagione-1/. Mediaset.it. 2013. Il clan dei camorristi. Mediaset.it, January 25. Accessed June 29, 2017. http://www.fction.mediaset.it/il-clan-dei-camorristi/stagione-1/. 102 D. RENGA

Mediaset.it. 2014. “L’ultimo padrino.” Mediaset.it, October 9. Accessed May 12, 2017. http://www.mediaset.it/mediasetextra/articoli/l-ultimo-pa- drino_4736.shtml. Mediaset.it. 2017. “Shareholders’ Structure.” Mediaset.it. Accessed August 12, 2017. http://www.mediaset.it/corporate/chisiamo/azionariato_en.shtml. Milazzo, Dario. 2016. “Salvatore Riina diventa un eroe su Facebook. Fra i commentori alcuni detenuti.” L’urlo, March 18. Accessed March 14, 2017. http://www.lurlo.info/it/salvatore-riina-diventa-eroe-su-facebook-fra-i-com- mentatori-soggetti-che-stanno-scontando-gli-arresti-domiciliari/. Mittell, Jason. 2015. Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling. New York and London: New York University Press. Modleski, Tania. 1979. “The Search for Tomorrow in Today’s Soap Operas: Notes on a Feminine Narrative Form.” Film Quarterly 33 (1): 12–21. Modleski, Tania. 1989. The Women Who Knew Too Much: Hitchcock and Feminist Theory. New York and London: Routledge. Monzese, Cologno. 2001. “Audience: Canale 5 vince la serata con la fction ‘Uno bianca.’” February 6. Accessed December 8, 2016. http://www.mediaset.it/corporate/salastampa/2001/comunicatostampa_643_it.shtml. Mulvey, Laura. 1989. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” In Visual and Other Pleasures. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. Mumford, Laura Stempel. 1995. Love and Ideology in the Afternoon: Soap Opera, Women, and Television Genre. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. Naso, Domenico. 2015. “Gabriel Garko, torna L’onore e il Rispetto a offendere l’intelligenza del telespettatore medio.” Il fatto quotidiano, September 2. Accessed July 17, 2017. http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2015/09/02/ gabriel-garko-torna-lonore-e-il-rispetto-a-offendere-lintelligenza-del-telespettatore-medio/2001734/. Natali, Irene. 2013. “Il clan dei camorristi: La fction di Canale 5 all’Univer- sità La Sapienza.” Marida Caterini, November 6. Accessed June 12, 2017. http://www.maridacaterini.it/news/1597-il-clan-dei-camorristi-la-fction-di- canale-5-all-università-la-sapienza.html. O’Rawe, Catherine. 2014. Stars and Masculinities in Contemporary Italian Cinema. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Osservatori esterni. 2009. “Totò Riina: il ‘Capo dei capi’ fra realtà, critica e fantasia.” Osservatori esterni, October 6. Accessed March 15, 2017. http://www.osservatoriesterni.it/schede/toto-riina-il-capo-dei-capi- fra-realta-critica-e-fantasia. Panorama.it. 2013. “Claudia Potenza: ‘Ne ‘Il Clan dei Camorristi’ non ci sono idoli.’” Panorama.it, January 29. Accessed June 29, 2017. http://www.panorama.it/televisione/claudia-potenza-ne-il-clan-dei- camorristi-non-ci-sono-idoli/. 3 MEDIASET’S MIDDLEBROW MODEL: IL CAPO DEI CAPI … 103

Paolino, Fabrizio. 2017. “1993 2x05 - 2x06.” Recenserie, June 5. Accessed August 25, 2017. http://www.recenserie.com/2017/06/1993-2x05-2x06- episodio-5-episodio-6.html. Pickering-Iazzi, Robin. 2017. “Introduction: Mediating Antimafa Culture: (Cyber)spatialities of Legality.” In The Italian Mafa, New Media, and the Culture of Legality, edited by Robin Pickering-Iazzi, 3–38. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press. Pine, Jason. 2011. “Transnational Organized Crime and Alternative Culture Industry.” In Routledge Handbook of Organized Crime, edited by Felia Allum and Stan Gilmour, 335–49. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Pitout, Magriet. 2006. “Reception Theory.” In Media Studies, Volume Two: Content, Audiences and Production, edited by Pieter J Fourie, 243–63. Lansdowne, South Africa: Juta. Povoledo, Elisabetta. 2007. “A Mafa Saga Keeps Italians Tuned In.” The New York Times, November 18. Accessed March 17, 2017. http://www.nytimes. com/2007/11/18/technology/18iht-mafa19.1.8374072.html. Renga, Dana. 2013. Unfnished Business: Screening the Italian Mafa in the New Millennium. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press. Ross, Charlotte. 2013. “Sexualities.” In The Media: An Introduction, 3rd ed., edited by Daniele Albertazzi and Paul Cobley, 397–409. Oxon and New York: Routledge. Scotti, Paolo. 2008. “Michele Placido choc: ‘Il mio Provenzano mistico come Padre Pio.’” Ilgiornale.it, January 12. Accessed May 14, 2017. http://www. ilgiornale.it/news/michele-placido-choc-mio-provenzano-mistico-padre-pio. html. Seiter, Ellen, and Mary Jeanne Wilson. 2005. “Soap Opera Survival Tactics.” In Thinking Outside the Box: A Contemporary Television Genre Reader, edited by Gary R. Edgerton and Brian G. Rose, 136–55. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky. Stefanelli, Stefania. 2015. “L’onore e il rispetto 4: scatta la storia gay in ambito mafoso, e l’omosessualità sarà duramente punita.” Davidemaggio.it, September 14. Accessed July 20, 2017. https://www.davidemaggio.it/ archives/120136/lonore-e-il-rispetto-4-scatta-la-storia-gay-in-ambito-mafoso-e-lomosessualita-sara-duramente-punita. Taylor, Diana. 2007. The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas. Durham and London: Duke University Press. TGCOM24. 2013. “‘Il clan dei camorristi’ all’Università La Sapienza di Roma.” TGCOM24, November 7. Accessed June 29, 2017. http://www.tgcom24. mediaset.it/televisione/2013/notizia/-il-clan-dei-camorristi-all-universita-la- sapienza-di-roma_2008102.shtml. 104 D. RENGA

The Data Lounge. 2010. “Italian Actor Hunk, Gabriel Garko. Is He Gay?” TheDataLounge.it, June 4. Accessed July 20, 2017. https://www.datalounge. com/thread/9281467-italian-actor-hunk-gabriel-garko.-is-he-gay. Traversa, Fabio. 2008. “L’ultimo padrino, Domenica e lunedì su Canale 5 l’ascesa e la cattura di Bernardo Provenzano. E riparte la polemica sui mafosi ‘eroi.’” Blogo, January 12. Accessed May 12, 2017. http://realityshow. blogosfere.it/post/93537/lultimo-padrino-domenica-e-lunedi-su-canale-5-lascesa-e-la-cattura-di-bernardo-provenzano-e-riparte. Valenza, Mario. 2016. “Sanremo, Gabriel Garko: ‘Io icona gay? Se mi desidera un uomo va bene.’” ilGiornale.it, August 2. Accessed July 20, 2017. http:// www.ilgiornale.it/news/spettacoli/sanremo-gabriel-garko-io-icona-gay-semi-desidera-uomo-va-be-1221634.html. Vidal, Belén. 2013. “Introduction: The Biopic and Its Critical Contexts.” In The Biopic in Contemporary Film Culture, edited by Tom Brown and Belén Vidal, 1–33. New York and London: Routledge. Vitali, Alessandra. 2008. “Provenzano, il flm delle polemiche ‘Mastella prima lo veda, poi parli.’” la Repubblica, January 11. Accessed May 10, 2017. http:// www.repubblica.it/2008/01/sezioni/spettacoli_e_cultura/fction-provenzano/fction-provenzano/fction-provenzano.html. Wolff, Michael. 2009. “All Broads Lead to Rome.” Vanity Fair, August 9. Accessed August 12, 2017. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2009/09/ wolff200909. CHAPTER 4

Sky’s Offer You Can’t Refuse and Romanzo criminale. La serie’s Criminal Payoffs

Sky’s Offer You Can’t Refuse The publicity information for the miniseries Faccia d’angelo (Angel Face, Andrea Porporati, 2012) announces that “Sky guarantees an incompa- rable offer to its subscribers.” The premium pay network’s enticing pro- posal entails original, innovative, and experimental programming that is cutting edge in its production values, allows for creative freedom from “the best” in the business, and speaks to “an audience who is attentive to quality [and] who wants to have a unique television experience” (Sky Cinema HD 2012). Placing audience taste and agency front and center in the viewing encounter recalls what Amanda Lotz defnes as the “fve Cs in the post-network era”: choice, control, convenience, customiza- tion, and community, concepts crucial to Sky’s programming agenda (Lotz 2007, 245). Media mogul Rupert Murdoch founded Sky Italia with the intention of constructing an international premium TV superpower in a yet-to- be-exploited market that was lacking in cable rivals.1 The Milan-based digital satellite platform was launched in 2003 and began to air original programming almost half a decade later. Sky rapidly became a serious contender in the Italian television scene and currently leads the nation’s TV market with a 32% share, in front of Rai (30%) and Mediaset (28%; Pekic 2017). Millions of viewers originally paid a monthly subscription to gain access to recently released flms from all over the world,2 American television series, and, primarily, soccer matches and other

© The Author(s) 2019 105 D. Renga, Watching Sympathetic Perpetrators on Italian Television, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11503-6_4 106 D. RENGA sporting events shows in live broadcast (Sky owned Italian soccer rights through 2004 and currently owns them through 2018). When Sky began airing original programming in 2008, a “phenomenon” (Barra and Scaglioni 2013, 11) was born that transformed the network, a transition similar to the sea change HBO (founded in 1972) underwent with the premieres of the original series Oz (1997–2003), Sex and the City (1998–2004), and The Sopranos in the late 1990s. When the slogan “It’s not TV: It’s HBO” was introduced in 1995, the premium network branded itself as cutting edge and prepared audiences for a slate of innovative series that they would happily pay for. These and many other American series played on Sky, modifying the tastes of Italian audiences and getting viewers ready for novel series and miniseries that, compared to Rai and Mediaset, upped the ante in terms of production and pushed boundaries relating to representations of gender, violence, and history. Barra and Scaglioni discuss the distinctiveness of Sky’s creation of material that is methodically conceived, executed, scheduled, and marketed. The boutique nature of the Sky lineup maximizes “return on investment” while enticing viewers who are interested in programming that diverges from the more mainstream prototypes available on the two competitors (Barra and Scaglioni 2015, 71). Unlike Rai’s pedagogical programming and Mediaset’s middlebrow model, Sky shows are, for the most part, in line with series dubbed as “quality television.” Borrowing from Jason Mittell and Michael Mario Albrecht, I employ the term “quality” as a “discursive assemblage” (Albrecht 2015, 9) or a “discursive category” (Mittell 2015, 210) that can be used to group programs together, rather than as a designation pertaining to worth, i.e., that some series and miniseries might be perceived as “better” than others. The much-debated “quality” label can be applied to programs made over the last twenty years that (generally) have high production values are innovative in terms of casting, dialogue, soundtrack, and story lines and are narratively complex.3 Such original programming engages viewers who are hungry for sophisticated content, and who in turn can feel sophisticated as a result of engaging with quality content. Sky began producing original programming in 2008, although as early as 2006 Sky aired original programs created and produced by Fox Italia such as the very short (fve minutes per episode) crime narratives Racconti neri (Black Stories, 2006) in 2006 or the sit-com Boris in 2007 (2007–2010).4 When the detective thriller series Quo vadis, baby (Guido Chiesa, 2008) and the criminal melodrama Romanzo criminale. La serie (Stefano Sollima, 2008–2010) premiered in 2008, the Sky slogan was “never 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 107 stop dreaming.” Ever since, Sky’s exclusive programming has grown in popularity, drawing in increasing numbers of viewers who expect more from the small-screen viewing experience (see Tables A.11, A.12, A.13, and A.14). At the same time, as Scaglioni notes, Sky’s complex TV ambitions are somewhat limited, in particular in terms of a relatively smaller budget and lack of a multi-season, regular production cycle necessary to keep fans tuned in and to “fully exploit a successful franchise” (although Gomorrah marks an exception in that the third season premiered one year after Gomorrah 2; Scaglioni 2016, 9). Giancarlo Lombardi (2016) lays out the features of the Sky model characteristic of Romanzo criminale. La serie (two seasons), Faccia d’angelo (miniseries), Gomorrah (various directors, three seasons: 2014, 2016, 2017, and an anticipated fourth season), and 1992 and 1993 (Giuseppe Gagliardi, two seasons: 2015, 2017, with 1994 anticipated for 2019), all of which are treated in the chapters on Sky programming. This template favors empathetic relativism (or the viewer’s willingness to align themselves with villainous men and women), high production values, naturalistic performance style, stylistic integrity, urban settings (Naples, Rome, Venice, and Milan), and interesting casting choices. These tropes are familiar to American series such as The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, or Breaking Bad.5 Lombardi also notes that Sky programming is particularly interested in revisiting recent Italian history (Lombardi 2016). All of the Sky series and miniseries with a focus on criminal antiheroes offer fctionalized accounts of historical events or fgures dating from the 1970s to the present day. Three place an emphasis on organized crime: Romanzo criminale. La serie engages the Banda della Magliana, the criminal gang active in Rome from the late 1970s through the early 1990s; Faccia d’angelo narrates the exploits of il Toso, a fctionalized version of Felice Maniero, the leader of the Mala del Brenta which is a Northeastern mafa whose criminal activity dates to the early 1970s; the Camorra, the mafa of the Campania region which emerged in Italy in the mid-1800s, is the focus of Gomorrah whose narrative is contemporary. Taking a different focus, 1992 and 1993 chronicle the stratagems of several fctional and nonfctional politicians and business people, including multi-time Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, involved in the Tangentopoli or “Bribesville” scandals and their aftermath in 1992 and beyond. In addition to placing a focus on actual crime networks that brought about, and in some cases still generate, grief, pain, and national insta- bility, the four Sky programs all unambiguously place good-looking 108 D. RENGA antiheroes at the narrative core. Alternatively, in Mediaset programs relationships between masculine players on both sides of the law are fostered, and perpetrators are generally underdeveloped or come off as one-sided. In Rai and Mediaset programming, the viewer is left with the moral message that crime can be defeated. Sky programs are instead replete with well-developed and complex antiheroes who are depicted in sympathetic terms. Although guardians of legality feature in some of the Sky programs, they come off as fat (Inspector Bruno Ricci in Faccia d’angelo; Carmine Recano), unscrupulous and conficted (Commissioner Scialoja in Romanzo criminale. La serie; Marco Bocci), or they ft the serial perpetrator antihero identikit discussed in the Introduction (Luca Pastore in 1992 and 1993; Domenico Diele). All of the men that feature in these programs conform to the television antihero template: They experience loss, a trauma, or an injustice at a younger age; they are charismatic; they are good at what they do, live exciting lives, and are relatively smart and cunning; they love deeply and suffer profoundly; they are surrounded by friends and family, and are sexually attractive to a variety of women; they have a sense of inner justice (albeit a morally perplex- ing one). Also, with one exception discussed in the Gomorrah chapter, they are less bad than their friends and enemies and experience deep homosocial relationships with their criminal peers. Sky has made quite the business of serial perpetrators in and outside of Italy’s borders.

Romanzo criminale. La serie: Criminal Payoffs

“Good Bad Men” In December of 2014, Massimo Carminati was arrested on accusations of, among other charges, belonging to a criminal (mafa) organization, extortion, fraud, usury, corruption, and bid rigging. Carminati was involved with right-wing terrorist organization NAR (Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari) and the Banda della Magliana, during the height of both organizations’ most violent periods in the 1970s and early 1980s and has since allegedly taken part in a variety of illicit activities up until his recent arrest as a member of “Mafa capitale,” the scandal in Rome uncovered in 2014 that revealed an intricate crime network operating in the nation’s capital since about the year 2000. In the press, Carminati is described in cinematic terms and is called “the last king of Rome” (Huffngton Post “Massimo Carminati Arrestato” 2014), whose 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 109

“legendary” (Abbate 2014) life story is “worthy of a James Bond villain” (Mezzofore 2014). At the same time, he is characterized as “ruthless” (Squires 2014), called “the black soul of the most ruthless and far-reaching Capitoline crime organization” (De Risi 2014), and has been described by judges as “dangerous and violent” (la Repubblica “Mafa Capitale, Riesame” 2015). Carminati is also the inspiration for the character of “Nero” in the novel, flm, and television series Romanzo criminale (Crime Novel). Played by Riccardo Scamarcio in Michele Placido’s 2005 hit flm, Nero is the most politically coded of the Banda who, unlike his onscreen counterparts, commits murders without remorse. And yet, as I argue elsewhere, the flm works to create compassion for him and his criminal counterparts, as does Stefano Sollima’s 2008– 2010 popular series that had a huge cult following (Renga 2016).6 The Carminati case raises compelling questions about the representation and appeal of criminals, especially when they are subjects of popular fctionalized accounts. Romanzo criminale. La serie focuses on fctional counterparts of several members of the Banda della Magliana which was primarily active in and around Rome from the mid-1970s through the early 1990s. Not a mafa per se, the Banda is said to have conspired with Cosa Nostra, the Camorra, Italian terrorist organizations, and the Italian state, and was allegedly involved in several of the most traumatic events of the intense period of terrorism in Italy known as the anni di piombo (the leaden years), including the kidnapping of Aldo Moro and the Bologna train station bombing.7 In the two-season choral series directed by Stefano Sollima, evil is endowed with a “mythical air” (Barra and Scaglioni 2015, 72). Gang members Libanese (Francesco Montanari), Freddo (Vinicio Marchioni), Dandi (Alessandro Roja), and Bufalo (Andrea Sartoretti) are hardened criminals whose offenses include murder, kidnapping, money laundering, armed robbery, prostitution, and drugs and weapons traffcking. At the same time, these men are bound by loyalty and friendship, and are coded as feeling gangsters who love, suffer loss, and cry. Like most classical mobster tales, the series charts the gripping rise and inescapable fall of the Banda and its members who, at least on the surface, read as prototypical “good bad men” as defned by Murray Smith. Smith notes that such “perverse” characters are actually not too bad at all as concealed beneath their violent behavior viewers fnd a “morally desirable and virtuous core.” Spectators like them because they are endowed with many redeeming qualities and are superior to their 110 D. RENGA criminal counterparts. Viewers can live vicariously through these men, celebrating their successes while engaging emotionally in their inevitable demise, as they must pay for their transgressions (Smith 1999, 223–25). Smith notes, however, that these types of characters are not portrayed as perennially morally unpleasant and as such “allegiances with them are only apparently perverse” (Smith 1999, 225). Such a characterization fts particularly well with Libanese and Freddo. At the same time, as I discuss later, advertising and marketing around the series invite viewers to experience a form of “perverse allegiance” not with individual characters but with the series as a whole which enthusiastically endorses the celebration of desires that are “socially or morally proscribed” (Smith 1999, 221). This chapter investigates divergences in allegiance with different representations of members of the Banda della Magliana, specifcally depictions on television and computer screens and on mobile devices. This chapter frst considers how audiences are invited to engage emotionally with serial (television) offenders, focusing on Romanzo criminale. La serie. This section is preceded by a brief discussion of two flms and two documentaries on the Banda. I then discuss various remediated videos found on sites such as YouTube and Daily Motion that show photographs of historical Banda members and share their life stories. Many of these sites include images of the characters or songs heard in the series. I am particularly interested in exploring what changes take place in viewer reaction when fction and nonfction converge in remediated texts in web-based digital media. To what extent, I wonder, might the series and remediated videos stand as counterexamples to the ideals of a culture of legality in that, to different degrees, they help create sympathy for historical perpetrators and not solely for fctional villains.8 The majority of this chapter looks at web-based media and pays attention to blog materials and user comments. These platforms prompt complex responses from users who fnd it diffcult to reconcile reactions to the new media interplay of historical and fctional villains.

Filming and Documenting the Banda della Magliana Aside from the series, two flms and a handful of documentaries have been made about the Banda della Magliana. All of these products represent Banda members in sympathetic terms. Daniele Costantini’s I fatti della Banda della Magliana (2004) is based on a play written by the director called Chiacchiere e sangue (Rumors and Blood, 2000). 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 111

Costantini notes that both play and flm were inspired by his intense interest in gangsters, whom he describes as “exceptional” and “exem- plary” fgures who live in close contact with death. While flming, Costantini had in mind Howard Hawke’s Scarface, Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, and Takeshi Kitano’s Sonatine (1993), whose protagonist is a “tragic gangster, who is comic, melancholic, and profound” (Costantini). In turn, gangsters in I fatti della Banda della Magliana are depicted as melancholics who desire to return to an idealized and impossible past based on, as is stated in the flm, “exclusivity and solidarity.” This homosocial bonding mentality is also present in Goodfellas, The Godfather, and The Sopranos. Criminals are principally imagined in the Placido flm as likable and meriting forgiveness. Romanzo criminale is a male melodrama that focuses on the homosocial bonds between key gang members who are all “diffcult men,” who, as Brett Martin explains, are “trying to get by in the modern world, negotiating relationships, rivalries, and the demands of [an elaborate bureaucracy]” (Martin 2013, 107). In the flm, this bureaucracy is an amalgam of Cosa Nostra, the Camorra, Italian terrorist organizations, and the Italian state. The flm presents a particular viewpoint on the anni di piombo from the perspective of several sympathetic perpetrators with whom audiences are positioned to identify. Recalling Janet Staiger’s work on male melodrama, in Romanzo criminale “the fascination with fallen men continues unabated” (Staiger 2008, 74). This is especially the case as brooding antiheroes are interpreted by Riccardo Scamarcio (Nero), Pierfrancesco Favino (Libanese), and Kim Rossi Stuart (Freddo), some of Italy’s most successful (and attractive) stars. The History Channel documentary La Banda della Magliana – La vera storia (The Banda della Magliana – The True Story, 2010) and the Carlo Lucarelli documentary La Banda della Magliana (2011) mytholo- gize the same gangsters that they intend to denounce. In La Banda della Magliana – La vera storia, gang members are described as “ruthless,” “feared,” and “without scruples.” “We were gangsters” Antonio Mancini declares proudly during the documentary’s incipit, setting the scene for a thrilling mafa narrative grounded in historical truth. A frequent trope in the documentary is a mythologizing comparison of gang members to Roman emperors who eventually fall when, for the most part, they are murdered.9 Nicolino Selis’ death is described in cinematic terms “like on a set of a gangster flm” and period music and stylized montage celebrate the Banda as they rise to power. The protagonists of the documentary 112 D. RENGA are not the fctionalized gangsters in the Placido flm and Sollima series. Instead, they are real-life mobsters who are presented as equally if not more fascinating than their fctional counterparts. As such, the documentary contributes to the enthralling public image of the mafa. Similarly, the Lucarelli program frequently makes mention of mafa movies such as Goodfellas, The Godfather, or the flms of Quentin Tarantino, and compares members of the Banda with onscreen mafosi. The narrative of historical gangster Enrico De Pedis’ death is imbued with suspense and visually reconstructed in detail, as is the description of the torture and murder of Maurizio Abbatino’s brother Roberto who was not involved with the Banda. These two moments create sympathy for Banda members. The frst installment of the four-part History Channel documentary was broadcast immediately following the premiere of the third and fourth episodes of the second season of Romanzo criminale. La serie. This broadcasting choice serves an interesting function: As the History Channel is a Sky subsidiary, viewers are encouraged to remain within the network and absorb “the truth” behind the fction. Both documentaries, borrowing from John Parris Springer, “are structured by the inter- secting goals of realism and melodrama.” The frst (realism) “convinces us of the authenticity of the events we see on screen” while melodrama in each “instructs us to respond to these events” (Springer 2006, 31). Hence, the viewer takes away from these programs the knowledge that the Banda did exist, was nefarious, and has been defeated while imagining the organization’s members as criminals endowed with charismatic and cinematic qualities. However, even though both programs make clear their interest in differentiating fction from fact, the narrative of each is constructed so as to heighten the allure of the organization and its members, and perpetuate the myth of the glamorous and sympathetic mobster. In these four examples, historical criminals are recast as nostalgic and glamorous.

“Structures of Sympathy” Romanzo criminale. La serie conveys a fascination with perpetrators that is somewhat mitigated in the two documentaries discussed previously where the viewer is at times reminded of the historical stakes of the representation of gangsters. Romanzo criminale. La serie is an early example of Italian quality television that is narratively complex and engages 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 113 the viewer while inviting what Mittell terms “participatory engagement” in discussions, forums, and blog posts (Mittell 2015), a point to which I will return when discussing the remediated texts under consideration. The series is more true to de Cataldo’s novel than is the Placido flm and more fully develops the narratives of several members of the Banda (and not just key fgures Freddo, Libanese, and Dandi who are the focus of the flm). In particular, the twenty-two episodes expand upon Banda members’ friendships and love interests and delve deeper into their psychological makeup. Most apposite, fashbacks, fashforwards, and memories that narrativize traumatic and life-changing experiences allow viewers access into characters’ personal histories. These narrative structures garner further compassion for these antiheroes.10 As Giancarlo Lombardi argues, viewer empathy (Noël Carroll’s “sympathy for the devil” 2004) in the series “did not arise from the star-power of the cast but from the force of longer story-arcs which endowed their ‘anti-heroes’ with redeeming traits that would facilitate spectatorial alignment and allegiance” (Lombardi 2012, 181). Recalling Murray Smith’s “structures of sympathy” discussed in this book’s introduction, narrative is structured to create sympathy for villains. This is because viewers understand what motivates Libanese, Freddo, Dandi, and Bufalo, and might comprehend how and why they act as they do, and thus respond emotionally to them (Smith 1995, 86). The series fosters a form of plural engagement and alignment with several characters, primarily Bufalo, Libanese, Dandi, and Freddo (Smith 1995, 93). “Omniscient” narrative moves between various plotlines and grants “access to the subjectivities” of several members of the Banda (Smith 1995, 90).11 In the flm, the main focus is the homosocial romances and bromances of Libanese, Freddo, and Dandi, and this narrative emphasis is made clear in the flm’s title sequence, where the viewer is introduced to nine characters in twenty seconds, frst Libanese, then Freddo, then Dandi, followed by six other Banda members. The flm’s tripartite structure is apparent as captions displaying the name of these three appear throughout the flm. In the series, however, Freddo does not appear until nearly halfway through the frst episode. Such a narrative deferral, especially for those numerous viewers who are familiar with the flm and who are fans of Kim Rossi Stuart, allows viewers to become acquainted and engage with other Banda members before encountering Freddo, whom the flm constructs as the most sympathetic, and as I argue elsewhere, likable Banda member.12 More so than the 114 D. RENGA flm, the frst season of the series depicts Banda members as a team who work together to conquer Rome. Such a communal ethos is apparent in 1.3 when the Banda takes control of almost all of the drug traffcking in the capital. The pivotal moment of gang ascension in the flm is Freddo and Libanese’s murder of rival gang leader Terribile which is celebrated in a discotheque intercut with images of the kidnap of Aldo Moro.13 In the series, the Banda’s initial coming to power is narrativized through a montage of several Banda members violently and triumphantly pum- meling drug dealers from Rome’s many neighborhoods which is accompanied by Alan Sorrenti’s disco song “Figli delle stelle/Children of the Stars.” The flm opens up history and makes the Banda’s rule over Rome into a national question of political corruption, especially considering the Banda’s eventual involvement in the Moro case. The series, however, has a more local feel and places an emphasis on the comprehensive homosocial act of conquering territory through bloodshed. Like in the majority of the television serial dramas discussed in this book, men in Romanzo criminale. La serie are wounded and haunted by past traumatic experiences. Catherine O’Rawe persuasively argues that the “centrality of representations of violence and wounding” (O’Rawe 2014, 108) in the series speaks toward an abject masculinity that is connected to contemporary discourses of a white masculinity that is endangered and in crisis (O’Rawe 2014, 104, 114). Men bond through beating up others and fnd redemption through being beaten or sobbing. The series is rife with displays of bodily abjection—O’Rawe notes the prevalence of blood, piss, vomit, and tears in the series. “Wounded, bloodied, and leaking bodies” on display make male antiheroes into victims who have been “dis- placed” from a dominant subject position (O’Rawe 2014, 108). At the same time, bodily abjection serves to mitigate the threat of homosexuality that haunts the series.14 The Banda’s bromances center around prominent displays of homosociality such as playing soccer, communal urination, collective brutality, or, in the case of Dandi and Detective Scialoja (Marco Bocci), competing over the prostitute Patrizia (Daniela Virgilio). Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick notes that homosocial desire designates “social bonds of persons of the same sex.” However, her use of the term presumes a “potential unbrokenness of a continuum between homosocial and homosexual,” a continuum that a gangster mentality dictates remains unambiguous (Sedgwick 1985, 1). Hence, Libanese’s intense and frequent stares at Freddo throughout season one can never evolve into physical intimacy and are instead channeled into various forms of violence. 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 115

Judith Butler argues that heterosexuality is produced through an identifcation with the abjection of homosexuality. She poses the question: “If heterosexual identifcation takes place not through the refusal to identify as homosexual but through an identifcation with an abject homosexuality that must, as it were, never show, then can we extrapo- late that normative subject positions more generally depend on and are articulated through a region of abjected identifcations?” (Butler 1993, 112). Following Butler, in the series embodied masculinity hinges upon an association with brutalized corporality. As O’Rawe argues, masculinity in the series is “damage or trauma” (O’Rawe 2014, 115). I would add that mangled masculinity lends narrative coherence to the series through creating male victim antiheroes, borrowing from Claire Sisco King’s analysis of the “male victim-heroes” who are so prevalent in the Hollywood tradition (Sisco King 2012). Wounds, beatings, and san- guinary faces and bodies are structuring tropes that connect characters, create narrative unity, and lend further pathos to brutal men with tragic backstories. For example, Libanese is defned by his wound, and his scarred arm is frequently foregrounded in early episodes either during moments of intense homosocial bonding or rivalry. Through fashback viewers are made aware that the scar was inficted by Terribile as punishment for the theft of a car at the same time that two of Terribile’s men raped Libanese’s girlfriend Sara. Thus, and akin to Freddo in the Placido flm, the gang leader’s vengeance is conveyed as justifed. Libanese’s reprisal is also ingrained collectively in several other members of the Banda when Freddo, Bufalo, Ricotta, and Trentadenari murder Terribile during 1.7 and Freddo plunges into Terribile’s chest the knife originally used to maim Libanese. The development of the revenge narrative over the arc of seven episodes (Libanese’s distress and guilt for not protecting Sara are frequently on display) assists in constructing members of the gang as defenders of those abused by sadists and rapists despite their frequent recourse to violence and assorted criminal acts. Marta Boni states that “we love [the characters in the series] because they resemble us” (Boni 2014, 99). I would instead posit that viewers might respond powerfully to these men because they are able to get to know them so well. As Smith explains, allegiance instills the most personal and emotional response in viewers: “Allegiance depends upon the 116 D. RENGA spectator having what she takes to be reliable access to the character’s state of mind, on understanding the context of the character’s actions, and having morally evaluated the character on the basis of this knowledge […] With allegiance we go beyond understanding, by evaluating and responding emotionally to the traits and emotions of the character” (Smith 1995, 84–85). The better the holistic understanding of a character, the easier it is for viewers to morally evaluate them and to extend to them sympathies if indeed they are merited. Several mobsters are endowed with compassion midway throughout season one when in 1.6 the almost all Banda members are incarcerated in Rome’s Regina Coeli prison. The bulk of the episode transpires in the prison, which is a space of homosocial bonding. Gang members are regularly depicted conspir- ing in the prison yard, where they are depicted as tight-knit. For example, at one point they are shot in medium close-up as they lean against a wall, with Dandi gazing intensely at Freddo, who instead surmises the situation in the prison (see Fig. 4.1). While interned, Banda members are removed from love interests and family members and gang business is suspended. Instead, the focus is on developing Libanese, Dandi, and Freddo’s backstories.15

Fig. 4.1 Freddo (Vinicio Marchioni) and Dandi (Alessandro Roja) bond while in prison in Romanzo criminale. La serie 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 117

Viewers feel allegiance frequently for the unfttingly named Freddo.16 Introduced initially as an outsider fgure to the Banda, he swiftly establishes himself in a central role due to his global and egalitarian gang perspective, faith in Libanese, and problem-solving skills. Freddo also kills with remorse. After fring point blank to murder one of the Cannizzaro brothers at the end of 1.1, Freddo approaches his victim in the pouring rain and looks mournfully at him as the melancholic score begins, he is shot in a soft focus close-up as he gazes downward and appears penitent (see Fig. 4.2). Fierolocchio (Mauro Meconi) asks whether they should go off and conquer Rome and Freddo responds that they should wait until the next day, the suggestion being that Freddo is too moved by his own villainy to think about such frivolous matters. Thus, Freddo beseeches viewer sympathy. Moreover, he falls in love and begins a relationship with Roberta (Alessandra Mastronardi) who is innocent and smart and (at least previously) untouched by criminality. Hence, he is depicted as a caring and contrite culprit. When he is incarcerated in 1.6, a series of fashbacks allow insight into his motivations both personal and professional. Freddo tells his brother Gigio (Alessandro Marverti) who visits him in jail “words are dangerous” when his brother—who was previously involved with Roberta and hurt

Fig. 4.2 Freddo’s contrition after committing murder in Romanzo criminale. La serie 118 D. RENGA by Freddo’s perceived betrayal—urges him to come clean with Roberta about his life of crime. Flashback conveys the origin of this expression: As a young boy, Freddo caught his father in fagrante with his lover who, imploring Freddo to keep the secret, warns about the repercussions of telling the truth: “words are dangerous.” At dinner that evening, Freddo angrily explains “I like it cold/freddo.” When his father orders, he eats his dinner less it gets cold. Finally, fashbacks reveal that Freddo’s life of crime is motivated by his father’s betrayal as he robs the lover’s shop, is caught, and is then incarcerated for the frst time. Thus, the origins of Freddo’s criminal history—including his criminal epithet—are oedi- pally encoded. Borrowing from Daniele Salerno’s reading of the series, for Freddo the “dysfunctional role of the father” is “the fracture that originates the story of crime” (Salerno 2016, 170). Freddo’s arch conveys that his misdeeds are not a result of an inherently bad temperament. Further, at the end of the episode, Freddo’s brother retrieves him from jail, and the two embrace and Freddo is forgiven for his betrayal. And, as the season develops, Freddo’s apparently icy exterior warms as a result of his relationship with Roberta. The carceral milieu also allows for both Dandi and Libanese to recall a formative past experience, which, borrowing from Lombardi’s reading of the series, betrays “characteristics which are likely to facilitate viewer empathy” (Lombardi 2012, 182). Dandi recalls through fashback a lesson in love that still guides him: As an adolescent, he meets cover girl Tamara Dernier who, coincidentally, has entered his workplace at the same time he is in the back of the cafe masturbating to her photos. When he approaches Tamara, her gentleman friend named Dandi reveals to the young protégé a valuable lesson that will infuence his amorous path: Women are costly, the best women are those who are paid for, and he better begin to save up. Dandi’s life goal to possess the best “whore” of Rome epitomizes his materialism, self-interest, and inability to engage in an emotional relationship with women who he regards as commodities. Libanese’s determining encounter is much less narcissistic and codes him as a gangster willing to sacrifce everything for the Banda and its members. While immured, Libanese shares a cell with Gerardo “Il Barbaro” (Ninetto Davoli), ex-gang member and Libanese’s youthful idol who is condemned to two life sentences. Gerardo, as he explains to Libanese, has nothing left to lose as his ex-wife has not allowed him to see their daughter Mirella for decades. Similar to the representation of the prisoners in the docudrama Cesare deve morire (Caesar Must Die, 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 119

Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, 2012), Gerardo’s loss of liberty and family is restorative as he covers for Libanese and is sent to solitary in his stead (thus saving his life as Libanese would have been murdered were he forced into the same predicament). In a very short period, the two establish the “perfect friendship” that is frequent in the prison flm as described by Nicole Hahn Rafter. Gerardo (and other Banda members) is “loyal” and “true” and willingly suffers a punishment to save his newfound friend (Hahn Rafter 2006, 170–72). Later, Gerardo shares his life story with Libanese and, upon his release, Libanese visits Gerardo’s ex-wife hoping to communicate with Mirella. When the ex-wife refuses, Libanese chastises her and justifes his friend’s criminal past, explaining that everything that Gerardo did was meant to provide the family with a better life. Her retort that men like Gerardo live and die alone resonates with Libanese. Her words might also appeal to viewers, prompting them to might feel allegiance for Libanese who has no family or companionship outside of the Banda. In these two infuential experiences, women are positioned as objects of exchange or scapegoats for male anxieties surrounding their own failures and insecurities. In Romanzo criminale. La serie, men are redeemed while women pay the price for the crimes of others. Based upon these examples, Murray Smith would say that viewers might experience allegiance with Libanese and Freddo “in spite of rather than because of [their] perversity” (Smith 1999, 227). Accordingly, sympathies are encouraged not because these men murder, steal, and are excessively violent. Instead, viewers are positioned to feel for them because they were in the past victims to someone more immoral than they, their delinquent behaviors are motivated by a desire to avenge an “innocent” loved one or family member, or they are remorseful murderers who mourn their victims, for example. The series can be read as a quasi-indictment of criminality for two reasons. First, the truly bad guys or those beyond redemption (such as Dandi in season two) do get what is coming to them and meet the end that they deserve. Also, central antiheroic fgures Freddo and Libanese found their way to a life of crime as a result of a past traumatic experience. Hence, they are not fundamentally bad people and are only pushed to do bad things as they (or someone close to them) were unjustly harmed or wronged. Much more so than the two flms and two documentaries on the Banda discussed above, Romanzo criminale. La serie met with controversy due to its depiction of criminality in a glamorous light.17 In 2009, 120 D. RENGA the right-wing mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno blamed the series for an act of youth violence, explaining that it encourages improper behavior (la Repubblica “Alemanno” 2009a). This sentiment is echoed on several online forums discussed in the subsequent section where users comment that the series celebrates crime. Boni has looked in depth at the controversy around the series and the calls to boycott it, and notes that “the phenomenon of negative role models” on television is potentially more fraught due to the medium’s wide viewership with respect to the cinema (Boni 2014, 100). In my view, it is arguable as to whether television might incite younger generations to gang violence. However, the marketing strategies used to generate fascination with criminality among the series’ fan base are interesting. Boni notes that a “guerilla marketing campaign” was launched to create buzz around the series (Boni 2014, 104). Further, marketing and advertising foregrounded the criminal payoffs of serial viewing which met with much dissension in online discussion forums.18 Season one witnessed a publicity campaign around the slogan “crime pays.” A series of four posters appeared in cities throughout Italy that featured the faces of Freddo, Libanese, Dandi, and Patrizia. To the right of each visage appeared the wordings “I stole” (Freddo), “I killed” (Libanese), “I dealt drugs” (Dandi), and “I sold myself” (Patrizia), with “crime pays” featuring under the wording “Romanzo criminale la serie.”19 As Giuliana C. Calvagno notes, the campaign’s “the paradoxical tone that is both religious and celebratory” depicts protagonists in the tradition of holy pictures who, without contrition, attest to breaking a selection of the Ten Commandments (Calvagno 2013, 135). The “crimine paga” slogan also appeared on T-shirts underneath the faces of principal Banda characters.20 Finally, Sky boasted about how much crime really does pay off for the network in an online press release called “Il crimine paga” which announced multiple wins for the second season of the series at the Roma Fiction Fest (best series, best screenplay, and best actor for Marchioni; Sky Atlantic HD 2011). Even though viewers might see Banda members as people frst and criminals second, the “crime pays” slogan unabashedly endorses a gangster lifestyle. Criminality is represented as lucrative in myriad ways: “debutant” actors are rewarded through being endowed with cha- risma21; various groups make a proft off of merchandise associated with the series; Sky reaps the benefts of the series’ successes in the awards circuit. When considering how the series is marketed and promoted, it 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 121 is apparent that in the series, “perverse allegiance – responses of sympathy to characters on the basis of their embodiment of socially or morally undesirable traits – describes a real phenomenon” (Smith 1999, 222).

Remediating the Banda22 So as to problematize the ranges of appeal of the perpetrator seen in the earlier sections of this chapter, I now focus on a number of remediated online videos in which fction and nonfction merge. In their seminal text on remediation, Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin put forward that remediation, mediation, and reality are inseparable because mediation “remediates the real” (Bolter and Grusin 2000, 59) (and by “real” they mean reality and not the Lacanian real). Bolter and Grusin discuss the pleasures and desires of the viewer of refashioned texts. The real is not to be thought of in terms of metaphysics, but instead is in line with the viewer’s experience, that “would evoke an immediate (and therefore authentic) emotional response” to the material (Bolter and Grusin 2000, 53). If, as Bolter and Grusin maintain, the viewer’s interaction with hypermediated material is also an interaction with the real, then the viewers of the many remediated texts discussed below experience, comprehend, and are acquainted with the Banda della Magliana immediately. Such an instantaneous participation in history recalls Thomas Elsaesser’s work on history in the present, whereby the past is not something that we read about in the newspaper, but instead has become “a parallel world which is un-real, hyper-real, and virtual, all at the same time” (Elsaesser 1999). Responses analyzed in the following section on remediated texts on the Banda della Magliana are emotional and frequently heated and suggest that the hundreds of online videos that focus on the Italy’s ffth mafa and that have been watched by millions of viewers are integral in the process of how the criminal organization is perceived today, and will continue to be perceived in the future. The claim that “all mediation is remediation” (Bolter and Grusin 2000, 55, original italics) is quite signifcant when thinking of the diverse and manifold platforms that engage with the Banda della Magliana, tell its story, and contribute to the creation of its mythology. Marta Boni discusses the Romanzo criminale phenomenon as a “complex system” (Boni 2015, 77) and her book Romanzo criminale: Transmedia and Beyond looks principally at the adaptations of de Cataldo’s novel (the Placido flm and Sollima 122 D. RENGA series) together with several other transmedia venues that engage with these texts: blog sites, discussion boards, and several “paratexts” such as iPhone apps, Facebook pages, marketing campaigns, merchandising such as T-shirts, trailers and recaps, offcial Web sites and fan pages, and the game, all of which “reframe the experience of the fctional universe, adapted to the times and contexts in which they appear” (Boni 2014, 111). To this list, I add several online videos on the Banda where fction and fact converge. In his work on Convergence Culture, Henry Jenkins puts forward that “convergence” is a model to consider media transformation currently as “defned through the layering, diversifcation, and interconnectivity of media” (Jenkins 2006, 2011). In turn, I consider the corpus of online texts focusing on the Banda as an example of “transmedia storytelling” that Jenkins defnes as “a process where integral elements of a fction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unifed and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes its own unique con- tribution to the unfolding of the story” (Jenkins 2007).23 However, the integration of historical documents (most frequently photos of ex-members of the Banda) in online videos containing footage from the series does not result in a “unifed and coordinated entertainment experience” for several viewers who fnd it diffcult to reconcile divergent reactions to men who are criminals yet have become legends on the big and small screen. In several remediated videos, images of characters from the series are presented alongside photos of the “real” historical members of the Banda. Also, many examples of web-based digital media include scenes or stills from the series before or after “historical” evidence is recounted through voiceover or subtitles. In online videos containing solely fctional images and scenes (tributes to a character’s death or trailers, for example), commenters generally express more straightforward reactions to the material; most frequently, the fctional texts are lauded and their protagonists revered. However, occasionally in comments historical characters and their violent actions are condemned, as I discuss below.24 Conversely, in several user comments to the videos that include both fctional and nonfctional images (in online chat rooms and in comment sections following the videos), a process of “splitting” is at work whereby many users experience (albeit mild) dissociative reactions (i.e., users praise the flm or series while simultaneously denouncing the actions of the characters). These remediated texts present quite interesting “reality 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 123 checks” when the viewer is made aware of the “moral and political consequences [that] his or her emotional engagement would have, were the fctional events real” (Bruun Vaage 2013, 220). It becomes clear that the viewer of these hypermediated short flms is less willing to identify and sympathize with the members of the Banda as they might be in the case of fctionalized portrayals, and reactions are thus more complicated in terms of ethical stance. As explained by Jenkins, “welcome to convergence culture, where old and new media collide, where grassroots and corporate media intersect, where the power of the media producer and the power of the media consumer interact in unpredictable ways” (Jenkins 2006, 2). Online videos are plentiful on the Banda, and several fans of the Placido flm and series have posted videos that heighten the appeal of these texts and the charisma of their protagonists. For example, several videos show a still image from the series, most often a publicity poster, accompanied by the melancholic score by the group Repertorio Machiavelli, who composed assorted instrumental tunes heard in the series. These videos have been watched several hundred thousand times (some sites number between one and two hundred thousand views). In the hundreds of accompanying comments, numerous users draw a clear line between fction and reality, maintaining that historical fgures are criminals deserving of punishment whereas fctional characters are fascinating. This is the case of Aless003 who writes in response to a user who takes issue with the series’ glamorization of crime (a rare comment on this site): “I am speaking of the series and not about reality. of course the real men were not saints and their victims were innocent. But that story ‘romanzo’ is not a historical document. Do you understand? it is a semi-fctional flm. [Libanese’s] decline in the series, the light in the scene, the soundtrack, the symbolic rain that washes away sins … all of this gives us goosebumps” (Daialexcazzo).25 For the most part, however, commenters praise the series and they feel moved by the death of Libanese—this is the case of the Repertorio Machiavelli song that accompanies the credits of the fnale of season one that concludes with Libanese’s murder. Comments such as “stu- pendaaaaa!” “beautiful,” “libanese was the king of Rome,” “splendida … sincera,” and “goodbye Libanese” demonstrate that viewers are keen to feel compassion for fctional characters, which is not the case with their historical counterparts (Daialexcazzo). As Vaage explains in her discussion of identifcation in The Sopranos: “if we as our 124 D. RENGA normal, non-mafosi selves, really inhabited th[e] fctional world [of The Sopranos] we would […] ultimately have to say no to [the mobster’s] way of life, although as spectators of a fction we sympathize with and enjoy it” (Bruun Vaage 2013, 224). Other examples of web-based digital media focus solely on the actual members of the Banda, for instance in “La Banda della Magliana – I Personaggi realmente esistiti” and the two-part recording of audio trials of members of the Banda. Like the texts discussed above and in line with Vaage, comments here are more straightforward and tend broadly to indict the actual gang members and their criminal activities. Many users express satisfaction that these men have received, in their opinion, what is due to them (incarceration or death). Interestingly, several women who were involved in the Banda are absent from these texts. The frst example is a fve-minute video comprised of script containing the name and frequently nickname of twenty-nine members of the Banda (Nicolino Selis “Er Sardo,” Franco Giuseppucci “Er Negro,” Enrico De Pedis “Renatino,” and so on) which precedes a black and white photo of the member. The video is divided into four sections based upon the member’s “group” (Acilia-Ostia, Tufello, Trullo-Magliana, Testaccio) and is accompanied by Lando Fiorini’s melancholic love song in local Roman dialect called “romanaccio” “Er canto dei carcerati [The song of the prisoners]” about a prisoner who implores his lover to communicate with him—“Manname un saluto”—as he has been abandoned by family and friends yet, simultaneously, the song implies that he will not for- sake his ties to criminality. Comments on the video, which has close to 750,000 views, frequently point out that gang affliates are “criminals” and “murderers” who are deserving of punishment and who “chose to die.” As Boni notes, “emotion is always present in viewer comments” to the series, and the same is true with these videos (Boni 2015, 84). One user writes, “it seems that they are idols worthy of respect! when they shouldn’t even be remembered!! damn you and your dead!!” Another discussant notes that if it were up to him, he “would face them all up against a wall and burn them with a fame thrower, especially abbatino and mancini and the other villains who didn’t even have the balls to take responsibility for what they did.” Other users on the site also express hostility toward those like Abbatino and Mancini who became pentiti when they turned state’s evidence. For example, “mancini IS a VILLAIN” (“ale839”). In these comments, the narrative of the video, borrowing from Ward E. Jones’ work on ethical responses to flm, “leads 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 125 its spectators to respond with certain emotions – and the desires and evaluations that go along with them – toward its characters and events.” Jones continues to explain that in encouraging viewers to experience certain feelings toward fctional personages and events, “the narrative reveals its own attitude toward that person or event” (Jones 2011, 6). The images in the video place all ex-members of the Banda on equal footing. The sorrowful lyrics of the song from the perspective of a hardened and unrepentant criminal with a heart, however, encourages viewers such as those noted above to judge pentiti (ex-Banda members who collaborated with the authorities) like Mancini quite harshly, as they are to blame for the incarceration of those who upheld the code of honor so central to the ritualized kinship of organized crime networks. The character of the comments is similar in the videos on the audio of the trial of Banda members. Images are a montage of stills. The frst part includes faces of several of the men in the video discussed above, a compilation of ffteen or fve mug shots, various interiors of a courtroom, the exterior of a cell with an anonymous prisoner’s hands hanging outside of the bars, a gun pointed at the camera with the shooter blurred, and, most common, a script reading “Banda della Magliana 1975–1985.” The second part is much more visually rich and also incorporates aerial shots of Rome and stills of the Vatican, the Roman periphery, and several Roman monuments and statues, images of the missing Emanuela Orlandi, judges, and newscasters, reenactments of crimes, remediated footage from Costantini’s flm, and photographs of cadavers on the city streets. Together, the two-part series has been watched just under one million times and includes just under 500 user comments, many of which decry the actions of the men under trial. Commenters note that they talk about the murders they committed “as if it is nothing. it’s scary,” and are “imbeciles” who are “depraved” (Cicalone 2010). Although a few users condemn Mancini and Abbatino for turning state’s evidence, such comments are much less frequent than in the video considered just earlier. Three equations of pentiti as villains are present in the frst part of the audio trial. Overall users discuss and debate aspects of testimony or quite often malign the men on trial. Unlike in “La Banda della Magliana – I Personaggi realmente esistiti,” here there exists little dissonance between image and audio, save the one very short publicity shot from the Costantini flm. As such viewers are less likely to experience complicated reactions to the material, which is not the case for a selection of videos in which fction and nonfction meet. 126 D. RENGA

I now consider the ethical ramifcations of videos that present ambivalent or positive depictions of criminality yet engage the viewer’s ethical consciousness. Several videos are readily found online that show photographs of Banda members and share their life stories and also include either images of characters or short scenes from the flm and the series. In one of a series of videos, which have all since been taken off of YouTube due to copyright violations, a user remarks: “Una storia indub- biamente affascinante. Cmq penso ke identifcarsi con Certi personaggi sia da incoscenti. Provo anche io ammirazione per queste vite al limite ma sono storie di omicidi, soldi e potere.. An undoubtedly fascinating story. However I think that identifying with certain characters is reckless. I also feel admiration for these lives if necessary but they are stories about homicides, money and power … bad stories.”26 Another notes that although these men are fascinating, we should not identify with them. Comments where authors express conficting emotions with regard to video content constitute a trope where fction and fact converge.27 Unlike with the other videos discussed thus far, the three videos analyzed below include content that does not make a clear distinction between reality and fction. As such, viewers are placed in a much less straightforward position in terms of allegiance with the images shown onscreen. As Jones explains, “the attitudes we adopt as spectators of fctional characters and events are of ethical signifcance” (Jones 2011, 11). He makes the distinction that viewers can imagine unethical acts without much trouble, but a diffculty arises when fctions invite spectators to take a certain “moral attitude” toward what is shown onscreen, which might prove challenging when a fction asks viewers to “celebrate or enjoy” an action that the viewer fnds immoral (Jones 2011, 11). Clearly, in the user comment in the above paragraph, the viewer fnds the story of the Banda fascinating, but is at odds to identify with the characters of the series whose deeds are considered unscrupulous. While the title of the video “Da ROMANZO CRIMINALE (serie) alla BANDA DELLA MAGLIANA (realtà)” announces a separation between the series and reality, its content equates historical fgures and dramatic personae. After the title appears in the bright red that characterizes the marketing for flm and series, a still of the popular letter- ing “Romanzo criminale la serie” appears. A montage of nine stills follows, each containing a photograph of a Banda member on the left, an image of a character from the series on the right, and an “equals” sign that separates the two representations. Stills are headed by the gang 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 127 member’s neighborhood (Testaccio-Trastevere, Magliana, Acilia-Ostia), and beneath each image appears the name and nickname of the historical fgure followed by the name of the fctional counterpart, all in vivid red script. The frst four collages focus on the most popular and fully developed characters in flm and series, simultaneously some of the most notorious members of the actual Banda: Franco Giuseppucci/Libanese; Enrico De Pedis/Dandi; Maurizio Abbatino/Freddo; Marcello Colafgli/Bufalo.28 In the video, fction and fact converge and viewers are encouraged to equate ( ) seasoned offenders with engaging characters. Banda = associates are further mythologized throughout the video, when frst appears the tomb of Enrico De Pedis with the accompanying script: “Tomb of Enrico De Pedis (Dandi) in the basilica of St. Apollinare in Rome: ‘Well, maybe he wasn’t a benefactor for everyone, but for St. Apollinare he was’ (Giulio Andreotti on Enrico De Pedis).” Hence, De Pedis is remembered by one of Italy’s most problematic political leaders (Andreotti) as a man who, according to the ex-rector of the basilica, was “generous in helping the poor who frequented the basilica, and also the priests and the seminarists, and in whose intercession the family will continue to practice charitable works, overall contributing to the realization of diocesan projects” (Ceccarelli 2008). A script is then shown containing the words of the Roman saying, “In via de la Lungara there is a step, who does not climb it is not Roman, and who is not roman is not from Trastevere (The Prison of Regina Coeli).” This is the motto for the newspaper “Lo scalino” of the Regina Coeli prison in the heart of Trastevere that was temporary home to many members of the Banda in the series. One is not Roman, the saying makes plain, if one has not spent time behind bars. The video concludes with the opening footage of the frst episode of the series when a man, who at the season’s fnale is revealed to be an aging Bufalo, is beaten up by those who now control the Magliana neighborhood. Bufalo then exacts revenge on his attackers, shooting the leader dead before screaming “I was in Libanese’s gang.” Catherine O’Rawe notes that this ending foregrounds a trope common in the series: “a nostalgia for a lost past, and for lost, beloved men” (O’Rawe 2014, 102). These components of the video (watched more than 1.1 million times before it was removed due to copyright violations) fashion gangsters as charitable men and true Roman citizens who are bound by friendship. Those who remark on the video (there were more than 400 comments) 128 D. RENGA are mostly interested in details from the gang member’s lives or discuss accuracies in representation in the series. Several commenters do express contradictory reactions to the material, however. One user writes that the series “really mirrors reality. I think that amongst the members of the real banda there was a real and fraternal friendship. they were delinquents, but with a sense of extraordinary friendship. that, combined with the life and traditions of the mid 70s and early 80s must have created a mixture of thrilling sensations.” Another user who exclaims “I would marry Giuseppucci right now!” is condemned by another commenter who tells her, “Go fuck yourself … he killed dozens of people.” The user then explains herself, noting that she did not mean to praise Giuseppucci’s actions, and that she admired his character, “his cold blood, period. It might be strange that I am fascinated by him, but even I do not support those who kill ‘to settle scores’)” (YouTube 2009).29 The allure of the mobster in this video parallels that of Milanese criminal Renato Vallanzasca who, as O’Rawe discusses, received “thousands of marriage proposals from women while in prison” (O’Rawe 2014, 148). At the same time, however, these comments exhibit the double pull of the stories: The ethical consciousness of users is engaged as they lambast these men as “delinquents” and do not champion their actions yet they still remain fascinated by them. Consequently, and dissimilar to several other onscreen treatments of the Banda, these new media texts might push viewers to engage with a culture of legality. These users experience the process of splitting of the ego, which is described as, “the coexistence at the heart of the ego of two psychical attitudes towards external reality in so far as this stands in the way of an instinctual demand. The frst of these attitudes takes reality into consideration, while the second disavows it and replaces it by another product of desire. The two attitudes persist side by side without infuencing each other” (Laplanche and Pontalis 2006, 427). Thus, users understand that the Banda is a violent criminal organization with a bloody past while at the same time disavowing this knowledge and substituting it with a much more pleasurable narrative (the centrality of friendship and sexual desire). This phenomenon is quite common in a video called “La vera Banda della Magliana vs. Romanzo Criminale la serie” which has been uploaded to YouTube by two different people and watched a half a million times. The video is composed of a series of sixteen stills, each containing likenesses of the historical and fctional gang members that are positioned below the name of their Roman district. Like the video just 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 129 discussed, the frst four images are of the most popular characters of the flm and series (Libanese, Dandi, Freddo, and Bufalo), although this video omits the actual names of ex-Banda members and only includes their nicknames, a move that aids in further distancing fact from fction. This video also incorporates depictions of twelve “other characters” including Franchino il criminale/Terribile “Terrible,” Sabrina Minardi/ Patrizia, and Er Pantera/Puma “Cougar.” The video concludes with (1) a publicity still from the series that contains almost all of its principal characters and (2) a compilation of ffteen mug shots below a script stating “This is the real Banda della Magliana!” in vivid red. The video is accompanied by Vasco Rossi’s “Liberi liberi,” the song heard in the fnal minutes of the series’ fnale when Bufalo is shot down by police after he imagines the defunct members of the Banda playing pool, with their youthful bodies intact. The song adds a melancholic tone to the video and bookends the other video just discussed (note the frst video was uploaded in 2009, and this one in 2011, and each complements the conclusion of the series’ two seasons). Viewers familiar with the series will call to mind the fnale, where is underlined “the narrative of loss and nostalgia that underpins the entire series” (O’Rawe 2014, 102). Jenkins writes that transmedia texts are quite ambitious and frequently result in “gaps or excesses in the unfolding of the story” that readers often elaborate and work over “with their speculations, until they take a life of their own” (Jenkins 2007), which is the case with this video. Several user comments exhibit the double consciousness in line with the mechanism of splitting discussed earlier:

Everyone makes their own choices! And then pays the consequences! However, who of us has not empathized with one of them? At least for one moment! I got really into the series and I even bought the box set. But I am also happy that the state fnally won and those not in jail had to pay, even with the worst bill. it is undeniable that we are all under the spell of the criminal it is the cornerstone of the series but people who live that life don’t have a have a happy life. I am not a fan of mafosi, however I have to say that the guys from the series romanzo criminale best represented the characters from the real banda. It succeeds at making you take the side of criminals, assassins, drug dealers, etc. Congratulations to all who contributed to the creation of this series: to whoever brought croissants to Libanese on the set! (GabriCalifornia 2011) 130 D. RENGA

Mentions of empathy, being under the spell and on the side of criminals, and claims at verisimilitude in representation suggest that the commenters above experience a thwarted version of Noël Carroll’s “sympathy for the devil” whereby viewers root for and take the side of fctive personae who they would recoil from were they to meet them in the street. Different of course in my study is that the object of sympathy is a historical criminal and not a fctional one. The videos discussed in this section, however, work to eclipse the distinction between the fact and fction, and thus, viewers are free to relate emotionally with real and fctional devils. The comments in the videos invite speculation that the hybridized videos may prompt modes of refection that fction flms and documentaries generally deny spectators, due to their respective spectatorial systems and generic conventions. Such a proposition clearly deserves further attention, especially with regard to the possibilities it opens for the creation of different kinds of hybridized texts contributing to processes that complicate “structures of sympathy” at work in the Italian television serials discussed in this book.

Conclusion: Mafia Capitale Thomas Elsaesser writes:

As the centenary of the cinema has come and gone, and the Internet arrived on the scene, it is appropriate to ask what has been the impact of the visual and electronic media this past century? What kind of balance sheet of gain and loss can we draw? Of all the many pro’s and con’s that immediately come to mind, a peculiar uncertainty has struck many observ- ers: not about the future, but the past […] Future generations, looking at the history of the 20th century, will never be able to tell fact from fction, having the media as material evidence. But then, will this distinction still matter to them? (Elsaesser 1999)

The issues concerning how the Internet fgures in making distinctions between fact and fction, posed by Elsaesser in this citation, are critical when considering the confict between the antimafa and mafa, which is made particularly apparent in the web-based digital media discussed here. The History Channel documentary concludes by asserting that the Banda 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 131 is no longer active and is now a part of Rome’s mythology in most part due to Abbatino’s decision to collaborate with the authorities and turn state’s evidence. Abbatino’s collaboration led to “operation Colosseo” which resulted in “numerous” arrests for “belonging to a criminal organization.” La Banda della Magliana – La vera storia claims that the true story of the Banda was not written by de Cataldo and does not contain heroes guided by honor, but instead is comprised of homicides, tyrants, and innocent victims. Such a post-mafa mentality in both texts is problematic considering the 2014 arrest of Carminati and others who have been active in organized crime in the country’s capital. The mafa in Italy, as I have argued elsewhere, is an ongoing and apparently unending wound to the nation that has none of the cultural cachet that typically delineates cultural traumas (Renga 2013, 3–20). The Banda is considered by many a defeated mafa, yet recent arrests and the revelation of mafa capitale in Rome of late 2014 speak to the presence of a new mafa that has been active in the capital for about two decades, and is the subject of the Netfix Italia series Suburra. The flms, documentaries, and the series on the Banda all work to humanize perpetrators while presenting (in the case of the documentaries) the criminal organization as part of Italy’s past. Such a moral code creeps into the web-based texts as well. Furthermore, the videos that include scenes and musical score from the series map the characteristics of the fctional characters (loyalty, honor, compassion, magnanimity, etc.) onto their historical peers. As such, these characters’ “morality” is exported, which makes for a much less inimical representation of criminality. Viewers can in a sense “have it all” as they are free to identify with the bad guy while simultaneously decrying their actions. In this analysis of remediated factual and fctional stories of the Banda and viewers’ ideas about them, the new aesthetic experiences that Jenkins perceives in convergence culture may also produce models of identifcation and ethical judgment that differ from those operating respectively in documentary and fction flm. This chapter offers a different critical perspective on the debates about various mediations of mafosi on the web, such as fan pages devoted to the mafa bosses Bernardo Provenzano and Salvatore Riina and multi-platform mafa games including Mafa Wars, Mob Wars: La Cosa Nostra, and the Mafa series.30 The remediation of the merged fction and nonfction texts works in line with Bolter and 132 D. RENGA

Grusin’s idea of remediation as reform whereby one medium is seen as “reforming or improving upon another” (Bolter and Grusin 2000, 59). Such remediations might have a social or a political signifcance, especially when considering digital media where individuals can actively participate in online debates (Bolter and Grusin 2000, 60).31 Through the resultant dialogic relation around the texts discussed in this chapter, viewers deploy their ethical judgment. Such interventions contribute to the process by which the reality of Banda della Magliana continues to be reformed.

Notes 1. SkyItalia was created out of a merger of Telecom Italia and Murdoch’s then recently acquired Stream. In 2002, when the network was being planned, the forecast looked good with Sky reporting “a positive cash fow of sixteen million euro by 2004” (Campaign US 2002). 2. For more on Italian pay TV audiences and viewer demographics, see Massimo Scaglioni, “Tutta un’altra audience. Il pubblico delle fction pay” (2013). 3. See Jason Mittell’s chapter “Evaluation” for a comprehensive history of the debates around the “quality” label (Mittell 2015, 206–32). 4. For a complete list of original Fox International programming from 2006 to 2010 that aired on Sky, see Valmachino (2012, 175). 5. Barra and Scaglioni note that in terms of production, Sky “embraces a principle of quality TV, modelled on similar European experiences and on American cable series” (Barra and Scaglioni 2015, 71). Also, Sky boasts that it is “the frst” to use HD Red and 5D video cameras for maximum image quality (Sky Cinema HD 2012). 6. Romanzo criminale. La serie broke records for Sky in terms of viewership. The frst season averaged 241,645 viewers per episode while the second season averaged 339,250 viewers per episode (Valmachino 2012, 180). Valmachino notes that 70% of Romanzo criminale. La serie viewers are of upper-middle-class status and aged between 25 and 54. O’Rawe discusses the “cult appeal” of Romanzo criminale. La serie particularly in terms of “the attraction of previously unknown actors” who are praised on social media and discussion pages (O’Rawe 2014, 99–100). For more on the cult status of the series and casting choices, see also O’Rawe (2015). 7. For more on the history of the Banda della Magliana, see Bianconi (2013), Camuso (2014), and Lupacchini (2014). The Banda della Magliana is considered by some to be “ffth” mafa (la Repubblica “La quinta mafa a Roma” 2009b). Aldo Moro was the president of the Christian Democratic Party and ex-prime minister of Italy. He was kidnapped by the extreme left-wing terrorist group the Red Brigades on 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 133

March 16, 1978, and held in an apartment in the middle of Rome for 54 days until he was murdered on May 9. The Bologna train station bombing took place on August 2, 1980, and left eighty-fve people dead and over 200 wounded. Responsibility for the massacre is attributed to the extreme right-wing terrorist group the Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari, although the group has denied any involvement. 8. For a discussion of “cultures of legality” as relating to the mafa, see the introduction to Robin Pickering-Iazzi (2017, 3–38). 9. Banda members in the Placido flm are also compared to emperors. Libanese tells Freddo that he admires emperors and dictators, and after he is stabbed as a result of not settling his accounts at a card game he claims that emperors need not pay their debts. 10. For a discussion of how the series differs from the flm in terms of constructing sympathetic characters, see Boni (2014, 90–104) and O’Rawe (2014, 97–115). 11. In his discussion of omniscient narrative, Smith notes that some narratives allow spectators to “recognize, align, and ally themselves with characters in complex patterns which may preclude or transcend a single, strong engagement with a single character” (Smith 1995, 93). 12. Elsewhere I argue that Freddo is depicted as the most sympathetic of the three focal Banda members in the flm (Renga 2016). 13. See O’Rawe (2009) for an intriguing reading of the use of music and montage in this sequence as relating to a disquieting representation of history. 14. As O’Rawe notes, “Attempts to recentre white Italian masculinity only make visible its loss. Film and series use haunting and spectrality as structuring devices in order to institute a queer temporality of the homosocial” (O’Rawe 2014, 115). 15. Adriano D’Aloia and Cecilia Penati point out that the space of the prison allows for the development of “an emotional engagement between the viewer and Banda leaders” (2011, 23). 16. Anecdotally, I teach the flm Romanzo criminale to approximately 250 students each year at Ohio State. Via online survey, I ask the class which of the three main gang members is responsible for killing the most people, and well over half of the class responds “Libanese.” Instead, Freddo kills many more men than Libanese in the flm, yet he is remembered as less violent. In another survey, the vast majority of each group of students reports to feel the greatest sympathy for Freddo. 17. For more on the “morality” of the flm, book, and series and a discussion of the controversy surrounding the “negative role models” some groups felt that Romanzo criminale promoted, see Boni (2014, 31–35). 18. One user mentions that the slogan “crime pays” should be removed from the end of the trailer (Sky “Romanzo criminale” 2008). 134 D. RENGA

19. Three of these posters—of Libanese, Freddo, and Patrizia—can be found online at “Il crimine paga” (2010). 20. Boni suggests that running into people wearing these T-shirts on the street helps spectators interpret the series as a “dangerous product” (Boni 2014, 105). 21. Luca Barra and Massimo Scaglioni discuss that the series has “an ensemble narration where the actors playing Dandi, Freddo and Libanese are virtual debutants” (Barra and Scaglioni 2015, 72). 22. The research on the hybrid texts was conducted through searches on Google, YouTube, and Daily Motion. In conducting my analysis, I looked for patterns and trends in comments relating to how viewers either judged, sympa- thized, or identifed with Banda members (or a combination of all three). 23. In 2013, there were reports that Romanzo criminale. La serie was being adapted for the American television network Starz. Set in Philadelphia during the late 1960s and early 1970s, the series was to “chronicle the rise of working-class criminals who attempt to seize the American Dream by any means necessary” (Andreeva 2013). The series was never made. 24. For example, in the comment section for the trailer to the second season of Romanzo criminale. La serie users write, “AWESOME SERIE,” “Very nice serie!!!!!!! true ciname italiano !!! congratulation,” “semplicemente stupenda ………..” (edocobra84 2009, original spelling). This trend is also apparent in the comments to the trailer for the second season, which has been watched by more than 250 thousand people (e.g., “I think it is the best series ever”) (De Luca 2010). 25. This comment has since been removed from the webpage. 26. Originally found at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list PL6350520 = D64D71EFB. The playlist no longer exists. 27. The eight-part “Banda della Magliana la vera storia” by Radio Manà Manà hosted on Daily Motion is visually interesting. It includes images and scenes from the flm and series, photographs of ex-Banda members, reenactments of crimes, and a voiceover chronicling the Banda’s activities. However, it has very few comments (nine in total on the eight videos). 28. Other fgures included in the montage are Antonio Mancini/Ricotta; Nicolino Selis/Sardo; Fulvio Lucioli/Sorcio; Giovanni Girlando/Satana; Libero Mancone/Fierolocchio. 29. As comments have been deleted, I no longer have access to the original comments in Italian. 30. For more on debates around fan pages for mafosi such as Bernardo Provenzano and Totò Riina, see Donadio (2009) and the section “Social Media” in Pine (2011). See Remondini (2010) for controversies surrounding the release of Mafa II. 31. Paula Salvio interrogates the potential for social networks to contribute to “cultural and social renewal” in the era of neoliberalism (Salvio 2017, 92). 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 135

References Abbate, Lirio. 2014. “I quattro re di Roma.” L’Espresso, December 12. Accessed August 2, 2016. http://espresso.repubblica.it/attualita/ cronaca/2012/12/12/news/a-roma-la-mala-si-fa-in-quattro-1.48981. Albrecht, Michael Mario. 2015. Masculinity in Contemporary Quality Television. Surrey and Burlington: Ashgate. Andreeva, Nellie. 2013. “Starz Adapting Italian Gang Series ‘Romanzo Criminale.’” Deadline Hollywood, December 4. Accessed August 3, 2016. http://deadline.com/2013/12/starz-adapting-italian-series-romanzo-criminale-steven-s-deknight-steve-mcpherson-scripted-world-lionsgate-646741/. Barra, Luca, and Massimo Scaglioni. 2013. “Modello Sky. Introduzione.” In Tutta un’altra fction: La serialità pay in Italia e nel mondo. Il modello Sky, edited by Massimo Scaglioni and Luca Barra, 11–15. Rome: Carocci editore. Barra, Luca, and Massimo Scaglioni. 2015. “Saints, Cops, and Camorristi. Editorial Policies and Production Models of Italian TV Fiction.” Series: International Journal of TV Serial Narratives 1: 65–76. Bianconi, Giovanni. 2013. Ragazzi di malavita: fatti e misfatti della Banda della Magliana. Rome: Baldini & Castoldi. Bolter, Jay David, and Richard Grusin. 2000. Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge, MA and London: The MIT Press. Boni, Marta. 2014. Romanzo Criminale: Transmedia and Beyond. Venice: Edizioni Ca’ Foscari. Boni, Marta. 2015. “Mapping Romanzo criminale. An Epic Narrative Ecosystem?” Series: International Journal of TV Serial Narratives 1: 77–88. Bruun Vaage, Margrethe. 2013. “Fictional Reliefs and Reality Checks.” Screen 54 (2): 218–37. Butler, Judith. 1993. Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex”. New York and London: Routledge. Calvagno, Giuliana C. 2013. “Gangster alla Romana: Romanzo criminale. La serie.” In Tutta un’altra fction: La serialità pay in Italia e nel mondo. Il modello Sky, edited by Massimo Scaglioni and Luca Barra, 130–35. Rome: Carocci editore. Campaign US. 2002. “Murdoch Unveils Sky Italia After €920m Vivendi Deal.” Campaign US, October 2. Accessed August 31, 2017. http:// www.campaignlive.com/article/murdoch-unveils-sky-italia-€920m- vivendi-deal/159622. Camuso, Angela. 2014. Mi ci fu pietà: la Banda della Magliana da 1977 a “Mafa Capitale”. Rome: Castelvecchi. Carroll, Noël. 2004. “Sympathy for the Devil.” In The Sopranos and Philosophy, edited by Richard Greene and Peter Vernezze, 121–36. Chicago and LaSalle: Open Court. Ceccarelli, Filippo. 2008. “La salma di Renatino nella basilica: l’ultimo colpo del boss benefattore.” la Repubblica, June 25. Accessed August 3, 2016. http:// 136 D. RENGA

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Laplanche, Jean, and Jean-Bertrand Pontalis. 2006. The Language of Psychoanalysis. London: The Hogarth Press. la Repubblica. 2009a. “Alemanno: ‘Le rise coi coltelli colpa anche di Romanzo criminale.’” la Repubblica, May 4. Accessed August 3, 2016. http://www. repubblica.it/2009/03/sezioni/cronaca/accoltellati-bar/alemanno-serietv/ alemanno-serietv.html. la Repubblica. 2009b. “La quinta mafa a Roma e nel Lazio dalla Banda della Magliana a oggi.” la Repubblica, December 15. Accessed August 3, 2016. http://roma.repubblica.it/dettaglio/la-quinta-mafa-a-roma-e-nel-lazio-dalla-banda-della-magliana-a-oggi/1805078. la Repubblica. 2015. “Mafa Capitale, Riesame: ‘Carminati capo di una organ- izzazione ramifcata.’” la Repubblica, January 7. Accessed August 2, 2016. http://roma.repubblica.it/cronaca/2015/01/07/news/mafia_capitale_ riesame_carminati_capo-104463558/. L’Huffngton Post. 2014. “Massimo Carminati Arrestato. L’ex Nar tra neofascismo e banda della Magliana.” L’Huffngton Post, December 12. Accessed August 2, 2016. http://www.huffngtonpost.it/2014/12/02/massimo-carminati-vita-tra-neofascismo-magliana_n_6253186.html. Lombardi, Giancarlo. 2012. “Fictions: The Moro Affaire in Primetime Drama.” In Remembering Moro: The Cultural Legacy of the 1978 Kidnapping and Murder, edited by Ruth Glynn and Giancarlo Lombardi, 171–86. Oxford: Legenda. Lombardi, Giancarlo. 2016. “Acting and Performance in Italian Screen Studies.” Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting for the American Association for Italian Studies, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, April 21–23. Lotz, Amanda D. 2007. The Television Will Be Revolutionized. New York and London: New York University Press. Lupacchini, Otello. 2014. Banda della Magliana: alleanza tra mafosi, terroristi, spioni, politici, prelati. Rome: Koinè. Martin, Brett. 2013. Diffcult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From the Sopranos and the Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad. New York: The Penguin Press. Mezzofore, Gianluca. 2014. “One-Eyed Neo-Fascist ‘Last King of Rome’ Mobster Massimo Carminati Arrested in Mafa Probe.” International Business Times, December 2. Accessed August 2, 2016. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ one-eyed-neo-fascist-last-king-rome-mobster-massimo-carminati-arrested-mafa-probe-1477674. Mittell, Jason. 2015. Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling. New York and London: New York University Press. O’Rawe, Catherine. 2009. “More More Moro: Music and Montage in Romanzo criminale.” Italianist 29: 214–26. 138 D. RENGA

O’Rawe, Catherine. 2014. Stars and Masculinities in Contemporary Italian Cinema. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. O’Rawe, Catherine. 2015. “Romanzo criminale: la serie: Stardom, ideologia, nostalgia.” Bianco e nero 581: 43–49. Pekic, Branislav. 2017. “Sky Italia Leaks Italy TV Market.” Advanced Television, July 12. Accessed August 31, 2017. http://advanced-television. com/2017/07/12/sky-italia-leads-italy-tv-market/. Pickering-Iazzi, Robin. 2017. “Introduction: Mediating Antimafa Culture: (Cyber)spatialities of Legality.” In The Italian Mafa, New Media, and the Culture of Legality, edited by Robin Pickering-Iazzi, 3–38. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press. Pine, Jason. 2011. “Transnational Organized Crime and Alternative Culture Industry.” In Routledge Handbook of Organized Crime, edited by Felia Allum and Stan Gilmour, 335–49. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Remondini, Chiara. 2010. “Mafa Victim Families Fight Violent Video Games.” Bloomberg Business, December 17. Accessed August 3, 2016. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2010-12-16/ mafa-victim-families-complain-as-violent-video-games-increase. Renga, Dana. 2013. Unfnished Business: Screening the Italian Mafa in the New Millennium. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press. Renga, Dana. 2016. “Michele Placido’s Romanzo criminale as Male Melodrama: ‘It Is in Reality Always Too Late.’” In Italian Political Cinema: Public Life, Imaginary, and Identity in Contemporary Italian Film, edited by Giancarlo Lombardi and Christian Uva, 373–86. Oxford: Peter Lang. Salerno, Davide. 2016. “Memory, Visuality, Fiction: Italian History and Conspiracies in Romanzo criminale: la serie.” The Italianist 36 (2): 158–76. Salvio, Paula. 2017. “‘A Taste of Justice’: Digital Media and Libera Terra’s Antimafa Public Pedagogy of Agrarian Dissent.” In The Italian Mafa, New Media, and the Culture of Legality, edited by Robin Pickering-Iazzi, 95–101. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press. Scaglioni, Massimo. 2013. “Tutta un’altra audience. Il pubblico delle fction pay.” In Tutta un’altra fction: La serialità pay in Italia e nel mondo. Il modello Sky, edited by Massimo Scaglioni and Luca Barra, 49–65. Rome: Carocci editore. Scaglioni, Massimo. 2016. “(Not So) Complex TV. Framing Seriality as a Practice via Contemporary Models of Italian Television Fiction.” Mediascapes Journal 6: 8–20. Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. 1985. Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire. New York: Columbia University Press. Sisco King, Carol. 2012. Washed in Blood: Male Sacrifce, Trauma, and the Cinema. New Brunswick and London: Rutgers University Press. Sky. 2008. “Romanzo criminale.” Sky, August 18. Accessed August 3, 2016. http://forum.sky.it/romanzo-criminale-t90598-10.html. 4 SKY’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE AND ROMANZO CRIMINALE … 139

Sky Atlantic HD. 2011. “Il crimine paga.” Sky Atlantic HD, September 30. Accessed August 19, 2016. http://skyatlantic.sky.it/skyatlantic/news/ romanzo_criminale/2011/09/30/romanzo_criminale_2_premiato_roma_ fction_fest.html. Sky Cinema HD. 2012. “Comunicato stampa: Faccia d’angelo.” [No Other Information Available—I Have the Publicity Flyer]. Smith, Murray. 1995. Engaging Characters: Fiction, Emotion and the Cinema. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Smith, Murray. 1999. “Gangsters, Cannibals, Aesthetes, or Apparently Perverse Allegiances.” In Passionate Views: Film, Cognition, and Emotion, edited by Carl Platinga and Greg. M. Smith, 217–38. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Springer, John Parris. 2006. “The Newspaper Meets the Dime Novel: Docudrama in Early Cinema.” In Docufctions: Essays on the Intersection of Documentary and Fictional Filmmaking, edited by Gary D. Rhodes and John Parris Springer, 11–26. Jefferson: McFarland & Company. Squires, Nick. 2014. “‘Mafa Capital’: Rome Hit by Mobster Scandal.” The Telegraph, December 3. Accessed August 2, 2016. http://www.telegraph. co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11271882/Mafa-capital-Rome-hit- by-mobster-scandal.html. Staiger, Janet. 2008. “Film Noir as Male Melodrama: The Politics of Film Genre Labeling.” In The Shifting Defnitions of Genre: Essays on Labeling Films, Television Shows, and Media, edited by Lincoln Geraghty and Mark Jancovich, 71–91. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. Valmachino, Chiara. 2012. “Il prodotto e gli effetti intangibili.” In Effetto Sky: L’impatto della piattaforma satellitare sul sistema televisivo in Italia, edited by Flavia Barca, 167–99. Sovario Mannelli: Rubbettino editore. YouTube. 2009. “Da ROMANZO CRIMINALE (serie) alla BANDA DELLA MAGLIANA (realtà).” YouTube, October 14. Accessed August 3, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v EO-ihg3Hmro. = CHAPTER 5

Faccia d’angelo: “The Allure of Evil”

Introduction: Angelic Criminals Premiering two years after Romanzo criminale. La serie, the two-part miniseries Faccia d’angelo (Angel Face, Andrea Porporati, 2012) focuses on the alluring, clever, and, as the title implies, superfcially angelic miscreant played by Elio Germano who goes by the generic name of “il Toso/the Guy.”1 The program is loosely based upon the criminal exploits of Felice Maniero, head of the Mala del Brenta (the mafa of the Veneto region) from the early 1970s through the mid-1990s. Maniero was the entrepreneurial face of the criminal organization that collaborated with the Cosa Nostra, Camorra, ’ndrangheta, and several international crime syndicates, and that made a proft through, among other things, kidnapping, armed robbery, usury, money laundering, drug and arms traffcking, and controlling the gambling industry. The Mala del Brenta was held responsible for seventeen homicides (Maniero was accused of seven murders).2 Maniero, who now goes by the name Luca Mori, has lived as a free man since 2010 and worked in the business of purifed water where he held a few water fltering patents with the company Anyaquae. As the title of a la Repubblica article notes, in his new licit entrepreneurial role, he got rich off the state (Bellavia 2015) until 2015 when the business failed after illegal amounts of arsenic were found in the purifed water and his name was again in the headlines (Valesini 2015). Among other things, this chapter charts reactions to Maniero’s media presence pre- and post-incarceration.

“Faccia d’angelo” is just one of many nicknames for Maniero, whose face is described as sweet, smiling, and likable, and who was frequently photographed while cheerily grinning during arrests, court appearances, and interviews.3 Maniero is known for his love of designer clothes and luxury cars, “success with women.” He is described as an avid reader who has “an expertise in Italian painting” (Rai3 Lucarelli Racconta 2010) (which he frequently stole), and he is associated with “spectacular prison escapes” (Zornetta, back cover). Maniero is discussed by many as a “great entrepreneur” who built a criminal empire. Those who knew him or of him during his felonious heyday speak to his rare cunning and intelligence, and relate that he is sweet, nice, and has a lovely sense of humor (Rai3 Lucarelli Racconta 2010). At the same time, he is described as a tyrant, as he said to have “terrorized Italy” (La7 Linea gialla 2013) and is rumored to have “commissioned homicides while smiling” (Pescara 2006). A key focus in this chapter that also runs through the book is an assessment of which factors contribute to boost- ing the appeal of malicious men whose historical counterparts, unlike in the American model discussed in the introduction, were anything but angelic. Narratives surrounding Maniero’s physical allure, charm, intellect, and business savvy, combined with grandiose accounts of his criminal exploits, daring escapes, and dominion of a vast territory are crucial elements to a compelling gangster tale. Or, as one newspaper puts it, Maniero’s “romanzo criminale” (la Repubblica 2015). Publicity around the series accentuates Maniero’s criminal appeal that entices viewers. Sky’s publicity brochure announces that the region of the Veneto, a novel location indeed for a mafa serial, “has a great story to tell” about the Mala del Brenta, which is a “a wayward and violent enterprise that covered the region in blood for almost twenty years … [Maniero] became one of Italy’s most powerful and ruthless gangsters” (Sky Cinema HD 2012). The Sky site dedicated to the program describes Maniero as “one of Italy’s most ruthless and clever criminals … who captured attention in the Italian press for years with brutal heists, spectacular armed robberies, clamorous escapes” (Sky, n.d.). Such narratives aim to sell Maniero as a powerful and enigmatic man who fascinates the nation and thus promises to also captivate viewers. Like Milanese criminal Renato Vallanzasca—to whom I will return later—or Massimo Carminati and the other Banda della Magliana members, Maniero became immortalized and mythologized onscreen. As Margrethe Bruun 5 FACCIA D’ANGELO: “THE ALLURE OF EVIL” 143

Vaage discusses, villainy is narratively pleasurable and engages spectators (Bruun Vaage 2016, 90–91). Maniero’s intriguing life story which resounded throughout the nation for decades thanks to a long-term press presence makes for a rewarding television viewing experience. Faccia d’angelo is adapted from Maniero’s 1997 biography that is co-written with Andrea Pasqualetto. The biography is structured as a sort of dialogue that somewhat oscillates between Maniero, who narrates in frst person and a third-person descriptive voice that includes the perspective of Maniero’s family and friends, judges, police offcers, guards, and others either present at robberies or with whom Pasqualetto spoke when writing the book (Maniero and Pasqualetto 1997). This narrative balancing is in some measure maintained in the miniseries through the inclusion of the perspective of the investigators who pursue, somewhat obsessively, il Toso. The title of the memoir prefgures de Cataldo’s Romanzo criminale from fve years later, and titular terms such as “romanzo” and “storia”—also translated as a narrative account of events—prepare the reader or viewer for a fctional take on history. “Romances” originally were medieval narratives “relating the legendary or extraordinary adventures of some hero of chivalry.” In the criminal romances under consideration in this book however, gallant heroes are recast as roguish antiheroes. In his study on Faccia d’angelo, Adriano D’Aloia points out that the word “romanzo” in the Placido flm/Sollima series or in Marco Tullio Giordana’s terrorist flm Romanzo di una strage (Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy, 2012) is interesting principally because such a process of fctionalization creates striking contrasts within characters and thus aids in viewer identifcation (D’Aloia 2013, 158– 59).4 Thus, Maniero as il Toso is represented as both ruthless and sweet, both a cold-blooded killer and a connoisseur of fne art. This chapter expands upon D’Aloia’s reading to also consider how acting, performance, marketing, and varied network programming contribute to Maniero’s further mythologization and present him in unde- niably sympathetic terms as a prototypical small screen criminal antihero who loves, suffers loss, has a powerful emotional bond with his mother, and intimate ties with his fellow gang members. Such a melodramatic take on a historical perpetrator inevitably positions Faccia d’angelo in line with the Romanzo criminale phenomenon to which it is oft compared, in particular with regard to debates surrounding the problematics of glamorizing gangsters.5 Accordingly, this chapter also considers how Faccia d’angelo dialogues with and against the controversies surrounding 144 D. RENGA

Romanzo criminale: le serie and Placido’s biopic Vallanzasca – gli angeli del male (Vallanzasca, 2010) whereby, as Catherine O’Rawe persuasively argues, various stakeholders protested or spoke out against the series and flm for, among other things, a glamorization of criminality.6

Gangsters Onscreen and Off In an interview Germano was asked, “Why is it that in Italy, differently from other countries, frequently the release of these sorts of flms is accompanied by polemics about dedicating space to criminal lives?” Germano responds by noting, erroneously in my view, that Italian cinema privileges a Manichean viewpoint whereby the distinction between good and evil and bad guys and good guys is clear-cut. He does note, however, that some Italian flms are more opaque (“when one flm is released that is not so clear cut”), and as a result these flms might incite debates around what message the flm might be promoting (Consoli 2012). Germano’s implication, although it is not clearly stated, is that Faccia d’angelo belongs to this latter category. What is interesting here is Faccia d’angelo’s response to the controversies surrounding Romanzo criminale. La serie and Vallanzasca, which I believe aimed to minimize debate around Maniero’s criminal past and keep the focus on the miniseries as fctional product, especially given that he was a free man at the time of the miniseries’ premiere. Such an attempt to demarcate fction from fact is clear in network programming when the two episodes of the miniseries were immediately followed by a segment of the two- part documentary Mala del Brenta—La vera storia/Mala del Brenta— The True Story on The History Channel which is a Sky subsidiary. The miniseries was immensely popular and record-breaking Sky, with more than 660,000 (PrimaOnline 2012a) viewers for Part One and just over 618,000 (PrimaOnline 2012b) viewers for Part Two, while the History Channel documentary saw roughly 187,000 (PrimaOnline 2012a) and 149,000 (PrimaOnline 2012b) viewers, respectively. As discussed in Chapter 4, this programming amalgam also took place with the second season of Romanzo criminale. La serie, where the four-part Romanzo criminale: la vera storia/Romanzo criminale: the true story premiered directly after series’ episodes. In both cases, after enjoying the exploits of fctional characters, viewers can experience pedagogically their historical counterparts. 5 FACCIA D’ANGELO: “THE ALLURE OF EVIL” 145

Germano, who was born in Rome, is praised for his interpretation of Maniero. In particular critics laud his mastery of the dialect of the Veneto which he studied using various methods, from spending time in the region, learning slang off the Internet, listening to music and watching flms, studying with a dialect coach on the set, and having lengthy conversations with Veneto native Katia Ricciarelli who plays il Toso’s mother.7 Germano also contemplated documentary footage of Maniero and impersonated, without imitating, several mannerisms such as his walk, cocky laugh, and how wore his coat, and he cut his hair in a similar bobbed style (Consoli 2012). Germano had no interest, however, in meeting Maniero, which sets him apart from Kim Rossi Stewart who, as O’Rawe notes, spent considerable time with Vallanzasca so as to study his “accent, gestures […] and the Vallanzasca smirk” (O’Rawe 2014, 151–52).8 Instead, Germano insists that the flm is not a documentary and he is more interested in how Italians perceive Maniero (Mercadente 2011). Porporati states that he incorporated several points of view in the flm so as to not remain neutral in front of Maniero’s criminal past and risk “creating a hero” (Clementi 2012) or creating any sort of positive role model (Leone 2012) that might, in one reviewer’s words, run the risk of compelling viewers to fall victim to “the allure of evil” (Pederiva 2011). The miniseries does announce itself at the outset to be “freely inspired” by events regarding the Mala del Brenta, and Maniero’s name never appears in the flm, only the generic nomenclature “the Guy,” which lends an everyman quality to the central antihero. Pasqualetto also confers such a character trait to Maniero when stating that he “takes care of himself frst, just like me and you” (Angelo 2011). Critics note that Faccia d’angelo is not a biopic, a qualifer that would suggest the series recount the life story of a historical fgure (Clementi 2012).9 At the same time, Germano’s attention to accent, dress, hairstyle, gait, and other mannerisms are at least partially in line with the second of the three following types of biopic performance in post-classical cinema as detailed by Dennis Bingham: “fully embodied impersonation, stylized suggestion, and the star performance” (Bingham 2010, 159). Further, at the time of flming, Germano’s work was prized at Cannes, most signifcantly with a 2010 win for best actor, and he received several Donatello and Nastro d’argento nominations and wins. Thus, his success and celebrity certainly lend star quality to the Sky miniseries. 146 D. RENGA

Casting is also interesting in that apart from Germano, pretty much all of the actors came from the Veneto and comprised “a team of actors from the Veneto of great substance” (Gorgi 2012). Germano stated that involving actors from the region would be helpful in understanding how the Mala del Brenta, an organization that was much discussed in the press but not fully understood by the general public, was established in the area.10 Dialect and on-location shooting strive to lend authenticity to the series and assist in evoking a particular climate that witnessed the germination, development, peak, and eventual decline of the Mala del Brenta. When taking into consideration factors including acting, performance, and dialect, it might seem that those involved in the series desire to create a product with historical weight that is simultaneously packaged as a fction so as to avoid controversy.11 Controversy did ensue from two principal positions. First, the historical Maniero was furious after watching the trailer and in an interview called Faccia d’angelo “a miserable fction just out to make money” and insisted that Porporati et al. had it all wrong because “gangsters do not behave that way.” He notes that the life of a criminal is far from glamorous and is particularly concerned with how the program will effect young viewers and possibly entice them into a life of crime (il mattino di Padova 2012). In this way, Maniero also makes of the miniseries his own morality tale, one that might aid in his national redemption as he attempts to rewrite himself as an ethically minded and concerned citizen. The group Vittime del Dovere also denounced the miniseries, taking a position very similar to their earlier critique of Vallanzasca that I discuss in the introduction. Screen texts such as these, both statements note, are interested in making a proft off real lives lost and demonstrate a lack of respect for victims and their families (interestingly the statement by Vittime del Dovere about Faccia d’angelo uses the same expression, “make money” employed by Maniero in his critique) while urging young spectators down the path of crime. The Faccia d’angelo letter queries, “but what could happen if someone who is fragile watches this mythologization of negative characters, or if the viewer is an adolescent, or immature?” He also points out that baby gangs (gangs composed of young kids) watch Vallanzasca, Uno bianca, and Il capo dei capi, texts which are “capable of psyching them up and motivating them before they commit a crime” (Piantadosi 2012). It seems production foresaw these criticisms and attempted to market the miniseries in terms of the attention it pays to victims. In the 5 FACCIA D’ANGELO: “THE ALLURE OF EVIL” 147 director’s note on the offcial site of the miniseries, Porporati states: “Toso’s story is also above all about spilled blood, about victims, about those who ended up on the path to this ‘irresistible’ ascent and then were crushed. Innocent victims…” (Sky, n.d., my emphasis). In truth, only a few minutes tops of screen time are devoted to the Mala del Brenta’s victims, those who the criminal organization murdered or injured in heists and kidnappings. Much space, however, is allotted to various revenge narratives and killings resulting from wars over territory, and power struggles. Save il Toso and a few associates, most key members of the Mala del Brenta meet bloody ends in the miniseries. The word “victim” in the context of a television program about a convicted felon whose gang was held responsible for seventeen murders is quite charged and serves a double purpose: When read by someone yet to see the program, this lexical choice contributes to a process of disavowal whereby the miniseries can claim to be about something that it is not (the Mala del Brenta’s actual victims). At the same time, for the com- petent viewer such language works to further humanize Mala members, conferring upon them a quasi-martyr status. Thus, marketing and promotion, directorial intent, and actorly agency contribute to depicting a criminal mind as a metaphor for a corrupt and decadent nation. Furthermore, in Germano’s words, il Toso reads as a complicated fctional character who is “far removed from the classical idea of a criminal” (Consoli 2012). Despite these efforts, il Toso resembles those many enchanting fellows populating the Hollywood gangster tradition.

Rock Star Criminals Faccia d’angelo is indebted to many mob movie classics such as The Godfather, Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995), and Placido’s Romanzo criminale. Like the Hollywood mob pictures Scarface (both Howard Hawks’ and Brian DePalma’s takes), Angels with Dirty Faces (Michael Curtiz, 1938), or Goodfellas, Faccia d’angelo tells the classic and ultimately tragic tale of the action-packed ascent and the inevitable fall of the criminal antihero. The frst episode of the miniseries narrates il Toso’s successes in love and mob business, and focuses on his gang’s eventual domination of the Veneto which is principally due, the program implies, to the leader’s intelligence and astuteness. The second episode centers instead on a series of defeats: He is arrested and imprisoned, his 148 D. RENGA love interest Morena (Linda Messerklinger) dies in a car accident which is possibly a vendetta killing, and several of his closest friends and fellow gang members are murdered. Once he escapes from the maximum security prison in Fossombrone, a sequence beftting the prison escape genre, he desires to re-establish his reign over the territory but a kidnapping goes awry and the target is near-fatally wounded. Then in 1992, il Toso is told he must leave Italy as the police plan to prosecute him not as a criminal but as a mafoso, which means that he would be punished under the “hard prison regime,” entitled “41bis,” where he would, if arrested, be placed in solitary confnement. He does manage to reconnect with his young son Paolo whom he had abandoned as a newborn, buy a luxury yacht, and sail with Paolo and a potential new love interest to Capri where he is tracked down and arrested at the program’s conclusion. Porporati notes that Faccia d’angelo ends by posing the question as to whether it was all worth it, and insists that the majority of spectators will answer “no” (Leone 2012). I disagree with this assessment as the miniseries is structured in such a way to lend great pathos to il Toso, who is depicted as a loyal friend, tender lover, caring father, and doting son who suffers the loss of many of those close to him, is very uncomfortable around violence, and is never overtly shown committing murder. In response to inspector Bruno Ricci’s (Carmine Recano) fnal query to il Toso regarding the merit of a life of crime, il Toso does not answer, and instead is shown in close-up looking back at his son Paolo while smiling and the shot freezes and then fades to black as the program concludes. Hence, the fnal image of a hardened criminal is of a caring paternal fgure (see Fig. 5.1). This denouement recalls the fnal moments of Vallanzasca where before his arrest the title character gazes melancholically at three children playing, and thinks most likely of his deceased brother. The fnal image of il Toso works against Porporati’s hypothesis regarding the spectator’s ethical stance relating to criminality at the flm’s close. il Toso’s answer, read in his eyes and smile, is yes, it was all worth it, because out of his criminal past was born his son with whom he has reconciled. il Toso’s life of crime and loss of liberty is then productive as he experiences genuine love for his son which is an emotion that “real” hardened criminals are incapable of feeling. il Toso’s backward glance suggests that he came to the understanding “too late” as is frequently the case in melodrama, that it is impossible to “reconcile the irreconcilable,” which in the miniseries is the ideology of the nuclear family that he attempts to create on the yacht and his past experiences with the criminal 5 FACCIA D’ANGELO: “THE ALLURE OF EVIL” 149

Fig. 5.1 il Toso smiles at his son as he is arrested in Faccia d’angelo brotherhood that will not allow him to do so.12 Such an operation is also at work in the fnal entry of Una storia criminale when Maniero supports his earlier decision to collaborate with the authorities, even though doing so means that he is “condemned to death” by his former mafa mates:

Now that I fnally have a legal job, now that I no longer pull the trig- ger and I see again Sandro’s agitated gunshots, Lolli’s blood, Mario’s fsts and Ottavio’s scream. Now that I am discovering another world, I also wait to pay my last, defnitive and unappealable sentence. (Maniero and Pasqualetto 1997, 237)

Like his fctional counterpart, Maniero realizes “too late” (Maniero and Pasqualetto 1997, 237) that he might leave his criminal past behind and settle down into a lawful life. Such insights lend further pathos to real and fctional gangsters. Faccia d’angelo tells the story of a man who came from nothing and rose to power due to his cleverness, charm, genial face, and entrepreneurial prowess. However, unlike many American serial drama antiheroes, il Toso lacks a dark side and a tragic backstory. In an interview, Germano claims that the Maniero case is compelling because it is not in line with the classic gangster tale but instead reveals the machinations 150 D. RENGA involved in consolidating power. Maniero, described over and over again in the miniseries and in press around it as an “entrepreneur,” becomes a symbol for a decade—the early 1970s through early 1980s—domi- nated by “yuppiedom, status symbols, ostentatious cars and beautiful women.” Faccia d’angelo then, urges Germano, is not about one man, but about Italy. It is “A story that mirrors the nation” (Consoli 2012) which also implies Italy is defned by a mafa ethos, as the mafa is always concerned about power.13 We see here and in other interviews discussed in this chapter a clear attempt to turn the historical Maniero’s criminal exploits into a morality tale surrounding the abuses of power and their repercussions. One critic writes, “from Romanzo criminale onwards, the risk of ele- vating a mob boss to rock star status is high” (Clementi 2012). Faccia d’angelo is in line with the Romanzo criminale flm and series in its exceedingly sympathetic depiction of fascinating perpetrators. il Toso is indeed cast as a gangster rock star: During the title sequence, he is presented as an elegantly dressed goldsmith turning gold coins and jewelry into stacks of glinting bullion. At the end of the title sequence, he is shot in the center of the frame in a soft focus medium shot as he gazes at the bars of gold which cast a faxen refection on his face and underlines his position of power (see Fig. 5.2). The sequence is accompanied by the

Fig. 5.2 il Toso’s (Elio Germano) allure in the title sequence of Faccia d’angelo 5 FACCIA D’ANGELO: “THE ALLURE OF EVIL” 151 fast-paced song “The Storm is Coming” by the Italian alternative rock band Afterhours. Also, he mocks the police who are represented as oafs harassing a young man out having fun in his showy car (the red Ferrari with which he is oft associated) and when il Toso is arrested for the second time, he is photographed by reporters who resemble more closely paparazzi than journalists. il Toso’s malfeasant celebrity is interesting in terms of how the miniseries represents his rise to power. This sequence is indebted to the Romanzo criminale flm when il Libanese and il Freddo murder rival il Terribile in broad daylight in Piazza della Spagna and then celebrate with Banda members their new territorial reign in a nightclub. As O’Rawe argues, in the Placido flm music and montage assist in unsettling the history surrounding the murder and kidnap of Aldo Moro (O’Rawe 2009). In the Porporati miniseries, the Mala del Brenta take out Arsenale (Massimo Sangermano) on the orders of il Siciliano (Salvatore Martino) and the following sequence is a rapidly edited montage composed of newspaper headlines and short clips of the Mala’s many heists accompanied aurally by “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s Ninth and also a voiceover of Inspector Ricci who narrates the details of il Toso’s conquest of “an empire.” Unlike in Romanzo criminale, this montage does not unsettle history as it does not allude to anything beyond the gang’s narrative, and thus is in line with the classic Hollywood soundtrack which generally creates “narrative coherence” (Larsen 2008, 105). The trium- phant tenor of Beethoven together with the brisk chronicle of il Toso’s criminal exploits make of the Mala’s rise to power a legendary and spell- binding tale. The sequence concludes on a mug shot of il Toso smiling smugly into the camera as Ricci recounts that il Toso is not scared of anyone, but warns “but blood costs, it costs a lot.” Those on the side of the law contribute to il Toso’s mystique by recounting the villain’s exploits through a gripping narrative, which reveals the Mala’s bipartisan allure. The sequence includes many instances of the “expressive stylization” that Fulvio Orsitto discusses in relation to Goodfellas such as freeze frames, the voiceover, close-ups, and point-of-view shots (Orsitto 2011, 141). These elements contribute to the highly stylized aesthetic of the miniseries and assist in presenting criminals in a glamorized fashion. Also akin to Goodfellas, in this and other sequences we see the dates of important heists and kidnappings and Faccia d’angelo incorporates newspaper articles and documentary television footage. These components suture il 152 D. RENGA

Toso’s criminal enterprises into a specifc historical context and narrate criminal history in an appealing fashion. Differently from, for example, Tony Soprano, il Toso is never represented as the worst guy at any point in the miniseries. Members of both opposing gangs and the Mala del Brenta use brute force, seem fairly unintelligent, treat women poorly or are not involved with women at all, and are addicted to drugs. il Toso also checks many of the boxes regarding what makes small screen antiheroes so appealing to serial viewers (such as charm, appeal, sense of humor, charisma, an absent father, and he is surrounded by men more heinous than he). il Toso is a self-made man who came from nothing and who is brilliant—the miniseries opens when he proves his mnemonic capacity as a young boy by reciting canto XXXIII of Dante’s Paradiso backward from memory. Also, akin to Don Vito Corleone, he is a puppet master “who never gets his hands dirty”14 and women are drawn to him and support him in the face of his obvious criminal record: His mother and Morena defend and protect him despite their awareness of his criminal endeavors (Morena is smart and previously untouched by criminality) and his sister-in-law seems to be falling for him at the program’s fnale even though her own sister—Paolo’s mother—met her death most likely because of her ties with il Toso. In a scene reminiscent of an amalgam of Michael’s conversations with Kay at the end of The Godfather and with Mamma Corleone in The Godfather Part II, il Toso’s (also nameless) mother asks her son if he had ever hurt anyone and he responds that he only did what he had to do. Whether he murders Arsenale is left purposefully ambiguous (a man whose face is covered delivers the fnal fatal bullet, but we are not made aware of his identity as the shot cuts to black). It is clear that il Toso has an evident aversion to blood and to violence and never seems to get his hands literally dirty. Further, he feels deeply. He is profoundly distressed when hearing of Morena’s murder and his anguish is exter- nalized in the mise-en-scène when shots of him sobbing and scratch- ing the walls of his cell are intercut with her death sequence while she is driving on a country road. Similar to the car crash that possibly kills Sofa in the mafa movie Le conseguenze dell’amore (The Consequences of Love, Paolo Sorrentino, 2004), this incident comes out of nowhere. As I argue elsewhere, new millennium Italian mafa movies primarily take the form of pleasurable narratives which reassure viewers at the flm’s close. While women in, around, and against the mafa in these flms are frequently murdered, commit suicide, die in an accident, or are the victim 5 FACCIA D’ANGELO: “THE ALLURE OF EVIL” 153 of sexual violence, male characters ultimately fnd redemption, which happens in male melodrama. Mesmerizing mobsters like il Toso are either forgiven for their crimes or their lives or deaths are celebrated and idealized (Renga 2013, 181–84). Such processes of atonement assist in, borrowing from Smith, creating those “structures of sympathy” running throughout the miniseries.15

Il Toso’s Afterlife Faccia d’angelo leaves the viewer with the impression that il Toso’s criminal enterprises were curtailed with his arrest in Capri in the early 1990s as, unlike in the traditional biopic, we are given no information regarding what became of il Toso/Maniero post-incarceration. Instead, the following twenty or so years of his life were dramatic, and his name appeared frequently in the headlines and was associated with prison escapes, his decision to collude with the authorities, family tragedies, and his failed business venture. A year after his arrest in 1993, his plan to escape from a prison in Vicenza was discovered and he was transferred to a penitentiary in Padova where he successfully escaped and was on the run for fve months until he was again arrested and sentenced to thirty-three years of confnement. In 1995, he collaborated with the authorities which resulted in a reduced sentence and he has been living as a free man without restrictions since 2010. As one reviewer notes, “the most dramatic event of his life is yet to take place” (Clementi 2012) when his daughter Elena, who struggled with drug addiction, committed suicide by throwing herself off of the sixth story of a building in Pescara in 2006.16 Maniero’s female offspring, who was twenty-nine at the time of her death and would have been ffteen in 1992, is not mentioned in the miniseries. This omission creates a fctional emphasis on the ameliorated and redemptive paternal bond. The miniseries though does (semi-)obliquely allude to Maniero’s future collaboration with the authorities. This occurs when il Toso’s mother recounts to her son a dream where all of his teeth were falling out and she tried desperately to put them back in without success while imploring him to stop speaking so as to curtail the dental damage. As she describes that he told her “don’t hurt me, let me talk,” there is a cut to a police tape recorder registering their conversation. The frst episode concludes thusly and sets up il Toso’s arrest at the beginning of the following installment. Freud would say that the dream “represents castration” 154 D. RENGA

(Freud 1997, 236), a conspicuous interpretation considering il Toso’ eventual loss of liberty and curtailed power position. The dream also prefgures Maniero’s breaking of omertà, bearing in mind that il Toso’s mother is obviously aware of her son’s mob involvement, profts from it, and desires to protect him.17 The dream recalls an uneasy narrative both intra- and extra-diegetically surrounding the Mala del Brenta’s status as a mafa. The Mala most certainly complies with the defnition of mafa when considering its multiple illegal money-making endeavors, dominion of a territory, expended period of violent activity, infltration into politics and the police force, and hierarchical association of gang members (and this is the case that was made against Maniero). In the miniseries, il Toso insists on a few occasions that he is not a mafoso, but is instead an important businessman who is “necessary to this economy” and points out that the mafa is a product of the Italian south and he is not a “terrone” (a derogatory term for someone from Southern Italy). And Maniero never admits to being a pentito, a highly charged term in the mafa context, but instead prefers the term “collaborator of justice” because, as he told Pasqualetto, he hates people who “boast about their repentance like so many Sicilian mafosi” (Angelo 2011). The miniseries narrativizes this strategy of displacement as well when il Toso’s mother is watching a news program reporting on the conclusion of “il Toso’s” maxi-trial where it is noted that he constructed a real “criminal empire.” When Paolo enters the room, she changes the channel to a news program containing documentary footage of the aftermath of the bomb in Via D’Amelio that killed antimafa judge Paolo Borsellino and fve of his bodyguards on July 19, 1992. To distract her grandson, she tells him “nothing happened, it involves people from Southern Italy. It’s the mafa. Eat,” before the camera cuts to footage of cars on fre and bystanders hugging one another and sobbing. The mother’s clear and obviously misguided message is that the mafa is a Southern problem that has not infltrated the Veneto. Publicity around and interviews on Faccia d’angelo suggest that the Mala del Brenta was a temporary aberration that disappeared after Maniero’s arrest. Pasqualetto maintains that the organization is a “closed case” (Angelo 2011) while Porporati in a publicity interview states: “this organization no longer exists. There is no longer any trace of it. This is one of the few times both in and outside of Italy when a judiciary, the law enforcement, and civil society succeeded in completely annihilating 5 FACCIA D’ANGELO: “THE ALLURE OF EVIL” 155 a mafa” (Spaggy 2012). These types of statements position Faccia d’angelo as participating in a post-mafa mentality that is problematic given that the Veneto is home to several mafas that are still “silent and invisible.” The “Gomorra veneta” as it is called is involved in numerous illicit activities and has infltrated private sectors and politics.18 Faccia d’angelo, however, suggests that the mafa is a momentary and exciting blight on the landscape of the Veneto that was generated and controlled by il Toso/Maniero.

Conclusion: “We Are All Potential Criminals” On January 30, 2016, the symposium “La mafa del Brenta: a story of friendship and death” took place inside the exhibit entitled “Serial Killer – From Victim to Executioner.” Almost twenty-fve years after Maniero’s arrest on Capri, the Mala del Brenta is now referred to as a mafa. Held outside of Venice in the town of Jesolo, the exhibit opened on December 26, 2015 and ran (perhaps ironically?) through September 11, 2016, and promises to help us “to explore how we are all potential serial killers, and why one becomes one” (Facebook 2016). Maniero refused the invitation to participate in the January event, pointing out that his name was used to generate publicity, while calling out most participants as fantasy writers who invent or plagiarize their stories, and he is particularly critical of Monica Zornetta, author of La resa: ascesa, declino e pentimento di Felice Maniero, whom he has never met (Cagnassi 2016). Indeed, the “fashy” red phone with a direct line to Maniero that was placed in front of an empty seat at the end of the row of panelists remained silent as Maniero never called in (Euroregion News 2016).19 Several factors surrounding the event seem geared toward generating media attention. The publicity video is composed of stills of newspaper headlines documenting Maniero’s exploits together with classic images of him smiling into the camera, and is accompanied by a suspenseful score beftting a horror flm. Also, the conference title—“a story of friendship and death”—is melodramatic and the encounter took place inside of an exhibit exploring the butcher lurking apparently within us all. At the same time, participants insist that they aim to explain how criminals are the subject of “turning something into a spectacle” and want to “demythologize” Maniero who should not become an “example” for anyone. Instead, Zornetta desires to present the “truth” behind 156 D. RENGA the Maniero mythology, which is that he is an “assassino” (Euroregion News 2016). Here we see the double pull of sensationalizing and der- omanticizing a criminal fgure, an operation at work in discussions of many of the television products under study in this book.20 Zornetta also read a letter written by Michela Pavesi, aunt to twenty-two-year-old Cristina Pavesi who was killed in 1990 in a train explosion caused by the Mala del Brenta. Cristina’s victim status is undeniable: She was pursuing a university degree and had no criminal record and was only in the wrong place at the wrong time. Michela Pavesi is active in keeping her niece’s memory alive and speaks regularly at memorials, gives interviews, and contributes comments to blog posts and Facebook pages. In the letter read on her behalf at the conference, Michela Pavesi states that she feels nothing for Maniero who has never asked for her forgiveness (Facebook 2016). Elsewhere, she states that she does not believe that Maniero truly repented (“pentirsi”) for his actions (Abbadir 2015) and calls Maniero and Vallanzasca “false heroes” (Caverzan 2010), an indictment that reverberates with Porporati’s idol-making dis- claimer discussed above. To conclude, it is intriguing that different stakeholders in, around, and against the Maniero case make similar claims regarding the criminal within. First, a volume dedicated to the memory of Cristina Pavesi and other innocent victims of organized crime is called Are We all Mafosi? Young People Meet the Mafa (Boldrin 2010). Also, in addressing why criminals become legends, Pasqualetto notes “We are all potential criminals” (Angelo 2011), which obviously echoes the tagline for the Serial Killer exhibit. Although approaching the issue of the pull of the perpetrator from different perspectives, of interest to the edited antimafa volume, the book on Maniero’s life, and the exhibition about assassins, is the question of the extent to which a criminal mentality has taken up residence in the collective imagination. In a blogpost surrounding the publicity around Vallanzasca, Michela Pavesi wonders, “I shudder at the thought of what will become of Vallanzasca, will we make him into another legend? Will Maniero also become a legend?” (Caverzan 2010). Despite Porporati’s assertions that he does not seek to create heroes and that Faccia d’angelo focuses on victims and will compel viewers to possible ethical action by indicting criminality, the program does participate in the process of mythologizing a fctional gangster. In so doing, Faccia d’angelo is entirely typical of mafa serial dramas in its fascination with “the allure of evil.” 5 FACCIA D’ANGELO: “THE ALLURE OF EVIL” 157

Notes 1. The citation “the allure of evil” comes from an interview with Elio Germano in Pederiva (2011). “Elio Germano: ‘Interpreterò Maniero senza dare giudizi sul bene e il male’.” 2. For more on the history of the Mala del Brenta, see Zornetta (2010), Armati (2012), or the two-part History Channel documentary La Mala del Brenta – La vera storia. 3. For a selection of images where Maniero beams at the camera, see the la Rebubblica photo essay, “Il ‘romanzo criminale’ di Felice Maniero” (2015). For several interviewees describing Maniero’s physical, intellectual, and emotional qualities, see the “Lucarelli racconta” program (Rai3 2010) and the episode on the Mala del Brenta on “Linea gialla” (La7 2013). 4. At the time of writing, D’Aloia’s six-page study is the only critical piece done on the miniseries. He writes, “the novel is criminal and angels are evil … the most ruthless criminals have angelic faces” (D’Aloia 2013, 159, original emphasis). 5. For example, one critic writes, “Will Faccia d’angelo succeed in only two episodes to make us forget the exploits of Libanese, Freddo, Dandi, and Bufalo?” (Mercadente 2012). 6. See in particular O’Rawe (2014, 99–100, 147–48). Interesting also is O’Rawe’s discussion of how the casting of Riccardo Scamarcio as a terrorist Renato De Maria’s La prima linea (The Front Line, 2009) engages with the “problem of glamorization” (141–47). 7. For a discussion of Germano’s dialect study, see Clementi (2012) and Consoli (2012). 8. O’Rawe also notes that Placido suggests that the pair were “like brothers” (2014, 149). 9. Germano maintains, “We decided to take inspiration from [Maniero’s] autobiography […] but our flm is not a biopic in the strict sense: Maniero for us is a mask” (Consoli 2012). 10. Germano’s citation about how it would be helpful “to understand how a criminal organization that was much discussed in the press but not fully understood by the public, or at least not me personally, was established” is found on the Wikipedia page on Faccia d’angelo and the link to the original source is now invalid (Wikipedia 2016). 11. In an ironic twist, when shooting on location in a prison in Gorizia, a routine document check revealed that a Slovenian man working with the crew was wanted by the Italian police as he was involved in illegal immigration in Italy. He was immediately arrested (il Piccolo 2011). Also, there was a quite prominent court case against the flm in Slovenia for non-payment of debts (il Piccolo 2012). 158 D. RENGA

12. Linda Williams writes, “one of the key features of melodrama is its compulsion to ‘reconcile the irreconcilable’—that is, its tendency to fnd solu- tions to problems that cannot really be solved without challenging the older ideologies of moral certainty to which melodrama wishes to return” (Williams 1998, 75). 13. In another interview, Germano states that the flm is not a biography about a certain criminal but is instead about “a pathology of our era” which is pursuing success at all costs (Leone 2012). 14. Germano notes that he was struck by Maniero’s story because he was a criminal who “rarely got his hands dirty, he always stayed behind the cur- tains, almost like a puppet master” (Pederiva 2011). 15. See the introduction for a discussion of Smith and how the “structure of sympathy” assists viewers in evaluating characters. In particular, see pp. 81–86 in Smith (1995). 16. In 2015, Giancarlo Carpi stated in an interview that Elena Maniero did not kill herself but was instead killed, a hypothesis that Maniero unfalteringly denies, noting that if he had any suspicion that she was murdered he would carry out “a massacre” (Blitz Quotidiano 2015). 17. il Toso’s mother occupies the ambiguous state of many mafa women’s “submerged centrality” as discussed by Teresa Principato and Alessandra Dino (1997, 14). 18. Marco Scipolo (2013) discusses the mafas of the Veneto, in particular their level of activity, involvement with other Italian mafas (in particular the Camorra, Cosa Nostra, and ’ndrangheta), and ways of earning a proft. One journalist discusses that the “new” Mala del Brenta was incredibly active in 2006 (La Stampa Italiana 2006). 19. The symposium can be watched in its entirety on YouTube (“Live evento La mafa del Brenta: una storia di amicizia e di morte” 2016b) and the promotional video for the event is also available on YouTube (“Evento— MAFIA DEL BRENTA alla Mostra Serial Killer Jesolo” YouTube 2016a). 20. Leading up to the event organizers expected more than a thousand participants and were worried about space and planned to project the event on a large screen outside of the auditorium (Cagnassi 2016). After the event, it was reported that more than 400 people were present in the audience (Euroregion News 2016), but in the YouTube video of the event the audience looks much slimmer.

References Abbadir, Alessandro. 2015. “‘Non credo in alcun modo al pentimento di Maniero.’” la Nuova di Venezia e Mestre. December 16. Accessed July 28, 2016. http://nuovavenezia.gelocal.it/venezia/cronaca/2015/12/16/news/non- credo-in-alcun-modo-al-pentimento-di-maniero-1.12633964. 5 FACCIA D’ANGELO: “THE ALLURE OF EVIL” 159

Angelo, Marina. 2011. “‘L’Intervista’ ad Andrea Pasqualetto.” Notte criminale, March 29. Accessed July 23. http://www.nottecriminale.it/l-intervista-ad-andrea-pasqualetto.html. Armati, Cristina. 2012. Italia criminale. Dalla banda della Magliana a Felice Maniero e la mala del Brenta. Rome: Newton Compton. Bellavia, Enrico. 2015. “Felice Maniero: ‘Sì, ora mi arrischisco grazio alle Stato.” la Repubblica, June 7. Accessed July 17, 2016. http://www. repubblica.it/cronaca/2015/06/07/news/felice_maniero_si_ora_mi_ arricchisco_grazie_allo_stato_-116272168/. Bingham, Dennis. 2010. Whose Lives Are They Anyway? The Biopic as Contemporary Film Genre. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. Blitz Quotidiano. 2015. “Felice Maniero: ‘Mia fglia uccisa? No, avrei fatto strage.’” Blitz Quotidiano, November 11. Accessed July 23, 2017. http://www.blitzquotidiano.it/cronaca-italia/felice-maniero-mia-figlia- uccisa-no-avrei-fatto-strage-2318163/. Boldrin, Oriano, ed. 2010. Siamo tutti mafosi? I giovani incontrano la mafa. Lancenigo: Edizioni Anordest. Bruun Vaage, Margrethe. 2016. The Antihero in American Television. New York and Oxon: Routledge. Cagnassi, Giovanni. 2016. “Maniero: ‘No a quell convengo sulla Mala del Brenta.’” la tribuna di Treviso, January 16. Accessed July 27, 2016. http:// tribunatreviso.gelocal.it/regione/2016/01/18/news/maniero-no- a-quel-convegno-sulla-mala-1.12797954. Caverzan, Maurizio. 2010. “Il fascino ruffano di quei cattivi con la faccia d’angelo.” Notte criminale, October 6. Accessed July 20, 2016. https://nottecriminale.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/il-fascino- ruffano-di-quei-cattivi-con-la-faccia-d’angelo/. Clementi, Alessandra. 2012. “‘Faccia d’angelo’, un romanzo criminale Maniero: ‘Misera fction per fare cassetta.’” la Repubblica, March 7. Accessed July 19, 2017. http://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli-e-cultura/2012/03/07/news/ fction_maniero_germano-31119990/. Consoli, Marco. 2012. “Maniero, criminale anni Ottanta – Germano: ‘Storia specchio dell’Italia.’” la Repubblica, March 6. Accessed July 3, 2017. http://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli-e-cultura/2012/03/06/news/ elio_germano_felice_maniero-31058560/. D’Aloia, Adriano. 2013. “La tempesta è in arrive: Faccia d’angelo.” In Tutta un’altra fction: La serialità pay in Italia e nel mondo. Il modello Sky, edited by Massimo Scaglioni and Luca Barra, 157–62. Rome: Carocci editore. Euroregion News. 2016. “Successo del convegno sulla mafa della Brenta.” Euroregion News, February 2. Accessed July 27, 2016. http://euroregione- news.eu/successo-del-convegno-sulla-mafa-del-brenta/. 160 D. RENGA

Facebook. 2016. “Serial Killer: dalla vittima al carnefce.” Accessed July 20, 2016. https://www.facebook.com/Serial-Killer-621219638018253/ info/?entry_point page_nav_about_item&tab page_info. = = Freud, Sigmund. 1997. The Interpretation of Dreams. Translated by James Strachey. London: Wordsworth. Gorgi, Silvia. 2012. “Solo veneti con Germano ‘Maniero? Storia oscura.’” il mattino di Padova, March 10. Accessed July 20, 2017. http://ricerca.gelocal.it/ mattinopadova/archivio/mattinodipadova/2012/03/10/NZ_48_01.html. il mattino di Padova. 2012. “Maniero: ‘Quello fction incoraggia il crimine.’” il mattino di Padova, March 8. Accessed July 21, 2016. http:// mattinopadova.gelocal.it/padova/cronaca/2012/03/08/news/ maniero-quella-fction-incoraggia-il-crimine-1.3267384. il Piccolo. 2011. “Gorizia. Gira un flm in carcere e lo arrestano.” il Piccolo, April 7. Accessed July 20, 2016. http://ilpiccolo.gelocal.it/trieste/ cronaca/2011/04/07/news/gorizia-gira-un-film-in-carcere-e-lo- arrestano-1.24271. il Piccolo. 2012. “Faccia d’angelo: la troupe ‘scappa’ e non paga i conti.” il Piccolo, March 17. Accessed August 10, 2016. http:// ilpiccolo.gelocal.it/trieste/cronaca/2012/03/17/news/ maniero-fa-sparire-i-soldi-anche-dal-set-del-suo-flm-1.3479284. La7. 2013. “Felice Maniero e la mala del Brenta.” La7 (Linea gialla), December 15. Accessed July 18, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v CiEeU8Df-Js. http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.docu- = ments/37036823/From_Film_to_Fashion__a_Trend_With_Teeth_-_NYTimes. com.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId AKIAJ56TQJRTWSMTNPEA&- = Expires 1473968538&Signature T2Y92FHzZiDVuMwHjjX- = = T15IxZcw%3D&response-content-disposition inline%3B%20 = flename%3DNew_York_Times_A_Trend_With_Teeth.pdf. la Repubblica. 2015. “Il ‘romanzo criminale’ di Felice Maniero.” la Repubblica, June 7. Accessed June 14, 2016. http://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2015/06/07/foto/il_romanzo_criminale_di_felice_ maniero-116272980/1/?ref nrct-3#9. = La Stampa Italiana. 2006. “Sgominato la nuova ‘mala del Brenta’, 33 arresti.” La Stampa Italiana, January 18. Accessed July 28, 2016. http://www.lastampa. it/2006/01/18/italia/cronache/sgominata-la-nuova-mala-del-brenta-arresti-NWqFWqwX8Ul7au6M9ZojWN/pagina.html. Larsen, Peter. 2008. Film Music. London: Reaktion Books. Leone, Tiziana. 2012. “La serie su Felica Maniero accende le critiche. Sky replica: ‘È un Romanzo.’” Sky, March 7. Accessed July 21, 2016. http://www.tvzoom.it/2012/03/07/2608/la-serie-su-felice-maniero- accende-le-critiche-sky-replica-le-un-romanzor/. 5 FACCIA D’ANGELO: “THE ALLURE OF EVIL” 161

Maniero, Felice and Pasqualetto Andrea. 1997. Una storia criminale: Nell’autobiografa di Faccia d’Angelo tutti i retroscena di una vita. Venice: Marsilio. Mercadente, Giovanni. 2011. “Se Elio Germano il prossimo autunno, vestirà i panni de ‘il Toso’, Sky, per la prossima stagione, sfoggia la commedia.” Notte criminale, July 26. Accessed July 19, 2017. http://www.nottecriminale.it/ puglia/se-elio-germano-il-prossimo-autunno-vestira-i-panni-de-il-toso-sky- per-la-prossima-stagione-sfoggia-la-commedia.html. Mercadente, Giovanni. 2012. “Faccia D’Angelo: Sky Cinema e History Channel raccontano la Mala del Brenta.” Notte criminale, March 5. Accessed July 14, 2016. http://www.nottecriminale.it/faccia-d-angelo-sky-cinema-e-history- channel-raccontano-la-mala-del-brenta.html. O’Rawe, Catherine. 2009. “More More Moro: Music and Montage in Romanzo criminale.” Italianist 29: 214–26. O’Rawe, Catherine. 2014. Stars and Masculinities in Contemporary Italian Cinema. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Orsitto, Fulvio. 2011. “Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas: Hybrid Storytelling between Realism and Formalism.” In Mafa Movies: A Reader, edited by Dana Renga, 141–8. Toronto, Buffalo and London: University of Toronto Press. Pederiva, Angela. 2011. “Elio Germano: ‘Interpreterò Maniero senza dare giudizi sul bene e il male.’” Corriere del Veneto, February 21. Accessed July 24, 2016. http://corrieredelveneto.corriere.it/veneto/notizie/cultura_e_ tempolibero/2011/21-febbraio-2011/elio-germano-interpretero-maniero-senza-dare-giudizi-bene-male-19063106705.shtml. Pescara, Massimo Luigi. 2006. “Suicida la fglia del boss Maniero. Il pianto del padre: l’hanno uccisa.” la Repubblica, February 24. Accessed July 17, 2016. http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2006/02/24/ suicida-la-fglia-del-boss-maniero-il.html. Piantadosi, Emanuela. 2012. “‘La televisione legittima i criminali’: la denuncia dell’associazione ‘Vittime del dovere.’” affariitaliani.it, March 13. Accessed December 2, 2017. http://www.affaritaliani.it/sociale/faccia-d-angelo-sky-cinema130212.html?refresh_cens. PrimaOnline. 2012a. “Sky: Partenza record ‘Faccia d’angelo’, oltre 660mila spettatori.” PrimaOnline, March 13. Accessed August 10, 2016. http:// www.primaonline.it/2012/03/13/103286/sky-partenza-record- faccia-dangelo-oltre-660mila-spettatori/. PrimaOnline. 2012b. “Tv/ascolti: Sky, oltre 10 mln di spettatori unici.” PrimaOnline, March 20. Accessed August 10, 2016. http://www.primaonline.it/2012/03/20/103663/tvascolti-sky- oltre-10-mln-di-spettatori-unici-3/. Principato, Teresa, and Alessandra Dino. 1997. Mafa donna: le vestali del sacro e dell’onore. Palermo: Flaccovio editore. 162 D. RENGA

Rai3. 2010. “La mala del Brenta.” Rai3: Lucarelli racconta.” December 27. Accessed July 18, 2016. http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/programmi/media/ ContentItem-3fe09f0e-10d0-4115-9870-d007dfa20db9.html. Renga, Dana. 2013. Unfnished Business: Screening the Italian Mafa in the New Millennium. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press. Scipolo, Marco. 2013. “Le mafe in Veneto? Silenti ma attive.” Polizia e democra- zia, January-March. Accessed July 27, 2016. http://www.poliziaedemocra- zia.it/live/index.php?domain ricerca&action articolo&idArticolo 2979. = = = Sky. n.d. “Faccia d’angelo.” Sky. Accessed July 18, 2016. http://guidatv.sky.it/ guidatv/programma/intrattenimento/fction/faccia-d-angelo_415278.shtml. Sky Cinema HD. 2012. “Comunicato stampa: Faccia d’angelo.” [No other information available – I have the publicity fyer]. Smith, Murray. 1995. Engaging Characters: Fiction, Emotion and the Cinema. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Spaggy. 2012. “Faccia d’angelo, da stasera su Sky: Elio Germano è Felice Maniero.” Film tv, March 12. Accessed July 26, 2016. http://www.flmtv. it/post/10654/faccia-d-angelo-da-stasera-su-sky-elio-germano-e-felice-mani/#rfr:none. Valesini, Giulio. 2015. “Arsenico e il Vecchio boss.” Rai3, November 15. Accessed July 18, 2016. http://www.report.rai.it/dl/Report/puntata/ ContentItem-be2d340d-a983-43b3-9add-b503e45e3850.html. Wikipedia. 2016. Faccia d’angelo. Wikipedia.it. Accessed July 20, 2016. https:// it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faccia_d%27angelo_(miniserie_televisiva). Williams, Linda. 1998. “Melodrama Revised.” In Refguring American Film Genres: Theory and History, edited by Nick Brown, 42–88. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. YouTube. 2016a. “Evento – MAFIA DEL BRENTA alla Mostra Serial Killer Jesolo.” YouTube, January 18. Accessed July 27, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v -yCNsFnkq5E. = YouTube. 2016b. “Live evento La mafa del Brenta: una storia di amicizia e di morte.” YouTube, January 30. Accessed July 27, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v ceH8oEZQrcU. = Zornetta, Monica. 2010. La resa: ascesa, declino e pentimento di Felice Maniero. Milan: B.C. Dalai. CHAPTER 6

1992 and 1993’s Diffcult Masculinities

Introduction: Body Politics The political series and period drama 1992 (2015) and 1993 (2017) mark the frst two chapters of a trilogy taking place between 1992 and 1994 that chronicles the transition from the frst to second Italian republic. Each episode of 1992 is dedicated to one of the frst ten months of the tangentopoli or Bribesville scandals which led to the fall of the frst republic and paved the way for Berlusconi’s makeover from mega-businessman and media mogul to prime minister. 1992 is considered Italy’s “year zero” of the second republic. In a two-year period beginning February 17, 1992, Operation “Mani pulite” or “Clean Hands” led investigators to trace about 400 million dollars in bribes to politicians and conduct almost 5000 arrests (The Economist 1994). The corruption was endemic, so much so that 400 town councils were dissolved and over one-third of the members of Parliament were under investigation at one point (Day 2015, 43). As a result, the majority of political parties were disbanded, including the Christian Democratic Party which had the largest Parliamentary representation from 1946 to 1994 and the Italian Socialist Party. This power vacuum was exacerbated by a longstand- ing and incredibly weak political class and made space for Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party to determinedly enter the political scene in 1994. 1992 unfolds against the backdrop of the “revolutionary” operation “Mani pulite.” Instead, 1993 is set during “the year of terror” which saw

Berlusconi’s rise to political power and a series of mafa bombings across Italy (TG24 Sky HD 2017). Part flm noir, part melodrama, part male melodrama, and part period drama, the choral series focuses chiefy on three men and two women whose lives intersect in romance, politics, and revenge.1 Antihero Leonardo (Leo) Notte (Stefano Accorsi, the show’s “ideatore” or creator) is a publicist at Fininvest initially convinced that Berlusconi is the new face of the new nation, yet in 1992 his ambitions are threatened by a crooked policeman with intimate knowledge about Notte’s dark secret; Pietro Bosco (Guido Caprino) is a Gulf War veteran-cum-Parliamentar- ian representing the extreme right regionalist and federalist Lega Nord (Northern League) who in 1992 is romantically involved with Veronica Castello (Miriam Leone). Castello aspires to break into television (1992) and then into politics (1993); Luca Pastore (Domenico Diele) is HIV positive as a result of a transfusion with infected blood and works with the Mani pulite team with the aim of enacting revenge against those he believes to be responsible for his illness; and Bibi Mainaghi (Tea Falco) is the initially reluctant heir to her father’s fortune and must balance family loyalty, personal safety, and romantic interests in her new power position. Reviewers point out that 1992 is no Gomorrah.2 This appears to be the case when considering that Gomorrah 1 averaged 700,000 viewers (PrimaOnline) compared to about 450,000 for 1992 (Micelli 2015) with 1993 capping out at around 250,000 viewers (see Tables A.13 and A.14). Debuting a year after the hyper-successful and critically acclaimed Sollima phenomenon, 1992 has been criticized for being “light years away” from Gomorrah’s “stylistic and narrative perfection” (Naso 2015). Commentators are particularly condemning of elements of plot, dialogue, acting, performance, and what one reviewer insists is an uncomplicated depiction of a complex historical period.3 Overall, reviews for 1993 are less negative and note that the installment has a better rhythm and is more suspenseful. Dialogue, however, is still considered a weak point (Naso 2017). Criticism aside, the series offers a nuanced and provocative take on two pivotal transitional years. 1992, and to a lesser extent 1993, place a greater importance on protagonists’ love lives than Gomorrah for example, in 1992 Leo, Pietro, Veronica, Luca, and Bibi are involved in four different relationships (Leo and Veronica; Leo and Bibi; Pietro and Veronica; Luca and Bibi). The attention to romance positions the series in line with several examples of American quality television (such as The Sopranos; Six Feet Under, 2001–2005; Mad Men). In Sky 6 1992 AND 1993’S DIFFICULT MASCULINITIES 165 and Netfix programs engaging with criminality, the primary narrative focus is on the homosocial criminal band, for example in Romanzo criminale. La serie, Faccia d’angelo, Gomorrah, and Suburra. Indeed, critics note 1992s indebtedness to American serial drama, in particular House of Cards for its unscrupulous political angle and point to Mad Men’s Don Draper as the inspiration for Notte (although this correspondence is much less apparent in 1993).4 Giuseppe Gagliardi, who directed the eighteen episodes, remarks that Notte could be an Italian Don Draper (Ariete 2015), an apposite comparison in that both characters struggle to conceal a dark past and work in the business of selling products and life- styles to the public. 1992/1993 is interested in how images are packaged and received. This is a crucial PR-move in the fallout of the Bribesville scandals and the consolidation of Berlusconi’s television empire following the controversial Mammi law from 1990 which created a public and private television duopoly between Rai and Berlusconi’s three channels (Gundle and O’Sullivan 1996, 209). Through Veronica’s ambitions for stardom on the small screen and in politics, 1992 and 1993 also engage with the fgure of the television showgirl or “velina” in Italy which, as Danielle Hipkins has deftly argued, is tied to Berlusconi’s “political empire” (Hipkins 2012, 155). The series, however, focuses principally on three men who work in politics (Pietro), the police force (Luca), and publicity and then politics (Leo) and who all have different stakes in the new-Italy-in-the-making. Early on in 1992, Judge Antonio Di Pietro remarks “We are making history, and we need men with balls,” which implies strong men are required to build a strong nation. This is an interesting statement given that female prosecutor Ilda Boccassini, who in 1994 will take Di Pietro’s place in the investigation and in subsequent years will fght to indict Berlusconi, has no role in the series. However, Pietro, Luca, and Leo embody masculinities that are far from hegemonic. Men sob, commit suicide, are gravely ill, and live in the closet. Male bodies are stout, in decline, and represented as abject. Most interestingly, a heterosexual economy gives way to a queer politics. This chapter looks at how a series of traumas, losses, and maladies renders male protagonists sympathetic, an operation traditionally at work in male melodrama. In male melodrama, male protagonists are celebrated, their lives (and deaths) idealized, and their creativity foregrounded. All of these processes tend to encourage audiences to side with fallen men. However, such sympathies are at times compromised which complicates 166 D. RENGA viewer reaction and results in a more complex viewing experience. More broadly, this chapter charts male and female bodies that move primarily in and between Milan and Rome. Performing bodies, political bodies, frail bodies, queer bodies, abject bodies, and spectral bodies populate the series and point toward the diffcult masculinities that helped construct 1992 and 1993s complex political and entertainment landscape.

Gender Politics While touring a Mainaghi building site, Bibi tells Leo that she would have liked to build in that location a center for HIV/AIDS research, but instead bitterly notes that the future lies in cosmetic surgery and “who am I to stand in the way of the future” (1.9). Progress in 1992 and 1993 will not ameliorate the populace by fghting disease. Instead, betterment is linked with the cult of the body beautiful. Catherine O’Rawe discusses how Berlusconi’s penchant for plastic surgery (complete with fake tan, waxing, makeup, and hair implants) in tandem with debates and scandals around his “alleged sexual affairs and use of prostitutes and escorts” (O’Rawe 2014, 5) have contributed signifcantly to discourses surrounding an ongoing and seemingly unending crisis regarding “the feminization of masculinity” in Italy (O’Rawe 2014, 6). In the space of such a crisis which has its roots in a fear of male feminization, what positions are available for women, in particular in 1992 and 1993 which foreground the circulation of the image in the media and politics? Only four women have a signifcant role in the series: Veronica, Bibi, Veronica’s sister Giulia, and Leo’s daughter Viola. In her work on postfeminist media culture, Rosalind Gill investigates what is “distinctive about contemporary articulations of gender in the media” (Gill 2007, 148), an apt observation for the series given that these four female protagonists work in and around media culture. Viola is originally introduced as a smart and independent adolescent eager to get to know her father who was absent most of her life. Once she arrives in Milan from Bologna, however, she begins to transform, becomes sexually active, and later secures a spot on Mediaset’s controversial “Non è la Rai” (Canale 5, 1991–1995) which featured young girls—who were dubbed “Lolite” by many reviewers5—suggestively dancing to contemporary pop music. The show also served to endorse Forza Italia’s political program as the girls would promote the party during their dance routines (Walter 1994, 19).6 In the premiere episode, Leo convinces an initially reluctant 6 1992 AND 1993’S DIFFICULT MASCULINITIES 167 executive to purchase advertising space during “Non è la Rai” through appealing to what can only be described as the pedophile lurking within: “we are talking about your clients, not about you, not about me” Leo reassuringly states.7 Paul Ginsborg writes that the program featured a “numerous cast of very young girls dancing to the popular music of the time. To be one of them was the dream of every thirteen-year-old Italian girl returning from school, to desire them the fate of every man who had ever read Nabokov’s Lolita” (Ginsborg 2005, 43). Ginsborg’s ingenu- ous statement rings true at least in the character of Viola who tells her father that she was born to be on the program (earlier Viola notes that she watches the program, but with a “critical eye”).8 Initially reluctant about his daughter’s involvement, Leo eventually acquiesces and con- dones her involvement. As the series progresses, Viola receives more central roles on TV, turns into a party girl, and begins doing cocaine until her father’s incarceration in 1993 brings about a change of heart and she decides to quit the media and its accompanying lifestyle. Viola’s story line, in line with the postfeminist project as detailed by Gill, emphasizes how the body is monitored and disciplined in cultures that are sexually marked (Gill 2007, 149).9 Giulia is coded as a hardworking, serious, and scrupulous journalist who writes breaking articles on the Tangentopoli developments for the newspaper Corriere della sera and later appearing on news programs where she asks tough questions to those grappling for power positions. Yet, unlike other working women in American serial television such as Sex and the City (1998–2004), Giulia does not conform to the postfeminist subject who is “free to have it all,” including a successful job, romance, family, and friends (Nathanson 2013, 7).10 Unlike her trans- atlantic onscreen peers, in 1992 she has no friends or love life to speak of and her personal life consists of her mothering and, frequently controlling and judgmental, relationship with her sister. Giulia has sexual encounter with Pietro Bosco that borders on violent and a brief romantic moment with a co-worker in 1992s fnale. In 1992, Giulia is regularly scornful of Veronica’s career ambitions and romantic entangle- ments (with the exception of Leo who she initially views as an acceptable match), and she takes the moral high ground and is aligned with those involved in the anti-corruption struggle, such as Luca and Di Pietro. Giulia too however gives into the allure of performing in front of a camera when she is chosen to be interviewed on the television program Buona Domenica and receives the requisite makeover. Her excitement 168 D. RENGA about her transformation and imminent television appearance makes Veronica, who came to her for advice about what to do with her preg- nancy, quite envious and pushes her to get an abortion. Giulia’s new look and resulting career move (in 1993 she appears on television talk shows) ultimately align her with Gill, in relation to how the “makeover paradigm” is connected to an attention to “femininity as bodily property [and] individualism, choice and empowerment.” This is because the implication is that Veronica chooses abortion in order to not delay her professional objectives (Gill 2007, 149). Veronica is by far the most maligned female protagonist of the series. Depicted as selfsh and vain, determined at all costs to appear on center stage on television and then politics, and sexually promiscuous, Veronica might, borrowing from Hipkins, incarnate “all that is negative about Berlusconi’s period of power” (Hipkins 2011, 415). In particular, she is overtly jealous of other women who receive roles that she covets, she sleeps with several men in an attempt to break into the business and narrates her exploits without remorse in her “tell all” book. Like the prostitute and showgirl discussed by Hipkins (2011), Veronica is scapegoated, she reads as “shorthand for moral corruption” (Hipkins 2011, 414). For example, when her obstetrician implicitly criticizes her for exercising her right to choice twice in the past, warning her that a third abortion might prevent her from having children in the future; when Leo tells Veronica that he ended their relationship as she is like a beaver whose teeth (or aspirations for stardom) will never stop growing; or when Davide Corsi (Flavio Parenti), the gossip journalist who aspires to be a serious writer, tells her that his magazine will release a sex tape where she features prominently. Louis Bayman discusses Veronica in terms of the trope of “television becom[ing] prostitution” in that she uses sex to procure a spot on the television show Domenica In and distracts Pietro from political ambition with the Northern League (Bayman 2016, 88). My reading moves past Veronica as an embodiment of sexual corruption or political indifference.11 Veronica’s character is nuanced, especially in 1993: As a young girl she was sexually abused by her father-in-law, had a complex relationship with her deceased mother for whose death she feels responsible, she attempts to dissuade Viola from following in her footsteps, she chooses love over an opportunity to meet Berlusconi (in 1992) or watching the premiere of her new primetime feature (in 1993), and she is wounded in a failed mafa hit on the television talk show host and 6 1992 AND 1993’S DIFFICULT MASCULINITIES 169 vocal mafa opponent Maurizio Costanzo, an experience that haunts her. In many ways, she seems a more mature version of Gina from Francesca Comencini’s Un giorno speciale (A Special Day, 2012), a flm that, as Hipkins notes, “has an explicitly feminist message, exhorting young women … not to sell their beauty short” (Hipkins 2016, 26). Both Gina and Veronica are reluctant to engage in sex work, and both flm and series narrate the diffculties and emotional repercussions of this choice. For example, Gina’s listless staring at the television following her encounter with the politician is akin to Veronica’s disconsolate look in 1992 while the aged producer penetrates her from behind while flming her and making her say “I am your whore.” In 1993, the tape is used to attempt to blackmail Veronica, and she experiences her humiliation once more. Veronica lives in a state of precarity. Once her long-term lover Michele Mainaghi commits suicide she has no home, no income, and no support network, as Mainaghi’s wife makes clear to her. After the bombing in 1993, Veronica develops PTSD-related symptoms and experiences hallucinations where she relives the bombing or Mainaghi’s suicide and conjures up conversations in which her deceased former lover taunts and berates her. Veronica’s relationship with Pietro, and in particular the choices that she makes around her body, recall postfeminism’s contradictory tendencies, in particular, the entanglement of “feminist and anti-feminist discourses” (Gill 2007, 163). Pietro promises not to turn Veronica into a housewife and agrees that she will go back to work once the child is born. Yet, his conservative coding and expressed desire to create a new family to replace his brother who died in a car crash belies his apparent open-mindedness. Like her sister, Veronica knows that she cannot have it all, and chooses abortion, which provokes Pietro’s rage as he almost strangles her to death. Veronica’s choices (to take a part in a flm, to enter politics, or to abort) come hand in hand with her objectif- cation, her “hostile surveillance,” and “vilifcation” (Gill 2007, 163). In 1993, Veronica features more prominently than in 1992, and she is the female character with the most screen time.12 Throughout the season, Veronica struggles to outsmart those around her and angles for greater fame in the media spotlight. She then focuses her attention on politics, a career move that came to her when watching a program featuring Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of Benito Mussolini. Alessandra Mussolini worked as a model and flm and television actor and in 1992 entered politics with the neo-fascist MSI (Italian Social Movement) and is currently a member of the European Parliament 170 D. RENGA where she represents Berlusconi’s center-right Forza Italia party. In 1993, Veronica has a love interest named Davide Corsi, a left-leaning and soft-spoken intellectual writer who is the polar opposite of Pietro and who wins her heart through communication: With the aim of co-au- thoring a memoir, Davide flms Veronica as she details her sexual past, and the sessions take the form of therapy which allows her to get in touch with repressed emotions. Veronica’s frst-hand experience of the bombing and encounter with Davide soften her, and it appears that she is on the verge of turning her life around and leaving the celebrity lifestyle. Like all of the men in her life, Davide proves to be dishonest, and when his fancé brings Veronica a copy of the novel he wrote about her called “My Ruins” she arranges to meet him in order to rebuff him, telling Davide that he only wrote a novel that is identical to Pretty Woman where a “whore” desires to enter a world to which she does not belong. The reference to the popular 1990 Garry Marshall flm is telling, especially considering Mari Ruti’s work on Pretty Woman in relation to the shortcomings of feminism and the promises of postfeminism in the age of neoliberalism where women can exercise agency and make choices (Ruti 2016, 11). Like Pretty Woman’s female protagonist Vivian Ward, Veronica Castello is not straightforward in her characterization as she is a “jumble of antifeminist and feminist ingredients” that make for a “per- plexing site of study” (Ruti 2016, 6). Veronica makes several choices throughout the series which stand in opposition to the feminist ethics embodied by her sister. At the same time, she undermines the power position of the men who attempt to manipulate her (frequently through sex). In her characters are explicit several key concerns of second-wave feminism such as the challenges of the “double burden” of working both inside and outside of the home and workplace equity (Ruti 2016, 9). Ultimately, Veronica secures a place in Berlusconi’s party due to her acting prowess, ability to manipulate those around her, and her cleavage (when she meets the leader for the frst time a push-up bra reveals her décolletage). In the character of Veronica Castello, 1992 and 1993 complicates choice.

Political Men Berlusconi is a structuring absence in 1992. He is spoken about several times, mainly by Leo. He appears (as himself) three times in newsreel footage on television, frst when discussing Milan’s national soccer 6 1992 AND 1993’S DIFFICULT MASCULINITIES 171 victory, then when noting the perils of communism, and later he asserts in an interview that he has no intention of entering politics. Also, a photo of the historical Berlusconi in the newspaper accompanies an article on the Tangentopoli investigations. Berlusconi is also interpreted by an actor (Vincenzo Schettini) three times: When Leo meets Berlusconi in Sardegna and when Berlusconi gives two speeches to enthusiastic and captivated audiences about the robustness of Italy’s future—in the earlier speech he tells a group of Italy’s elite that “It’s time that we all yelled together ‘Forza Italia.” Women and men are fascinated by him (one audience is composed solely of enraptured middle-aged and older women). In particular, Leo sees him as the next political leader. During these three occasions, Berlusconi’s face is for the most part obscured or he is shot from behind, at a distance, or in shallow focus. These tech- niques point toward the challenges of actorly impersonation of a historical fgure, or what Jean-Louis Comolli defnes as the “body too much” (Comolli 1978). Comolli means that the actor interpreting a historical fgure bears the weight of two bodies, one corporeally present in the body of the actor and another absent body of, in this case, Silvio Berlusconi.13 Berlusconi’s relative absence in 1992, save in a few inclu- sions of newsreel footage, lessens the burden of historical weight. In 1992, Berlusconi haunts the political landscape. In 1993, however, he is front and center. He has a signifcant presence primarily in the frst two episodes where he appears confdent, charismatic, intelligent, balanced, witty, and is in good physical condition; one reviewer notes that 1993 is a series “Berlusconi will like” (Mottola 2017). Played by Paolo Pierobon, Berlusconi is a man on the move and is frequently depicted on television, making plans among his staff and acolytes (who jog with him each morning), giving speeches at fundraisers, or engaged in serious one- on-one conversations with Notte. Once Notte earns Berlusconi’s trust, the media mogul brings Notte to visit the mausoleum that he had constructed at his Villa San Martino in Arcore for himself, his family, and his closest friends. The pair appear very friendly are framed closely together in a medium shot in focus, and their smiles and the likeness in the color palette of their attire (composed of blues) underlines their newfound fellowship (see Fig. 6.1). Thus, Berlusconi is endowed with pathos, and, in typical male melodrama mode, creates for himself a shrine that will memorialize him as a great man. How then to represent the body of a man-like Berlusconi who, since 1994, is the dominant fgure in Italian politics and the media. In her 172 D. RENGA

Fig. 6.1 Berlusconi (Paolo Pierobon) gives Leo a tour of his mausoleum in 1993 study of Berlusconi’s “Seductive Body Politic,” Nicoletta Marini-Maio notes that Berlusconi has personifed the idea of power as it is imagined in Italy and has mesmerized the populace so as to attain “an unprecedented hegemonic role in the political, economic, and media spheres, while using a dumbfounding communicative style composed of fam- boyant self-promotion, unbounded self-esteem, and spiteful conde- scension in matters of gender, sexuality, and ethnicity” (Marini-Maio 2015, 15–16). 1992 and 1993 instead present quite a different orator. This earlier Berlusconi is a family man and protector of the nation who is jocular, reassuring, composed, and confdent. Berlusconi is not represented here as an “estranged […] symbolic and spectral body” (Marini- Maio 2015, 40) as happens for example in Nanni Moretti’s Il caimano (The Caiman, 2006). Such a retrospective gaze in 1992/1993 reveals a nostalgia for the “good” Berlusconi before the onslaught of gaffs in the national media and to world leaders, personal and political scandals, bunga bunga parties, hair implants, and high heels with which he is now associated. The series positions Berlusconi during Italy’s “year zero” as the new man rising out of the devastation of Tangentopoli. Berlusconi embodies the “dream” that Leo wants to sell to the public later in the frst season, even though, as Leo points out, both politics and publicity are based on “unkept promises.”14 Berlusconi’s emergence on the political scene out of a time of crisis presages Trump’s 2016 political victory, and the comparison between Berlusconi and Trump is underlined in 6 1992 AND 1993’S DIFFICULT MASCULINITIES 173 the German-release DVD of the of 1993 whose cover reads “Make Italy Great Again.” In the series Berlusconi represents, borrowing from Judith Butler, a “phantasmatic promise” of hegemonic masculinity under construction that, as history has shown, is destined to disappoint (Butler 1993, 131).15 Masculinity in the series is in the making. This bodily process is underlined through Leo, who exercises regularly throughout 1992 and is shown twice post-workout watching archival footage of Berlusconi on television. In the later moment, Berlusconi emphasizes the importance of doing and making when he adamantly states that he has no political ambitions: “I consider myself someone who gets things done, so let me do well the job I know how to do, which is an entrepreneur” (my emphasis). Such a stress on the emerging masculine/political body reveals the fragilities and vulnerabilities of such constructions. R. W. Connell explains: “The constitution of masculinity through bodily performance means that gender is vulnerable when the performance cannot be sustained” (Connell 2005, 54). Men in 1992 and 1993 regularly enact what it means to be male by engaging in physical exertion through exercise, sex, and violence, seeking out revenge, or fghting for justice. While in the series women on the small screen are denigrated, the male face and body is celebrated. Aged businessman Giovanni Rana plays himself, and he will become the new face of the advertising campaign for his “Rana” tortellini company as his smile and voice, Leo recounts, will create a “warm, emotional” relationship with the product that will last forever. This gender dynamic recalls Paolo Sorrentino’s La grande bellezza (2013) whereby, as Hipkins argues, male aging is represented as redemptive, positive, and restorative while ageing for women is a “burden” that weighs upon them and is marked on their bodies (Hipkins 2013).16 Such a cliché is apparent in the relationship between Leo and his old fame Amanda whom he visits in Sardegna hoping to exploit her connections with Berlusconi. When they sleep together, she is embar- rassed to reveal to Leo what she feels to be her ageing body (they are the same age). The next day, however, Leo sleeps with her ffteen-year- old daughter Angelica (who he willfully believes to be nineteen). This act further aligns Leo with the political leader and recalls the “Rubygate” scandal when Berlusconi was put on trial—and originally convicted but later found not guilty on appeal—for paying for sex with seventeen-year-old Karima El Mahroug. Leo’s body, shown frequently while exercising, prefgures Berlusconi’s makeover campaign that is a main 174 D. RENGA focus of season two. In this way, the series foregrounds the production of political bodies.

Abject Men in the Making 1992 and 1993 shore up masculinity by laying bare masculinities’ cracks and defciencies only to seal them over. For example, after Viola plucks a white hair from Leo’s chest he exclaims “aging is awful” (1.6). Leo’s virility is quickly reestablished when moments later young Angelica shows him her breasts on the beach (a revelation which recalls Jep’s “vision” of his frst love at the end of La grande bellezza). Also, and much like in Romanzo Criminale. La serie and Gomorrah, the masculine body is an abject body: Men are beaten, damaged, infrm, dying, and covered in blood. Di Pietro has Luca stick his hand down the toilet to retrieve bribe money and Mainaghi receives an anal inspection when entering prison. Death narratives are frequent, as Pietro’s Gulf War buddy is gravely ill from some form of blood tumor, Leo’s former brother-in-law dies from cancer, several men commit suicide or are murdered, and Luca is depicted as ill and is haunted by blood-flled dreams of his original hospitalization. Leo, Pietro, and Bibi’s brother Zeno sob openly and Luca cries when contemplating whether to take his own life. Kristeva argues that the abject is what must be repressed so that the symbolic order can remain intact. Tangible examples are hinged on the body: The ultimate abject object is the corpse (of which there are many in the series): once alive, now dead, part of us yet drastically different from us. But also, blood, pus, feces, sweat, and urine that which the subject must repress in order to survive (Kristeva 1982, 2). The abject is the signifer of trauma, it marks a threshold and delineates difference (Kristeva 1982, 4). O’Rawe argues that the trope of abjection in the Romanzo criminale series and the 2005 Michele Placido flm of the same name contributes signifcantly to how masculinity is presented as “damage or trauma” and notes that attempts to “recentre white Italian masculinity only makes visible its loss” (O’Rawe 2014, 115). Both Romanzo criminale texts lament the loss of an “authentic masculinity” through narrating a profound nostalgia for the lost homosocial bond (O’Rawe 2014, 114–15). In a similar fashion, 1992 mourns an intact masculinity as embodied by the early (almost absent) Berlusconi. The fve main protagonists lack fathers or father fgures: Leo hides from his hometown; Luca has no family to speak of; Pietro’s biological father is cruel and political father 6 1992 AND 1993’S DIFFICULT MASCULINITIES 175 fgure Gianni Bortolotti (Teco Celio) closeted; Bibi’s father is corrupt and a suicide; and Veronica’s stepfather sexually abused her. Kristeva writes that a source of abjection “no doubt lies in the bankruptcy of the fathers” because they are impotent and incapable of supporting their progeny (Kristeva 1982, 172). While in Kristeva the abject must be cast out so that identity can remain intact, 1992 and 1993 poses abjection as central to male subjectivity in that the body is perpetually under siege. Masculinity is in crisis in the series, and such crises assist in rendering characters sympathetic. Roy Menarini puts forth the centrality of a “Good vs. Evil” narrative in 1992 (Menarini 2015, 270). Instead, I argue that Luca, Pietro, and Leo are conficted “ordinary” men in whom the viewer, borrowing from Murray Smith’s discussion of Tony Soprano, recognizes herself, at least in part (Smith 2011, 74).17 Such processes of allegiance take place throughout the series. For example, when viewers realize that Luca is an innocent victim who comes to terms with his desire for revenge and then fghts for the common person; when violent Pietro has a “moral code” and is concerned about what he should do to protect his family (Smith 2011, 74–75); or when unsavory Leo’s “vulnerability and sense of guilt” is foregrounded even though his guilt “drives him to further deplorable acts” (Smith 2011, 76–77). Further, these three men all have backstories, and their diffcult pasts further viewer sympathy. Pietro was abused by his father (this is the assumption) and suffered the demise of a sibling; Luca contracted a virus that at the time was by many considered a death sentence; Leo experiences guilt over the death of his girlfriend and has traumatic memories of being beaten by a fascist while protesting with the extreme left in Bologna. Pietro Bosco is the most developed and complex man in 1992. His father is distant and angry; he lost his brother Milo in a car crash for which he feels responsible; he is a gulf war veteran who was dishonor- ably discharged for what is later revealed was an honorable deed; he puts his neck on the line in front of his party to help a war buddy who was manipulating him; and he beats up the pimp of a trans woman to protect her. Further, he keeps Bortolotti’s secret after the latter tries to kiss him; he falls in love with Veronica and desires to build a family with her, claiming that she need not renounce her acting aspirations; and he appears sincere in his assertion of antimafa sentiment. Pietro is initially presented as an ignorant drunkard and ladies’ man with a suspect past as a soldier. He is defned by brute force, frst when he triumphs at rugby 176 D. RENGA and then when he beats two Albanian men assaulting Bortolotti, an act that prompts the Northern League parliamentarian to see that Pietro is one of the “new men” ft to govern Italy. Once he is elected and has a purpose, he strives to learn parliamentary rules and procedure and for the most part endeavors to do the right thing in love and politics, which proves a diffcult balance. Like many small screen antiheroes, Pietro is put to several tests. Foremost, he must choose between father fgures Bortolotti and Gaetano Nobile. Nobile is a senator for the Christian Democratic (DC) party who took Bosco under his wing upon his entry into politics and who is under investigation by Di Pietro (meaning the Parliament must vote whether to support or not Nobile’s parliamentary immunity). Nobile voted against a measure that would support the distribution of tainted blood because he experienced “a moment of honesty” and he is only under investigation due to a personal gripe with a fellow member of the DC. If Pietro backs Bortolotti and his Northern League colleagues, his political career is secure and he can support Veronica and start a family. Voting with his conscience and choosing Nobile is risky, and means starting from scratch with a corrupt party belonging to the past. After turning his back on Nobile, Pietro buys a ring for Veronica only to learn too late that she just had an abortion. Thus, Pietro’s “betrayal” of his father fgure was in vain. Furious, he almost strangles Veronica to death. Pietro’s narrative concludes with his party members excitedly denouncing the DC headquarters while he looks on dejectedly. Although his political career is secure, this denouement puts an end to Pietro’s initial narrative arc while representing him as a “fallen man” who no longer embodies proper manhood and is lured down the wrong path due to his “lack of control” as happens frequently in male melodrama and flm noir (Staiger 2008, 73). Like many men who make bad choices, Pietro is not left to wallow in misfortune. In 1993 he quits love and focuses on political ambition, he learns from his past mistakes, betrays his friends, impresses his peers through bold deeds in Parliament, and manipulates those around him to eventually solidify a power position with the Northern League. Of the series’ central antiheroes, he is the last man standing at the end of the second season and his prospects look good. The men around him admire him, including Northern League leader Umberto Bossi; he has demonstrated political savvy; and he is on course to help make his party appear respectable, and therefor marketable, in the Berlusconi political era. Accorsi claimed that he originally wanted to 6 1992 AND 1993’S DIFFICULT MASCULINITIES 177 tell the story of the Northern League’s rise to power and the parties’ profound legacy in contemporary politics (Dall’Asén 2017). Throughout the series, Pietro lends a charismatic, troubled, and soulful face to the Northern League, and softens the appearance of a racist and xenophobic party. Luca is defned by his infected and wounded body through self-ex- aminations in the mirror, blood tests, and nightmares where he is covered in blood. Luca is depicted as a victim who suffers, and he inspects his marked body in the mirror (the scar from his original wounding is discernable), and when he is lying in bed he at times appears lifeless. Rather than evince vulnerability, such a depiction testifes to, borrowing from Jeffrey A. Brown’s study of Mel Gibson’s onscreen suffering, Luca’s “strength of character” and resilience which encourages viewers to “admire and feel sorry for him” while creating audience sympathy (Brown 2002, 139). Such sympathy is augmented as Luca who is “miraculously alive” is cast as an “innocent” victim who did nothing to merit contracting HIV, a disease that one reviewer describes as Luca’s “cross” to bear (Iardino 2015). Luca’s doctor tells him “sometimes illness tells us who we are.” In 1992 and in the beginning of 1993, Luca is defned by his illness and is angry and longs to settle the score. The stereotypical representation of the HIV virus in the series, as Iardino notes, is unfortunate, particularly because Luca is represented as a “outcast” and “pariah” who lives on the margins of society and who is initially incapable of living with his disease (Iardino 2015). At the same time, although tempted, Luca does not commit suicide, he is initially desired by Bibi who obsessively calls him after their frst night together, has passionate sexual and emotional encounters with Eva (Camilla Semino Favro), and is routinely taken back into Di Pietro’s unit after he is dismissed for not following protocol. Expanding upon Iardino’s reading, it is particularly problematic that, in the character of Luca, the series only obliquely addresses HIV/AIDS and minimally engages with queer sexualities, which as Roger Hallas argues is also the case with Todd Hayne’s Safe (1995) (Hallas 2009, 24–25). For example, Luca encounters a few gay men with HIV/AIDS at a support group that he attends to gather information to support his case against Mainaghi, and he belit- tles these men. Later, when he is quite ill, these same men look on at him with pathos, and he is cast as a victim warranting compassion. Luca’s commitment to keeping the infected blood off of the market makes him a martyr who is marked by blood and bullet holes, is desirable, and is 178 D. RENGA successful in his career even though he frequently acts against orders. Toward the end of 1993, Luca fnally tells the Di Pietro team that he is sick and that he is near death, at which point they embrace him. At the end of 1993, Luca renounces his wrath and leaves Milan with Eva to live out what is left of their lives together in Panama. The Luca story line positions the series with the many flms and television programs discussed by Melanie E.S Kohnen that turn HIV/AIDS into a “morality” tale (Kohnen 2016, 103). HIV/AIDS is channeled into a more pleasurable narrative that recuperates fallen (white, heterosexual) masculinity.18 While Luca’s body is ailing and under attack, Leo’s body is in the making. Regularly shown in his apartment while exercising, Leo moves through the bodies of many women (Veronica, Bibi, Amanda, Angelica, Viola’s teacher, and Arianna, the only woman he seems to really care for). Like Casanova, Leo’s conquests are motivated by a sense of lack, which in 1992 is his guilt over his involvement in the death of his girlfriend Bianca, and in 1993 his complicated emotions surrounding his murder of Venturi. In 1993, it is apparent that Leo was not born bad, but acquired his antiheroic nature as a result of several past traumas and abuses by people quite close to him (hence his turnaround from left- wing protestor to right-wing publicist). Like The Sopranos and Mad Men, 1992 and 1993, focus on an unstable protagonist: Leo is both a gifted and creative publicist who sees through politics and constructs Italy’s future (he is called the “ideal face” of the moment) and a man tortured by nightmares. He is unable to put the past behind him and unwilling to settle down. Leo lives in his “own hell” as a woman clear when telling him about Cesare Pavese’s version of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in the dialogue “The Inconsolable One.” In the Pavese dialogue, the poet looks back at Eurydice on purpose in order to fnally “free himself from her” as his primary aim is not to save his beloved, but to save himself. In this example of male melodrama, the female is sacrifced so that the masculine subject can be redeemed. In 1992 and 1993, the pain, death, aging, and/or denigration of women is not redemptive while male suffering becomes, as O’Rawe argues is the case with all of Italian cinema, “the gateway to the sublime” (O’Rawe 2014, 163). Leo wants, like the original Orpheus, to reincarnate his lost love. While in a heroin-induced stupor, Leo conjures Bianca’s return and fantasizes that the two have sex in his car. Bianca’s youthful and naked torso is on display as she sits atop Leo. When he wakes up and realizes that it was all in his head, he does not lament her departure. Instead, 6 1992 AND 1993’S DIFFICULT MASCULINITIES 179 he “fnds himself” through her loss when he looks upon two bright yel- low billboards shot in soft focus which, as is later revealed, are publicity ads disseminated by Berlusconi promoting an auspicious future for the country. Pavese’s Orpheus explains that through the loss of his love, “I found myself” (Pavese 1981, 110). Likewise, Leo will later declare that the billboards represent “the future.” The series is in line with the flms of Sorrentino such as La grande bellezza and Youth (2015) where bodies of women, in particular breasts and behinds, consolidate and console a previously “inconsolable” male subject.19

Queer Politics 1992 and 1993 charts how bodies are produced and consumed in the hypermediated age. In the series, bodies—whether they be nascent, conditioned, made-over, infrm, performed, or performing—are intimately connected to politics. Georgina Waylen et al. argue that “bodies are at the core of the political order as markers of status and power,” (Waylen et al. 2013) which is the case with the series. Leo’s sweaty body post-workout body is tied to the national body, a coupling which foregrounds how political bodies are produced and sculpted; Luca’s ill body marks him as a biopolitical subject and evinces how corrupt practices circulate among the polity; rugby player Pietro, whose half-naked, burly body is regularly on display in 1992, makes his name with the Northern League when he graphically beats the Albanian men assaulting Bortolotti. Thus, the parties’ xenophobic zeal is wedded with brute force. Veronica sleeps with several men in the hopes of breaking into television, and her naked and near-naked body recalls debates around the television showgirl turned parliamentarian. Bodies in the series “are at the core of our families, economies, and social and political institutions more generally, shaping states, civil society, and citizenship” (Waylen et al. 2013). Naked and near-naked bodies, beaten and ailing bodies, and seductive and unappealing bodies are foregrounded. For examples, more than half of 1992s episodes open on exposed bodies that are depicted as unwell (Luca, 1.1 and 1.5), lifeless (a photo of Leo’s earlier girlfriend Bianca, 1.3), physically ft (Leo, 1.4), sexualized (Veronica, 1.6), or copulating (Veronica and Pietro, 1.8). 1992 opens and closes on two seemingly incongruous bodies: The frst sequence of 1.1 consists of nine shots of a naked body which is later revealed to be Luca’s. Close-ups and extreme close-ups of Luca’s hands 180 D. RENGA as they anxiously examine his chest, mouth, gums, and eyes for apparent illness are followed by an extreme longshot of Luca inspecting his naked body in a mirror which refects his faccid penis. Masculinity is initially coded as fragile. Ludovica Rampoldi, who is one of the series’ writers, states, “In the character of Luca Pastore, the cop who is HIV positive, we wanted to build a powerful metaphor of what corruption is for our country, a disease that can be fought, but cannot be cured” (Anderson 2015). This statement recalls Susan Sontag’s thesis regarding how the body afficted by HIV/AIDS is a metaphor for social confict (Sontag 1989) or Catherine Waldby’s study on AIDS and body politics where bodily limits are symptomatic of vulnerable social orders (Waldby 1996, 13). Recalling Sontag, Luca’s illness is regarded as a “plague” and “judgement on society” (Sontag 1989, 60). However, in 1992 those punished are not those so-called weak individuals leading “unhealthy lives” engaging in what Sontag describes as perceived “unsafe behavior” through non-heterosexual sex (Sontag 1989, 25). Instead, 1992 positions Luca and those who contract HIV/AIDS through the tainted blood as scapegoats taking the fall for previous corrupt political generations. In its focus on the infected body of Luca—a white, privileged, heterosexual male who contracted HIV “unknowingly”—the series does not engage directly with queer subjectivities. The program does suggest who might constitute, recalling Kohnen, the heterosexual, white, and privileged “general population” predominantly untouched by AIDS.20 Further, 1992 and 1993 disarticulate the “automatic association of gay sexuality and AIDS” (Kohnen 2016, 101) and offer a novel, if complicated, representation of queer sexualities in the character of Bortolotti. Pietro catches Bortolotti in fagrante at the gay beach yet chooses not to denounce him to save himself, even after Bortolotti openly declares his sexuality when making advances toward Pietro. Later, Pietro convinces Bortolotti that a trans woman died of an overdose after they slept together in order to convince him to fee Rome so that Pietro might take his power position. Thus, the series opens up questions regarding “who became visible as a Person with AIDS (PWA), who remained largely invisible, and who could eventually be recuperated and included in mainstream queer visibility at the beginning of the 1990s” (Kohnen 2016, 70). Further, the series shares in Sontag’s apocalyptic vision regarding the collapse of the future. As she explains, traditionally looking toward the 6 1992 AND 1993’S DIFFICULT MASCULINITIES 181 future implies a “vision of linear progress.” Now, instead, forward thinking reveals a “vision of disaster” (Sontag 1989, 89). Season one concludes on an image of a different body than the ill body presented in the incipit. Leo and Bibi look toward a billboard in Piazza del Duomo in Milan that depicts a hopeful image of a smiling baby with the expression “Fozza Itaja” positioned next to his or her opened mouth. They are shot in low angle from behind as they hold hands and look upon the billboard which seems to announce a new course for Italy’s political future. They appear riveted as they take in the contemporary billboard in Milan’s main piazza (see Fig. 6.2). Just before receiving a call from presumably Berlusconi with good news about his career path, Leo tells Bibi that the billboards populating Milan and surrounding areas represent “il futuro.” Yet, the future looks grim in the series, at least in terms of normative reproductive body politics. On one hand, the billboard is connected with Berlusconi’s imminent rise to political power. As such, the series might put forward the image of the child as, borrowing from Lee Edelman, “the emblem of futurity’s unquestioned value” (Edelman 2004, 4) through positioning the child as “a site of a projective identifcation with an always impossible future” (Edelman 2004, 31). However, 1992 and 1993 can also be read as a queer text: No one in the series chooses “the Child as a disciplinary image of the Imaginary past” (Edelman 2004, 31). Also, no one fghts for children (Edelman 2004, 3) as offspring die, women exercise their right to choose, HIV-infected blood circulates among the polis, and fathers exploit daughters.

Fig. 6.2 Leo and Bibi (Teo Falco) look toward a billboard in Milan in 1992 182 D. RENGA

1992 makes it clear that the billboards are launched as a publicity move for Berlusconi’s imminent entry into the political ring, even though the original billboards displaying ten different children under the age of three apparently had no ties with the Forza Italia campaign.21 What’s more, in the series the billboards are connected to consumer- ism, reproduction, HIV/AIDS, and heroine through their resemblance to Nirvana’s iconic Nevermind album cover from 1991 that features a naked baby boy swimming underwater with arms outstretched toward a dollar bill. When exercising in 1.5, Leo is wearing a Nirvana t-shirt that depicts the album cover, and the camera lingers on a close-up of the submerged infant. This scene follows the only time that Bibi and Luca have sex, before which they discuss his illness (he does not mention HIV directly, instead referring to himself as “someone who is ill”).22 Ties between birth,23 babies going nowhere, the circulation of goods, and corrupt business practices resulting in the dissemination of contaminated blood undermine the optimism for a new political age. Edelman writes: “Politics then, in opposing itself to the negativity of [the death drive], gives us history as the continuous staging of our dream of eventual self-realization by endlessly restructuring, in the mirror of desire, what we take to be reality itself” (Edelman 2004, 10). The baby seems to be prematurely delighting in “unmediated access to Imaginary wholeness” (Edelman 2004, 10). Instead, in the series is detectable an anti-teleological ethos which forecloses futurity.24 By way of illustration, the family has no future in the series, made clear in the several family photographs visible in 1992. After performing poorly in an audition, Veronica gazes melancholically at a photograph of herself, Giulia, and their mother and tells Pietro that she looks nothing like her deceased mother from whom was estranged. Also, a photograph of the Mainaghi family appears throughout the season as the family further disintegrates. According to Marianne Hirsch, family photographs serve a normalizing function. Gazes in family photographs, Hirsch argues, are “traversed by desire and defned by lack” (Hirsch 1997, 11). They thus create an imaginary sense of fullness (like the smiling baby on the billboard) that actual families are incapable of sustaining.25 The Mainaghi snapshot reveals this “mythology” of the ideology of the happy family, and relations between fathers, mothers, and offspring are toxic: Giulia tells Veronica that years prior she allowed their infrm mother to suffocate to death while she was spoon feeding her because her mother required too much of her time and distracted her from work; Pietro’s 6 1992 AND 1993’S DIFFICULT MASCULINITIES 183 father is severely in debt to loan sharks; Bibi is haunted by her father; the man who Leo believed to be his biological father turns a young Leo into the police; as an adult, Leo manipulates and bribes his actual biological father to get back into Berlusconi’s good graces. In the series, the ideal family is a myth that cannot be realized.

Conclusion: “The Future Is Here” 1992 saw the posthumous release of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s unfnished novel Petrolio written between 1972 and 1975 at the time of the author’s death. The novel has a signifcant presence in the penultimate episode of 1992. It is frst gifted to Leo by Marcello Dell’Utri, Leo’s boss at Publitalia who will co-found Forza Italia with Berlusconi in 1993.26 In the same episode, Leo makes use of the gift to plagiarize Dell’Utri’s signature in order to withdraw one billion lira to pay off Venturi. Instead, Leo murders Venturi and buries him in the Mainaghi building site and then returns to Publitalia to be interviewed as a potential new face of the new nation. While being flmed, he chooses to read the beginning section of “Note 84 – The Game” from Petrolio:

There are people who believe in nothing since their birth. That does not remove the fact that those people act, make something of their life, are busy with something, produce something. Other people have, instead, the vice of believing: duties become concrete before their eyes as ideal to be realized. If, one fne day, they no longer believe – or perhaps gradually, because of a logical, or even illogical, series of disappointments – you see how they rediscover that “nothingness” which for others has always been so natural. For them, the discovery of “nothingness” is a novelty that involves other things: it involves, that is, not only/the continuation/of action, of intervention, of industriousness (understood no longer as Duties for as gratuitous acts) but also the exhilarating sensation that all this is only a game. (Pasolini 1997, 341)

As he reads, the camera depicts Veronica and Pietro (those who never believed in anything), and then Luca and Bibi (those who believe and want to make something of their lives), before concluding on Leo who, the montage implies, has discovered “nothingness” and understands that life is but a game without purpose. Moments before the episode’s conclusion, Leo notes a dried spot of Venturi’s blood on his watch that he wipes off before reading “but also the exhilarating sensation that all this is only a game.” 184 D. RENGA

The blood recalls the contaminated blood fowing around the polis and reminds viewers of the specter of HIV/AIDS that haunts 1992 and 1993s landscape. Manuele Gragnolati reads “Note 84” in light of Edelman’s work on queer futurity and argues that Petrolio is a “queer performance” that marks a signifcant shift in Pasolini’s work. Once promoting an ethos that is progressive, Marxist, and engaged, Pasolini’s later writings are disillusioned and satirical. They have no practical end in themselves, and only “cause irritation” while “embracing failure” (Gragnolati 2012, 162).27 In the same note, Pasolini points out that the “idea of hope for the future” which generally makes us smile with incredible delight becomes instead “irresistibly comic” (Pasolini 1997, 343). Despite the fnal image in season one of the baby beaming toward a potentially rosy future, the series is much more about the present, and how sympathetic perpetrators negotiate Italy’s current landscape—as Leo affrms that “The future is here” (1.8). 1992 and 1993 are both popu- lated by bodies going nowhere, bodies without a future. What might be in store for 1994?

Notes 1. One reviewer defnes 1992 as a “mixed bag of genres (romance, crime drama, melodrama, thriller)” (Manassero 2015) while another notes that 1992 is a multi-genre series engaging with sentimental, investigative, and political themes (Grizzaff 2015). Director Giuseppe Gagliardi calls 1993 a “political thriller” (Jallin 2017) while one critic compares 1993 to American political thrillers (Dall’Asén 2017), and another characterizes the installment as a noir (Fasola 2017). 2. See Bellavita (2015, “1992 is not like Gomorrah”) and Grizzaff (2015). 3. Sacchelli writes that “some other elements in the screenplay would have been helpful to convey, at least in part, the complexity of the historical period” (Sacchelli 2015). Dondi calls the series a “a blend of close-ups, transitions, details, costumes, and songs that stoically seek to support inane dialogue” (Dondi 2015). Many reviewers comment quite negatively on Tea Falco’s (Bibi Mainaghi) accent. Naso notes that she does not speak but “mumbles, an unbearable combination of Asia Argento and Massimo Ferraro” (Naso 2015). However, critics such as Maffoletti (2017) were quite pleased by the “improvements” in Falco’s accent in 1993. Stefano Accorsi’s facial expressions have also captivated critics, and a Facebook page is dedicated to “Accorsi’s intense face in 1992” (Facebook 2016). Barra however offers a productive and more positive assessment of the series (2015). 6 1992 AND 1993’S DIFFICULT MASCULINITIES 185

4. Among many other reviewers, Buttitta (2015), Manassero (2015), Re (2015), and Sacchelli (2015) note affnities between 1992 and the two American series. 5. See Bergamo Post (2016). 6. Walter notes, “The scantily clad 14-year-old girls who perform song and dance routines on Non è la Rai would break off to plug Forza Italia. There were endless campaign spots too in the advertising breaks” (Walker 1994, 19). 7. In his review of 1992, Otello Piccoli (2015) writes that “Non è la Rai” “sanctioned pedophilia in Italy.” 8. In 1992, an advertising executive declares “single women” make up 48% of the Fininvest spectator, an interesting statistic when considering the different types of viewing pleasures afforded to different viewing publics. 9. Gill describes postfeminism as a “sensibility” made up of number of features that “comprise or constitute a postfeminist discourse” including those mentioned above (Gill 2007, 149). 10. Nathanson argues that women in programs such as Sex and the City are freed “from the strictures of traditional wife/mother identities and strive instead to “have it all”; they are presumably free to choose to have both aggressive careers and lovely families all while effortlessly teetering around in mile-high heels and skinny jeans” (Nathanson 2013, 7). 11. A Ciak piece on 1993 denigrates Veronica. In discussing the series’ rich soundtrack, andrea.morandi.rk notes that the song Would I Lie To You is “easy, eager to please and irresistible. Just like Veronica” (andrea. morandi.rk 2017). 12. With respect to her more central position in 1992, Bibi Mainaghi’s role is signifcantly downplayed in 1993, as is her accent that was the brunt of so much criticism. 13. According to Comolli, if “the imaginary person, even in a historical fction, has no other body than that of the actor playing him, the historical character, flmed, has at least two bodies, that of the imagery and that of the actor who represents him for us. There are at least two bodies in competition, one body too much” (Comolli 1978, 44). Naso asserts that Berlusconi is a central character “that you never see” (Naso 2015) which is not the case. 14. In the series, Tangentopoli becomes yet another opportunity for advertising gimmicks: Tangentopoli t-shirts, soap, games, and recipe books are some of the many products sold to the public. 15. Butler writes, “In the pursuit of realness [the] subject is produced, a phantasmatic pursuit that mobilizes identifcation, underscoring the phantasmatic promise that constitutes any identifcatory move – a promise which, taken too seriously, can culminate only in disappointment and disidentifcation” (Butler 1993, 131). 186 D. RENGA

16. This is one of the many examples of “product placement” and “meta-placement” discussed by Menarini (2015 269). 17. 1993s protagonists based on historical fgures are discussed by a critic in similar polarized terms as “television heroes/antiheroes” (Paolino 2017). 18. For a discussion of how AIDS/HIV is invoked in the Romanzo criminale flm and series surrounding an “anxiety of contamination” with regard to the vulnerable masculine body, see O’Rawe (2014, 112–13). 19. Tania Modleski’s work on the male weepie is fruitful when thinking of the mechanics of identifcation in 1992. She looks at how melancholia functions in Clint Eastwood flms so as to privilege the male subject position and “perpetuat[e] the patriarchal order” (Modleski 2009, 154). Modleski turns to Juliana Schiesari to understand why men’s suffering in the male melodrama is “culturally privileged,” while women’s anguish onscreen is often “dismissed as sentimental drivel” (Modleski 2009, 154). 20. Kohnen writes. “The imagined correlation between non-normative sexual practices and the spread of HIV […] leads to a perceived division between a ‘general population’ of white heterosexual Americans who remain mostly unaffected by AIDS and a number of ‘risk groups’ that includes those who are most at risk of simultaneously being affected by AIDS and of ‘spreading’ HIV to the ‘general population’” (Kohnen 2016, 75). 21. For a “true story” debunking Berlusconi’s potential involvement in the billboards, see D’Amato (2015), and for a debate around the message of the original billboards see Laurenzi (1993). 22. See Veronica Innocenti and Guglielmo Pescatore for a reading of how props, costumes, soundtrack, and other elements in the program construct historic memory. In particular, they look at how objects and frag- ments are “reintegrated” within the narrative and connections between the “extracted object”—for example the Nirvana t-shirt—and its original cultural milieu is effaced (Innocenti and Pescatore 2016, 236). See also Bayman for a discussion of 1992s “retro fetishism,” in particular how objects, images, archival footage, and the soundtrack present retro fetishism in particularly sexual terms (Bayman 2016, 83). 23. Kurt Cobain wanted the album cover to consist of an image of a real underwater birth but the record company found this too graphic. 24. Edelman writes, “Far from partaking of this narrative movement toward a viable political future, far from perpetuating the fantasy of meaning’s eventual realization, the queer comes to fgure the bar to every realization of futurity, the resistance, internal to the social, to every social structure or form” (Edelman 2004, 4). 25. Hirsch notes that family photographs sustain an “imaginary cohesion […] creating images that real families cannot uphold” (Hirsch 1997, 7) 6 1992 AND 1993’S DIFFICULT MASCULINITIES 187

and that they “locate themselves precisely in the space of contradiction between the myth of the ideal family and the lived reality of family life [… photographs] show us what we wish our family to be, and therefore, what, most frequently, it is not” (Hirsch 1997, 8). 26. In 2014, Dell’Utri began serving a seven-year sentence for facilitating the relationship between Berlusconi and Cosa Nostra, an association Berlusconi denies. 27. Along the same lines, Filippo Trentin asserts that “while in the post- war period the organic degradation of Rome’s margins constituted for Pasolini a space of potential resistance against the normative center, in the 1970s the city’s periphery had lost its potential for subversion” (Trentin 2016, 239).

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corriere.it/spettacoli/17_aprile_05/1993-l-svolta-quando-berlusconi-decise-fare-politica-le-monetine-folla-contro-craxi-9e0496c8–1965-11e7-abec- 63a8e356a8af.shtml/. Manassero, Roberto. 2015. “1992. la storia italiana. la cultura americana.” Cineforumweb, March 31. Accessed May 28, 2016. http://www.cineforum. it/TvshowsTexts/view/Scorribanda_pop. Marini-Maio, Nicoletta. 2015. A Very Seductive Body Politic: Silvio Berlusconi in Cinema. Milan: Mimesis International. Menarini, Roy. 2015. “1992: Epica della storia giudiziaria tra sistemi di produzione e forme narrative.” L’avventura: International Journal of Italian Film and Media Landscapes 2: 265–74. Micelli, Alessandra. 2015. “1992, ecco com’è fnita la serie su Sky.” Formiche, April 22. Accessed May 29, 2016. http://formiche. net/2015/04/22/1992-ecco-fnita-la-serie-sky. Modleski, Tania. 2009. “Clint Eastwood and Male Weepies.” American Literary History 22 (1): 136–58. Mottola, Lorenzo. 2017. “Un 1993 che piacerà a Berlusconi.” PressReader, April 5. Accessed August 26, 2017. https://www.pressreader.com/italy/lib ero/20170405/282063391816963. Naso, Domenico. 2015. “1992—Le serie: personaggi stereotipati e dialoghi a volte surreali. La nuova produzione di Sky non convince.” Il fatto quotidiano, March 15. Accessed June 7, 2016. http:// www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2015/03/25/1992-serie-personaggi-stereotipati-dialoghi-surreali-nuova-produzione-sky-non-convi nce/1535663/. Naso, Domenico. 2017. “1993, la serie Sky aggiusta il tiro ma il punto debole resta i dialoghi. Paolo Pierobon/Silvio Berlusconi fagocita tutti, protagonista assoluto.” Ilfattoquotidiano, May 17. Accessed August 19, 2017. http:// www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2017/05/17/1993-la-serie-sky-aggiusta-il-tiro-ma-il-punto-debole-restano-i-dialoghi-paolo-pierobonsilvio-berlusconi-fagocita-tutti-protagonista-assoluto/3591472/. Nathanson, Elizabeth. 2013. Television and Postfeminist Housekeeping: No Time for Mother. New York and London: Routledge. O’Rawe, Catherine. 2014. Stars and Masculinities in Contemporary Italian Cinema. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Paolino, Fabrizio. 2017. “1993 2x05–2x06.” Recenserie, June 5. Accessed August 25, 2017. http://www.recenserie.com/2017/06/1993-2x05-2x06- episodio-5-episodio-6.html. Pasolini, Pier Paolo. 1997. Petrolio. Translated by Ann Goldstein. New York: Pantheon Books. Pavese, Cesare. 1981. Dialoghi con Leucò. Torino: Einaudi. Piccoli, Otello. 2015. “1992: Di Pietro, Non è la Rai, e un lavoro, per ora, riuscito a metà.” Se Telecomando, March 25. Accessed June 6, 2016. https:// 6 1992 AND 1993’S DIFFICULT MASCULINITIES 191

setelecomando.com/2015/03/25/1992-di-pietro-non-e-la-rai-riuscito-a- meta/. Re, Valentina. 2015. “1992/2015: Don Draper contro il Dottor Notte.” Scenari, April 24. Accessed May 28, 2016. http://mimesis-scenari. it/2015/04/24/1992-2015-don-draper-contro-il-dottor-notte. Ruti, Mari. 2016. Feminist Theory and Pretty Woman. New York and London: Bloomsbury. Sacchelli, Orlando. 2015. “Quell’ossessione di Accorsi per Berlusconi nella serie tv 1992.” IlGiornale.it, April 21. Accessed May 28, 2016. http://www. ilgiornale.it/news/spettacoli/quellossessione-accorsi-berlusconi-nella-serie-tv-1992-1119137.html. Smith, Murray. 2011. “Just What Is It That Makes Tony Soprano Such an Appealing, Attractive Murderer?” In Ethics at the Cinema, edited by Ward Jones and Samantha Vice, 66–90. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sontag, Susan. 1989. Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors. New York: Double Day. Staiger, Janet. 2008. “Film Noir as Male Melodrama: The Politics of Film Genre Labeling.” In The Shifting Defnitions of Genre: Essays on Labeling Films, Television Shows, and Media, edited by Lincoln Geraghty and Mark Jancovich, 71–91. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. TG24 Sky HD. 2017. “‘1993’, su Sky il racconto degli anni che hanno cambiato l’Italia.” TG24.sky.it, May 15. Accessed August 19, 2017. http://tg24.sky.it/ spettacolo/2017/05/11/1993-serie-tv-sky-16-maggio.html. The Economist. 1994. “When Fiddling Had to Stop: Business Ethics.” The Economist, July 2. Accessed May 28, 2016. http:// bi.galegroup.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/global/article/ GALE|A16089558/522fe6dc4b7626399cfba7d38093be9b?u colu44332. = Trentin, Filippo. 2016. “Rome, the Dystopian City: Entropic Aesthetics in Fellini’s Toby Dammit and Roma and Pasolini’s Petrolio.” Forum Italicum 50 (1): 222–43. Waldby, Catherine. 1996. AIDS and the Body Politic: Biomedicine and Sexual Difference. London: Routledge. Walker, David. 1994. “Winner Takes All: The Incredible Rise—And Could It Be Fall—Of Silvio Berlusconi.” Index of Censorship 23: 18–24. Waylen, Georgina, Karen Celis, Johanna Kantola, and S. Lauren Weldon. 2013. “Bod Politics.” In The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Politics, edited by Georgina Waylen, Karen Celis, Johanna Kantola, and S. Lauren Weldon. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. http:// www.oxfordhandbooks.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/view/10.1093/ oxfordhb/9780199751457.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199751457. CHAPTER 7

Making Men in Gomorrah 1 and Gomorrah 2

Introduction: Gomorrah’s Bodies Gomorrah (2014–) is dubbed by Variety as “Italy’s answer to The Wire” (Vimercati 2014) while Sight and Sound declares it is “Italy’s answer to Breaking Bad” (Iannone 2014, 11) and The Hollywood Reporter announces that the series proves that America does not “have a lock on quality dramas” (Goodman 2016). The “Gomorrah phenomenon”1 has gone global. Based upon Roberto Saviano’s 2006 best-selling reportage about the Camorra—the mafa of Naples and the region of Campania—Gomorrah primarily takes place in the Camorra strongholds of Secondigliano and Scampia.2 Narrative is contemporary and revolves around the Savastano crime family that is headed initially by Don Pietro Savastano (Fortunato Cerlino), who is supported by his wife Donna Immacolata Savastano (Donna Imma, Maria Pia Calzone) and (eventually) his son Gennaro (Salvatore Esposito). At the outset, the underdog or antihero is the brooding Ciro di Marzio (Marco D’Amore), Gennaro’s childhood best friend eager to move up the chain of command. Unlike the bleak outlook presented in Matteo Garrone’s 2008 flm of the same name, the series is fast-paced, has a contemporary and engaging score, and stars charismatic and attractive actors who commit barbaric acts and make Omar Little (Michael K. Williams, The Wire) or Walter White (Breaking Bad) out to be relatively benign villains. As I discuss in Chapters 4 and 5, Romanzo criminale. La serie and Faccia d’angelo mainly came under attack for their glamorization of

© The Author(s) 2019 193 D. Renga, Watching Sympathetic Perpetrators on Italian Television, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11503-6_7 194 D. RENGA criminality, in particular because focal characters are inspired by real-life villains. Both the series and the miniseries narrate events from decades earlier and thus might have had a mild distancing effect in terms of spectatorial engagement. This is not the case for Gomorrah whose narrative is contemporary and therefore prompts debate around how Naples and its surroundings are broadcast to the public. Interestingly, controversy around the series is not centered on how Gomorrah puts forward alluring criminals who tempt Italy’s youth down the wrong path. Instead, protesters are primarily concerned with how the series might equate several Campanian cities with the Camorra or are infuriated that Roberto Saviano might be getting rich off of the criminal organization while exploiting the residents of Naples and Scampia. What is at stake is the image of the cities of Scampia, Secondigliano, and Naples and the reputation of its residents precisely because many residents and reviewers consider the series to be an accurate portrayal of gang life in and around Naples.3 Many reviews and discussions underline that series does not promote identifcation or alignment with criminal protagonists and that it is “realistic” in its narration of one of Italy’s most powerful and lucrative organized crime networks, two points I take issue with throughout this chapter. One reviewer writes that Gomorrah recounts an Italy “that really exists” while lacking in “positive heroes to root for” (Naso 2016a); another notes that no positive characters exist in the series that represents “reality that is never sugar-coated” (Buttitta 2016); Denise Capezza, the actor who plays Marinella in the series, notes that Gomorrah lacks in heroes and depicts the reality of Southern Italy (Corriere del Mezzogiorno 2016); Riccardo Tozzi, founder of Cattleya that produces the series, compares Gomorrah to Roberto Rossellini’s neorealist classic Roma città aperta (Rome Open City, 1945) and speaks to their “authenticity” (Sannino 2016). Gomorrah does touch upon several contemporary aspects of the Camorra, for example, the growing visibility of women in the mob hierarchy, the organization’s international reach, the boom- ing drug trade, and the pentito (mafa turncoat) phenomenon.4 Saviano himself advocates for the series’ “realism” stating that “we tell reality as it is” from thousands of different points of view. Further, Saviano foregrounds the ethical dimension of Gomorrah in stating how viewers will feel “something more” that will help them take a stance and understand how they might fght (“combattere”) what they have witnessed onscreen (Saviano 2014). As Pierluigi Erbaggio rightly puts forward, Saviano’s 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 195 central position in the production and advertising of the Gomorrah franchise is problematic, especially considering Saviano’s involvement in social media around the series (Erbaggio 2015, 345). The author’s ambiguous attachment to Gomorrah has conditioned the series’ reception while, as Erbaggio notes, possibly trivializing the Camorra problem instead of promoting “compelling responses” (Erbaggio 2015, 346). What Saviano and the above-mentioned controversies of course side- step is the series’ status as fction, and Murray Smith tells us, “What fctions generally offer us are imagined scenarios which we are invited to experience from a variety of perspectives” (Smith 1995, 81). This chapter is positioned against the opinion of those who laud Gomorrah for its transparency and reluctance to engage in criminal mythmaking. In particular, it looks at the frst two seasons of the series (referred throughout as Gomorrah 1 and Gomorrah 2) and addresses how male characters are constructed in exceedingly sympathetic and positive terms even while committing atrocious and merciless acts, which is not the case for most of the women in positions of power in the program.5 Gomorrah is described as “Ugly in a good way” (Rees 2016). Principle protagonists Ciro, Don Pietro, and Gennaro commit ugly offenses that, paradoxically, aid in constructing the appeal of these antiheroes. They are cast as family men who made some bad decisions and must live (or die in the case of Don Pietro) with the consequences of their actions. In the series, power is primarily aligned with powerful male bodies. And, as protagonists’ bodies transform—through aging and affiction, through buffng up— power and charisma shift between men. This chapter investigates the gender power dynamics at work in Gomorrah 1 and Gomorrah 2 and pays particular attention to how women and men are made (and undone) in the eyes of the viewer.

Gender Performances Gomorrah is unique in its exploration of the limits of female empowerment in a mafa context on the Italian small screen. The series fur- thers the take on the status of women in the mafa in the flms Angela (Roberta Torre 2002) Galantuomini (Brave Men, Edoardo Winspeare 2008). In Gomorrah, Donna Imma and Annalisa “Scianel” Magliocca (Cristina Donadio) are female Camorra bosses who wield signifcant power over their biological, kinship, and mafa families: In Gomorrah 1, Donna Imma emasculates her imprisoned husband, disempowers 196 D. RENGA

Ciro, and gambles with her son Gennaro’s life so that he might hopefully mature into mafa values. In Gomorrah 2, Scianel is merciless, she is motivated by proft and power over loyalty, and she routinely humiliates her daughter-in-law Marinella. Donna Imma takes over as boss of the Savastano family for three-plus episodes and Scianel is in power of a small clan for most of Gomorrah 2 until she is arrested. Such powerful and cas- trating female fgures expose anxieties around masculinity and underline the constructedness and resultant fragility of the male body and psy- che in mafa culture. As explained by Renate Siebert: “Masculinity [in the mafa], which is erroneously taken to be a ‘natural’ given, appears in reality a somewhat diffcult goal to achieve.” Furthermore, Siebert points out that mafa codes of behavior represent an intensifcation of “the values upon which male identity is founded in our civilization” (Siebert 1996, 14). If, as Catherine O’Rawe argues, “what is at stake in the notion of crisis masculinity […] implicates femininity, or feminization, in its critique of male loss of power” (O’Rawe 2014, 4–5), then potent women in a mafa context are particularly inculpated in such a power defcit. Both Donna Imma and Scianel seem to have “made it,” at least temporarily, as women of power in the mafa, something unthinkable in the Cosa Nostra and the ’ndrangheta of Calabria, with their strict policies regarding the limitations of women in the organization. Women do hold positions of authority in the Sacra Corona Unita and the Camorra, and work as messengers, money collectors, administrators, and control families.6 The representation of Donna Imma and Scianel is unique however in onscreen treatments of the Camorra that have focused exclusively on male bosses or men who fought against the organization and paid with their lives. In a meeting set up with a warring clan to negotiate the terms of drug trade as a result of Gennaro’s hopeful deal with the Hondurians, Donna Imma tells her adversaries: “You split the world into those who don’t kill and those who do. And, because I’m a woman, you think I am in the frst group. You’re wrong.” Indeed, she pressures her accountant to suicide (a discussion that recalls Tom Hagen’s interaction with Frankie Pentangeli toward the end of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part II), sends her son off to possibly die, defes her husband’s orders, and manipulates Ciro. Donna Imma is troubling precisely because of her gender and position of infuence. Donna Imma points out gender’s constructedness. She also helps us think about how gender is mapped on the body and throughout the cityscape.7 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 197

1.7 is aptly titled “Imma Against All” and is directed by Francesca Comencini who directed fve of the twenty-four episodes of Gomorrah 1 and Gomorrah 2, each of which centers on one of three women: Donna Imma (1.5 and 1.7), Scianel (2.4 and 2.9), and Patrizia (Cristiana Dell’Anna; 2.10). Together with 1.5, 1.7 focuses on Donna Imma’s taking charge of the Savastano family and develops Donna Imma’s humanity: She becomes a “protective martyr” (Ravveduto 2014) of the neighborhood as she adopts a stray dog (her surrogate child), com- missions the repair of a statue of the Virgin Mary damaged by addicts, provides employment in the drug business for a disabled girl, and takes under her wing Marta (who goes by Luca; Susy Di Benedetto), a transgender adolescent whose father recently committed suicide. Thus, Donna Imma is aligned with non-normative bodies that I discuss in the following section: disabled and queer bodies of no value in mafa culture. Donna Imma’s advocating for characters such as Luca counters the mafa’s assumed heterosexuality. However, once Gennaro returns from Honduras, Donna Imma is gradually put back in her place as her son takes control of the family. In 1.11, she is murdered on the orders of Ciro and she is “punished through violent death” for, as Pierpaolo Antonello suggests, her transgression of “traditional gender roles” (Antonello 2016, 324). In depicting a powerful woman who has achieved economic eman- cipation in the Camorra, Gomorrah is in line with other texts that pre- sume, according to Tania Modleski, “the advent of postfeminism.” As a camorrista of substantial rank, Donna Imma has achieved a sort of postfeminist empowerment, but one that comes with the high price tag associated with the position, such as personal and familial security, lack of autonomy, and limited life choices. However, Donna Imma is stripped of her power and then killed off quite unceremoniously. Thus, in the story line of Donna Imma, the series is “engaged in negating the critiques and undermining the goals of feminism – in effect, delivering us back into a prefeminist world” (Modleski 1991, 3). Donna Imma is constructed as a scapegoat for male anxieties about female agency and empowerment in a traditionally patriarchal criminal association. Gomorrah 2 witnessed an increased presence of women in more central, active, and powerful roles with respect to Gomorrah 1. Scianel is one of the main members of the “alliance” put together by Ciro to establish sovereign control over the area’s drug trade. Like her male counterparts, Scianel ruthlessly rules over an important drug bazaar. She is motivated 198 D. RENGA by vengeance, in particular she vows to avenge the death of her brother Zechinetta who was murdered in Gomorrah 1, and orders her men to torture and kill without showing signs of remorse (at one point she dis- tractedly plays a video game while on her orders her men drown rival O’Trak, who was responsible for Zechinetta’s death). Further, unlike Donna Imma, Scianel seems to feel no compassion for women and those who are disempowered and treats her daughter-in-law Marinella like a slave while Scianel’s son Lelluccio (Vincenzo Pirozzi) spends seven years in jail. She is also shrewd as she catches Marinella and her driver Mario in an affair and has her men shoot Mario in the groin and leaves him to bleed to death. Then, Scianel informs the neighbors of Marinella’s dalliance which leads a group of women to publicly shame and pummel her. Scianel is not however completely lacking in pathos. After Lelluccio’s release from jail when Marinella fears for her life, she conveys to her captive an important life lesson regarding what it means to be a woman in the mafa: “Women are not made to be wives. It is a diffcult job but they make us learn. Think I wouldn’t have liked to have a life, my own life? I’ve always been a free woman, but all of the beatings made me give in. In the end, I’ve been a good wife and a good mother. You can learn too. Marinella, a woman has only one way to be free, she mustn’t have a husband, or no longer have one.” Scianel has a backstory and viewers are granted insight into her troubled and abusive past that made her, as she states, who she is. Unlike Gennaro or Ciro, however, she comes off as cruel, cold-hearted, and lacking in remorse and is thus constructed as unworthy of viewer sympathy. What’s more, her imprisonment marks the end of her story line in Gomorrah 2 which is not the case for Don Pietro whose incarceration humanizes him and renders him sympathetic. Scianel has a signifcant presence throughout Gomorrah 2 up until her arrest in 2.10. However, Scianel is undoubtedly most remembered for a brief iconic scene occurring during 2.9 when, dressed in black under- garments, she sings Cinzia Oscar’s neomelodic song “Nun so’ ‘I am not a doll” into a bejeweled golden vibrator after drinking wine from a bot- tle while alone in her bathroom. The next day, the Internet was buzz- ing with discussions about the performance which one reviewer notes marks the “the most cult scene of the second season” (Fusco 2016). The performance has all of the qualities of camp, in particular in its foregrounding of, borrowing from Susan Sontag’s foundational essay, “the- atricality,” “stylization,” and “artifce and exaggeration” (Sontag 2002, 53–56). Camp is ironic and parodic, and marks a distance from reality as 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 199 it is performative and playful and emphasizes form over content. While Sontag notes that camp is “disengaged, depoliticized – or at least apo- litical” (Sontag 2002, 53), feminist and queer studies theorists position camp as highly political and argue for its subversive potential. For example, Brett Farmer points out that gay camp destabilizes normative classifcations of sexuality and gender through exposing “the performa- tivity of gender” which “opens up new possibilities for queer desire” (Farmer 2000, 123). Pamela Robertson notes that camp offers “femi- nists a model for critiques of sex and gender roles” (Robertson 1999, 156) especially when considering women who are actively involved in the production of camp. In this much-debated scene, Scianel “joyfully and affrmatively”8 performs for herself and for the viewer. She is not akin to the powerful women discussed by Mary Ann Doane who masquerade and perform femininity in order to compensate for their embodiment of a masculine position that threatens men (Doane 1988–1989, 47–48), thus transforming themselves from active agent to object of the gaze. Instead, Scianel takes center stage. Cristina Donadio who plays Scianel believes that the scene underlines Scianel’s “tragedy and loneliness” (Casiraghi 2016). More importantly in my view, Scianel’s embodied performance, recalling Robertson’s work on Mae West, “subverts the image and culture-making processes” to which women in and around the mafa “have traditionally been given access” (Robertson 1999, 157, original italics). Along these lines, it is telling that the scene is intercut with Marinella’s story line as she rebels against Scianel’s tyranny and arranges, albeit without success, to have her husband killed so as to hopefully live free from fear. The scene’s reception is highly politicized. It went viral on social networks and caused several polemics, and one reviewer called it “an explosion of bad taste and vulgarity, an insult to women” (Lai 2016). Donadio notes that 80% of the replies that she received on social media were positive. However, the singer Cinzia Oscar for one was not pleased with the use of her song in the performance (Casiraghi 2016). The day following the episode’s premiere, Oscar wrote a lengthy post on Facebook in which she attacked all those involved in the series for not consulting her on the scene which she considers “vulgar and in clear juxtaposition with the song’s meaning.” She then denounced Gomorrah for destroy- ing Naples and affrmed that she has the right to defend her image. Interestingly, she concludes stating that she is “sick of this SYSTEM 200 D. RENGA that sullies and does not protect.” Here, it is unclear as to whether the singer uses the word “system”—the word used by Saviano to describe the Camorra—to refer to the television series or to the organized crime network (Naso 2016b). Again, we see that Gomorrah is positioned as the fall guy (or girl were the emphasis on Scianel), but this time the critique is overtly tied to gender, and its performance and reception. Scianel’s performance is highly political in its underlining the limited choices and subject positions available for women in the Camorra, even those with apparently a “post post-feminist” empowerment.9

Transgender Bodies One episode of each of Gomorrah 1 and Gomorrah 2 focuses on a transgender character: 1.7 develops Luca’s narrative while the focus of 2.3 is on rival boss Salvatore Conte (Marco Palvetti) and his relationship with a transgender female singer named Nina (Alessandra Langella) who he loves but with whom he cannot be seen in public. The mafa is an organization that produces subjects by excluding and casting off those such as Luca and Nina who do not conform mafa law. However, as Antonello argues, “gender fuidity is much more accepted in the Camorra” than in Italy’s other mafas (Antonello 2016, 324), but, as I will discuss, acceptance is quite circumscribed. The series’ focus on two transgender characters is exceptional, especially considering that Luca is endowed (however briefy) with signifcant power over normative mafosi (including Ciro) and Nina is depicted in highly sympathetic terms. Donna Imma desires to help Luca and puts him to work delivering money to her soldiers. When Luca meets the men, one immediately inquires whether he is male or female and whether he has a penis. Luca retorts, “What makes a man is this (pointing to his head) and not this (pointing to his crotch),” much to the delight of all those present. Luca’s downplaying of physical anatomy underlines gender as a performance, and in the mafa, masculinity is never a given, and must be constantly proven through generally violent measures. Luca is a natural mobster, and is adept at his new job, and kills with skill and without exhibit- ing remorse, and he barks orders at Ciro and others. His autonomy is short lived however as he is shot down in a butcher shop in the middle of the day while wearing a wedding dress that he was trying on in his deceased father’s shop. The staging of Luca’s execution is troubling and calls attention to gender’s infexibility in mafa culture. Right before 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 201 the attack, Luca enters the shop and begins to undress. We note that he binds his breasts to make them appear smaller, and, as he disrobes, covers them uneasily before putting on an ill-ftting wedding gown and examin- ing himself in the mirror. His back is marked by deep scars which narrate a violent past, and he is unable to zip up the dress. As a larger person born with a sex assigned as female, Luca inhabits two bodies, bodies that are coded differently depending upon the circumstances. S. Bear Bergman discusses the double bind of the large transgender individual:

Whether I’m fat depends on whether the person or people looking at me believe me to be a man or a woman … As a man, I’m a big dude, but not outside the norm for such things … As a big guy, I’m big enough to make […] troublemakers decide to take their hostility elsewhere. As a woman, I am revolting. I am not only unattractively mannish but also grossly fat. The clothes I can ft into at the local big-girl stores tend to ft around the neck and then get bigger as they go downward, which results in a festive butch-in-a-bag look. (Bergman 2009, 139–41).

While acting as a man on the streets, Luca is respected (albeit grudg- ingly) and appears relatively comfortable in his environs. Once he dons a wedding dress, the archetypical vestment of normative gender and sexuality, his body looks out of place, he becomes vulnerable, and he is exposed to the camera and to enemy fre. He manages to escape and runs through the town square while wearing the dress and then is shot dead in a nearby shop. A radiocaster describes Luca as a victim, a “young woman” possibly caught up in the settling of scores, which works to nor- malize Luca’s gender identity while making clear his previous status as abject. Luca’s standing in front of the mirror marks an example of what Butler calls “disidentifcation,” or the “experience of misrecognition, this uneasy sense of standing under a sign to which one does and does not belong” (Butler 1993, 219). While acting as a man under the guidance of Donna Imma, Luca belongs to and is somewhat respected by the Savastano clan. His experience of misrecognition in front of the mirror in the wedding dress, however, underlines that Luca is not fully recognized as an individual in mafa society. Unlike most of those who surround him, he is located both in and against mafa culture. While for a brief time Luca moves easily through the streets and is somewhat accepted by his peer group, this is not the case for Nina. 202 D. RENGA

Conte regularly visits Nina in her home, and their relationship is accepted by Nina’s mother and siblings (all of whom are female). The couple cannot, however, be seen out in the street together, and Nina’s sister plays the part of Conte’s girlfriend when necessary. We only see Nina outside of the home when she performs publicly. Conte appears to be deeply in love with Nina, yet he is unable to do more than kiss her and cuddle her and once he caresses her breast through her bra. Conte, who is deeply Catholic and has a close relationship with his mother—he tells his mother “you are the only woman for me”—is represented as an ascetic fxated upon bodily control (he hangs upside down for long periods of time, tightly manages what he eats and drinks, and gives up smok- ing as he feels it is crucial to be able to renounce something pleasurable). In this way, his rejection of Nina when she offers herself to Conte while she is half-naked—he states “cover yourself, you’ll catch a cold and lose your voice”—could be read as his inability to allow himself physical pleasure. Conte’s reticence instead speaks to larger concerns about what is considered licit in mafa culture and more broadly points toward endemic transphobia in Italy today onscreen and offscreen. At Conte’s birthday dinner, Nina surprises him with a love song. Her earlier performance at a baptism party is accepted and enjoyed by the guests because she does not transgress any boundaries. When she sings with emotion to Conte who is surrounded by fellow gangsters, however, his men (Scianel included) look uneasy. Then, O’ Mulatto shouts several cruel transphobic insults directed mainly toward Nina’s anatomy (e.g., he states that she—although he and others use the masculine pronoun— is the queen of his dick) before taking a large plate containing a fsh carcass from the table, positioning it at his pelvis, and simulating copu- lation toward her. She then runs out of the room as Conte does nothing, although he later drives a knife into O’ Mulatto’s hand. The Conte/ Nina story line concludes with Conte telling Nina’s sister that he is not capable of being with Nina publicly which leads Nina to reject Conte, and her story line concludes as she lies in bed, bereft. Siebert writes that a mafoso’s “frst duty is to not be a woman” and notes that gangsters must exorcise from themselves all feminine qualities (Siebert 1996, 22). This form of homophobia, or the “hatred of feminine qualities in men” (Siebert 1996, 24), defnes male homosocial relations in the mafa. In this way, homophobia enforces heteronormativity. o’ Mulatta and the others cannot see Nina as a woman and must essentialize her into male 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 203 sexual organs that they can violate and control in order to fend off the threat of castration that they perceive that she represents. Interestingly, Saviano too is reluctant to engage with Nina as a woman and refers in a video posted on Facebook to the “homosexual love” between her and Conte (Paone 2016). The violence done to Nina in the series reverberates in Alessandra Langella’s actual life as well. Langella, who is a transgender woman, states that she cried “on the set as [she] did in real life” and notes that in the episode she never needed to perform as it felt so natural, as if it was her own life (Scozzafava 2016). Further, she recounts that, like Conte, frst her boyfriend did not want to be seen with her in public. He did though introduce her to his family, and she spent time with his son and mother. Ultimately, they split up due to Gomorrah because, “couldn’t bear the scene in which I was almost naked” (Scozzafava 2016). Further, just before the episode aired, local news sources falsely reported that Langella was arrested for prostitution (Sbrizzi 2016). Thus, there is an effort to publicly shame Langella for embodying the role of a transgender woman who is publicly shamed onscreen. In the story lines of Luca and Nina, there exists a pattern of attempted erasure of transgender subjectivity both onscreen and offscreen. In the example of Saviano, a normative discourse annuls or invalidates Nina’s identity in the series. Also, Luca’s murder while wearing a wedding dress suggests that he is nostalgic for a female subjectivity, which is out of place with the rest of the Luca story line. At the same time, however, the inclusion of the transgender subplots in Gomorrah allows for bodies in that are otherwise overlooked or subjected to systemic violence to be of consequence as, recalling Butler, “critical matters of concern” (Butler 1993, 4).

Bodifications The fnale of episode 7 of Gomorrah 1 fnds Gennaro Savastano recently returned to his family home in Scampia after a grueling and almost deadly trip to Honduras where he was sent by his mother Donna Imma to purportedly negotiate a drug deal. Gennaro’s frst action is to kill Donna Imma’s dog that she adopted during her son’s absence. After he shoots the animal, he tells his mother “I should kill you too” before staring at her with an expression of intense rage as the episode concludes. Gennaro is no longer Don Pietro’s overweight, boyish, fearful, 204 D. RENGA and sensitive son. He has changed both physically and psychologically. Previously, Genny (as he was called earlier) appeared quite pudgy and baby-faced and dressed slovenly. He was self-involved, hot-headed, easily frightened, and under the control of both his mother and his childhood best friend Ciro. “Genny is not like us,” Donna Imma tells Don Pietro early on in the series (1.2) to explain why their son has not followed in his father’s footsteps, which would mean conforming to the gender norms demanded by mafa culture and following the codes of honor and vendetta. Indeed, members of the clan disparage Genny behind his back, calling him an idiot incapable of taking his father’s place when the time inevitably comes. After Don Pietro is arrested and is unable to maintain his power position from prison, Donna Imma decides to send Genny to Honduras to, as she tells him in 1.4, “toughen up,” which we later learn entails his being held captive and locked in a shed for a prolonged period where, to save himself, he is forced to murder a man with a machete. The traumatic event changes him. In terms of appearance, Gennaro has lost considerable weight and is quite brawny; he has a Mohawk and his attire is edgy and more appropriate for a man ready to take over his father’s territory. He has also transformed emotionally: He confronts Ciro and acts with intention, fashions long-term plans for the future of his mafa family, and murders a man without remorse who had just told his crew that he used to call Gennaro “red pepper because he was fat and red in the face.” Also, he manipulates or shuts out those closest to him, Ciro included (Fig. 7.1). Work done on Breaking Bad’s criminal hero shows us that Walter White “has to learn not to be good, he has to deal with his early blun- ders, and must adopt a new identity and ‘morality’ in order to learn how to build his own empire” (Gross 2015, 112). Gennaro has to undergo a similar process of change, and his frst decisive act upon returning home is to convince his friend Michele Casillo to run for the mayor of Giuliano, a position that, if won, would secure the clan’s place in local politics. When Michele initially refuses, Gennaro slaps him and asks “what man are you”? and Michele is swiftly convinced to follow orders. What it means to be a man is a recurrent and important trope in the series; not surprisingly in that Gomorrah focuses on a Camorra clan and dramatizes the rivalries and friendships of its (mainly) male affliates. “In two months come back twenty kilos lighter, I want to see the angles in your face” Sollima told Marco D’Amore (Ciro) when fnalizing 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 205

Fig. 7.1 Gennaro (Salvatore Esposito) and Ciro faceoff in Gomorrah (To be imbedded in the image: “Photo by Gianni Fiorito—Gomorrah Season 3, by an idea of Roberto Saviano, ©Copyright by Cattleya S.r.l./Sky S.r.l., 2017”) casting for Gomorrah. Conversely, Salvatore Esposito was required to put on ten kilos prior to flming in order to play a “fat, clumsy, romantic” twenty-year-old (at the time Esposito was twenty-eight; Salemi 2014). Esposito’s bodily transformations did not stop there: Some months later he was required to lose twenty kilos before Gennaro returns from his coming-of-age expedition to Honduras and he lost even further weight between Gomorrah 1 and Gomorrah 2.10 Esposito recounts that Gennaro’s psychological transformation in Gomorrah 1 was more signif- icant than his change in physique, and he wanted to make credible his psychology and interior transformation and focused on perfecting aspects such as his gaze and how he walked and interacted with others (Nava 2013). Esposito also connects his physical remodeling prior to Gomorrah 2 to an alteration in Gennaro’s state of mind in noting the character will be more “mature, adaptable, Machiavellian” (Latilla 2016). As Paul McDonald observes, “physical transformation in acting may create a new visible exterior for the actor, but its signifcance reaches beyond the surface of the body” (McDonald, 164). 206 D. RENGA

Common in Hollywood, such bodily modifcations are quite rare in the Italian tradition. “Body modifcation is a potent way of regaining dominion of one’s body” (Richardson and Locks 2014, 78), which is clearly the case for Gennaro Savastano. Gennaro’s physical and psychological conversion, his “actorly transformation(s)” (Esch 2006), allows him to take control of his mind and body, grow up, and become a man in the mafa. As theorized by fat studies and body studies scholars, the fat male body is viewed as “insecure,” “inactive” (Kunze 2013, 17), “lazy, stupid, loud mouthed, irrational” (Mobley 2014, 22), “out of control” (Plotz 2013, 174) and, most apposite in the case of Gennaro, feminized (Kunze 2013, 27) and “demasculized” (Plotz 2013, 173). These are all qualifers for Gennaro during the frst half of Gomorrah 1. Akin to Sylvester Stallone’s bodily makeover so that the actor could achieve “artistic legitimacy” (McDonald 2014, 169), Esposito’s weight gain “carried narrative meaning” (McDonald 2014, 163). “[F]at and masculinity are often seen as incompatible” writes Sander Gilman (2004, 63), an equation apparent in Gomorrah where up until his departure in 1.6, Gennaro’s masculinity does not conform to what is expected of a man in the mafa. Gennaro is ridiculed by others (rival clan leader, Salvatore Conte, calls him a “fat boy” whose brains only serve to keep his head apart), he vomits at the sight of death, and is unable to complete his frst murder that was orchestrated by his father with the aim of gaining Gennaro respect with the clan. After Ciro ultimately kills the man, Gennaro returns to the site of the execution and kneels down at the victim’s memorial, a gesture that endows Gennaro with a conscience, an ethical coding unbeftting a mafoso who must act violently without emotion. The “unbreakable relationship between men and violence” (MacKinnon 2003, 11) discussed by Kenneth MacKinnon does not apply to Gennaro. Finally, Gennaro is easily infuenced by Ciro and looks toward him as a father fgure (“you’d be an easy father for me,” Gennaro tells Ciro). After returning home physically and emotionally altered, Gennaro sets out to, as he tells Ciro who he now refers despairingly to as a soldier, “show those old guys [he] can make it on [his] own.” His most calcu- lated and successful move involves infltrating local politics. Unable at frst to convince one of Casillo’s opponents to quit the race and hand over his 11,000 votes to the Savastano family, Gennaro seduces the man’s daughter in order to force his hand and ultimately crassly ends the relationship without remorse. This is the second woman who Gennaro 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 207 is involved with. The frst, Noemi, was principally interested in Gennaro for his purported power (“I will make you my queen” she is confdently told) and Ciro was responsible for orchestrating the couple’s frst date. Once she grows tired of Donna Imma’s control over her boyfriend, she leaves him, earlier stating “I want a man, not someone bossed by his mom.” Gilman notes that male sexuality is incompatible with corpulence (Gilman 2004, 23). For the most part, when Gennaro is shown topless or in his underwear while with Noemi, the couple is not engaged in sexual activity: Once he is gifting her diamond earrings (1.5), and another time, they are doing cocaine (1.6). Both scenes privilege materialism and decadence to eroticism. Once he returns from Honduras, however, women are drawn to him and his bare body is not on display. During Gomorrah 2, he wears low cutting t-shirts that accentuate his buff body and he is involved in a serious relationship with Azzurra (Ivana Lotito) who falls for him immediately and remains devoted to him despite Gennaro’s culpability regarding her father’s imprisonment. This all hints at how “fat bodies are visually marked” (Mobley 2014, 22) and such onscreen bodies convey information about the character (such as spine- lessness and indolence) without the necessity of dialogue. The new Gennaro has acquired a new skin. He has grown up into the mafa which entails completely altering his relationship with his mother. Twice before his departure an oedipal scenario between the two is manifest: In 1.2, Donna Imma enters Gennaro’s room to wake him up. He is splayed on the bed, and while stirring, he groggily caresses his mother’s fngers and tells her how nicely she smells. Then, on the eve of his departure (1.6), Gennaro asks a reluctant Donna Imma for a kiss. He then grabs her tightly and tells her he already misses her while inhaling heavily against her chest. This action is bordering on violence and is unwelcome by Donna Imma. The implication here is that Gennaro is suffering from an unresolved oedipal complex, and his travails during his trip to the jun- gle, his heart of darkness, will allow him to achieve normative masculinity and thus reject his biological mother in favor of a new symbolic one. The mafa achieves identity and purpose out of a common love for an archaic mother fgure. The mafa, dubbed the mammasantissima, is a brotherhood born out of a desire to both possess and defend the mother, who engenders a tie to mother earth and is fabricated in the collective imaginary as pure and benevolent. Thus, the maternal metaphor unites this esoteric group while defending it from the world outside, i.e., the symbolic, or the law of the state (Siebert 1996, 26). 208 D. RENGA

Genny must repudiate one mother for another. He has acquired the physique to lend him legitimacy in his new role as mob boss; however, memories of the terrorizing event still haunt him. Three times during 1.8 Genny suffers from symptoms of PTSD; he relives the event through nightmare and fashback and appears frequently distressed. When he relays his anxieties to his mother, she is unmoved, telling him that if it were not for her, Genny would still be a kid shadowing Ciro and that she sent him off to learn to negotiate, a move that was apparently successful. At this point, his memories cease as his protective shield is again intact. In many ways, the series conforms to the defnition of male melodrama which Geoffrey Nowell-Smith explains are tragedies of origins in which the son must “become like his father in order to take over his property and his place within the community” (Nowell-Smith 1977, 115). As Genny does, the child asks the fundamental question “whose child am I (or would I like to be)?” (Nowell-Smith 1977, 116). Genny’s role as head of the family is solidifed in 1.8 when Donna Imma is refected in three mirrors, in each gazing at her son’s refection in a mirror positioned in the upper right of the frame. He stands behind her out of frame, and although his body is fragmented—we can only see his upper chest and head in refection—he dominates the scene and commands the viewer’s gaze. Genny’s line of sight converges with the camera, and he appears in control. Gomorrah 1 however concludes with Gennaro hovering between life and death after Ciro shoots him three times. Gomorrah 2 picks up where Gomorrah 1 left off, with Gennaro in a state of limbo for the entire frst episode, he is hospitalized where he is attached to tubes and monitored by machines while he is in a coma, his body bruised and bloated. The fnal image of 2.1 is an extreme close-up of Gennaro’s eye that is held open as a doctor dilates his pupil which appears to gaze at the spectator. Here, Gomorrah makes manifest the question of alignment with sympathetic perpetrators that is central to the series. Once recovered from his near-death experience; however, Gennaro is depicted as ruthless. In 2.2, he coerces a soldier from the Honduran army to massacre a comrade with a machete so as to save himself. When the man butchers his friend, Gennaro sadistically videos the event with his cell phone. “I had to do the same thing and it was the best day of my life” Gennaro tells the soldier in a nearly fawless Spanish. After the execution, Gennaro announces to his colleagues that his time has come and he must return home. 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 209

Gennaro’s time in Honduras, like Michael Corleone’s stay in Corleone in The Godfather is formative. “Genny 2.0” as one reviewer calls him (Scalise 2016) is now ready to go home and settle the score with Ciro and take back what he believes to be his. Once again Gennaro is changed physically and emotionally. He is more ft and is marked by a deep scar under his left eye from the attack on his life, his clothing is edgier and Mohawk longer (he was in makeup an hour each day to prepare for flming; Barigozzi 2016). Despite his makeover, Gennaro’s power is limited by his father who refuses to grant his son independence. In the story of Don Pietro and Gennaro, Gomorrah is focused on the oedipal drama that is concerned with as Frank Krutnik explains “the pri- macy of male identity and inheritance.” In particular, Gennaro refuses to submit to his father and thus to “know and accept [his] place under the law” (Krutnik 1991, 76, original italics). Gennaro moves to Rome, changes allies and lifestyle, and attempts to make it on his own, yet he cannot break free from Don Pietro. Don Pietro’s perpetual maltreatment of his son who he now calls “Gennarino/Little Genny” renders Gennaro sympathetic, especially when he becomes a father himself at the moment Don Pietro is shot dead by Ciro. At the end of Gomorrah 2, Gennaro is fnally ready fll his father’s shoes.

Infirm Bodies At the end of 1.11, Ciro meets with Salvatore Conte just after the former had orchestrated Donna Imma’s murder. “The Savastanos represent the past” Ciro tells Conte before the series cuts to a much debilitated Don Pietro in prison apathetically sitting for a Rorschach test. He is shown Card IV, which has signifcant sexual consequence for many questioned (Weiner 2003, 106), and does not react. Since the end of 1.5 when he tells Donna Imma that he feels tired and desires to rest, Don Pietro has declined gradually and now appears mentally ill and physically infrm. Don Pietro commanded from his home turf during episodes 1.1 and 1.2 and from prison during episodes 1.3 and 1.4. Ever since Donna Imma’s taking of matters into her own hands when he is sent into solitary confnement at the end of 1.4; however, he slows down, ages, and seems to lose his power. While he was the narrative focus of 1.3 and 1.4, in later episodes of Gomorrah 1 he appears only once or frequently not at all, and for the most part looks bedraggled and confused. 210 D. RENGA

During the frst one-third of Gomorrah 1, Don Pietro defes aging: He is decisive, sexually potent, seemingly desirable to his wife, violent, and maintains his physical ftness while in prison. Even though his hair has grayed and his body has somewhat rounded out, his age reads, like so many aging men in the classical cinema, “as experience-as-authenticity” (Tasker 2010). In earlier episodes of Gomorrah 1, Don Pietro is described as a lion; he is smart, cunning, and outwits the authorities who attempt to bug his home. He is ruthless in ordering Ciro to arrange for Genny’s frst murder so that his son will be respected when he inevitably need take his father’s place, and sadistic when commanding Ciro to drink Don Pietro’s urine when he learns that Ciro had to fnish off the job for his son. When in prison, Don Pietro’s naked body (frequently but not always with his stomach and genitals masked by shadow) is shown four times and his corporeality is linked to authoritarianism, homophobia, and racism. The shower is a traditional locus of vulnerability in the prison milieu, made clear when one of Don Pietro’s affliates is knifed while bathing. However, when Don Pietro is shown twice in the shower, his body is top lit so as to accentuate the muscles on his back, neck, and arms and he remains free from harm. While Don Pietro is in control of the family, the viewer is pushed to form an “antipathetic allegiance” with him due to the values, such as bigotry and ruthlessness, that he embodies (Smith 1995, 75), especially when Don Pietro’s behavior is measured against that of Ciro. Once incarcerated he takes a young inmate named Pasqualino under his wing, and through this relationship, we understand Don Pietro as a caring man who is on the side of those oppressed. For one, Pasqualino is brutally beaten by the police for standing guard when Don Pietro makes a call to his crew on a smuggled cell phone. Further, the night that Pasqualino is given a ten-year sentence for robbery, he hangs himself in the cell and Don Pietro fnds his body and is visibly moved by his budding pro- tégé’s passing. Prisons in Italy are quite overcrowded, with approximately 68,000 inmates in a system with a maximum capacity for 45,000. Suicides are routine and overcrowding creates several physical and mental health concerns, and over thirty percent of those detained have not even faced their frst court date (Press TV 2014). Gomorrah constructs Pasqualino as a victim to the prison system (cells are incredibly overcrowded holding more than ffteen prisoners each, guards are abusive) and Don Pietro as his savior manqué. 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 211

During 1.3, then, the viewer begins to experience a different perspective on Don Pietro as he is represented as caring for the underdog and it follows that his degeneration throughout 1.5–1.12 will not be lauded by the viewer. Instead, he reads as an elderly and incapacitated man unaware of his surroundings (when told that his wife is dead, he stares blankly without responding). As Feasey writes, “Aging beyond the middle years [challenges] male power and weaken[s] patriarchal control” (Feasey 2011, 519), and when Don Pietro shows his age he is no longer considered dangerous and is transferred to a mental institution. In Gomorrah 1’s fnal moments when Don Pietro escapes during the transfer, we realize that we have been duped. Don Pietro was not ill, aging, or mentally unsound as all was an act in order to orchestrate his freedom. As he walks without diffculty to the escape vehicle, his body begins to resemble that of the former mob boss in charge of the Savastano clan. This plot twist throws into question what constitutes authentic bodies (and minds) in the mafa and makes explicit that gender is produced through repeated performances, and that gender “is real only to the extent that it is performed” (Butler 2013, 469). While Don Pietro performs malady in Gomorrah 1, his body is marked by illness and corporeal aging in Gomorrah 2. He is on numerous medications, regularly monitors his blood pressure, appears weak and tired, walks hunched over and is far from agile, and when escaping from a hit on a restaurant while in Germany is too debilitated to walk and his son must carry him on his back. He spends most of Gomorrah 2 in hiding and travels undercover in dark cars and car trunks, traverses underground passages and sewers, and lives in a small one-room and run-down apartment. Despite, or perhaps because of, limitations on his health and mobil- ity, Don Pietro is obsessed with regaining his power position and has no interest in making a space for his son beside him. As I discuss in the next section, he is depicted as heartless and unforgiving: He vows to destroy his son and has no qualms about taking out anyone who will stand in his way. Don Pietro’s ruthlessness is redeemed however through his relationship with Patrizia, a young woman who agrees to help him and to serve as his spy and handmaiden in exchange for fnancial compensation that will, she believes, ensure her family a better life. At frst reluctant to engage with criminality, Patrizia swiftly proves to be adept in her new role and by the middle end of Gomorrah 2 is completely devoted to Don Pietro and puts his welfare above her own and that of her family. She is 212 D. RENGA smart, calculating, organized, mobile, and cautious. She is also unafraid to infict pain upon herself when she burns off a tattoo of a lion after Don Pietro tells her that a real lioness does not need a tattoo to prove it. She is willing to risk her life and the life of family members out of allegiance to Don Pietro: When Ciro threatens to drown her brother unless she reveals Don Pietro’s whereabouts, Patrizia waits quite a while before revealing what is at that point unreliable information, knowing full well that she is only buying Don Pietro time and that Ciro would return to most likely kill both of them. In short, in a brief timeframe she takes on the role of Don Pietro’s devoted soldier. In the fnal episode of the series, Don Pietro tells Patrizia that he is “an old man who is almost done living” while she is a “girl who is beautiful and strong with her whole life ahead of her.” He then pulls a ring out of his pocket and proposes: “the deal I am offering is not a good one: you have to take an old man with all his ghosts. What you get out of it? Nothing. Except knowing that, if this old man is still walking, it is because you are here.” Patrizia, who is wrapped in a towel, gazes lovingly and longingly at him as the scene concludes. Patrizia is physically strong and conventionally beautiful and has her life ahead of her. This scene suggests that she lives only for Don Pietro who is nearing the end of his life. Thus, through Patrizia’s sacrifce of family, personal safety, and autonomy, viewers might be positioned to feel sympathy for Don Pietro. This, an extreme example of male melodrama, enacts what Tania Modleski discusses as the trope of “aging as virility” in and around Clint Eastwood flms (Modleski 2009, 151). While infrm and aging female bodies are frequently invisible or are sites of shame and stigma, Don Pietro’s declining male physique is narratively central and sexy.11

Immortal and Weeping Bodies Masculinity in Gomorrah is frequently represented in terms of the abject. Bodies are bloody, battered, lacerated, and violated. Men openly vomit, Ciro is forced to drink Don Pietro’s urine, Salvatore Conte urinates on an adversary, and Scianel’s driver is shot in his genitalia. Bodies (and corpses) are riddled with bullet holes and stab wounds and are dis- membered, set afame, bruised, scarred, and rotting and covered with fies. O’Rawe discusses abject male bodies in the flm and television series Romanzo criminale and argues that the high amount of violence therein is tied to a “nostalgia for the recent past” (O’Rawe 2014, 108) 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 213 that refects “upon the vulnerability of white Italian masculinity” (2014, 114). Masculinity in Gomorrah is also depicted as susceptible to attack and in crisis. Young men sob openly (Ciro principally among them), old mafosi are feeble, those who attempt to hold onto their power are physically unft, Gennaro’s power is tied to his new vulnerable body (and is thus volatile), Don Pietro at frst appears to lose control of both mind and body and is then dependent upon medications and the support of others. O’Rawe argues that the trope of haunting in Romanzo criminale (the series and Placido flm) ventures, albeit unsuccessfully, to reconsolidate authentic masculinity (O’Rawe 2014, 115) through expressing a nostalgia “for lost, beloved men” (O’Rawe 2014, 102). For the majority of Gomorrah, the body of Ciro attempts to incorporate authentic masculinity according to mafa values. His body remains intact, and, unlike Genny and (apparently) Don Pietro, until 2.12 Ciro is strong, indestructible, and maintains control of his body. Stam Stoloff writes that masculinity is “an expression of bodily control” (Stoloff 2002, 162), which is certainly the case with Ciro. As mentioned above, Marco D’Amore was required to lose signifcant weight for to play to the part of Ciro di Marzio. D’Amore describes his frst encounter with his character as “traumatic” since he had to completely remake himself, from his hairstyle which he previously wore long with a beard, to, more signifcantly, his body. D’Amore and Sollima believed that Ciro “was like a soldier, a man of action, and hence needed to be physically prepared” (Lo Verme 2014). Ciro however is more than just a mafa soldier. One reviewer describes Ciro as “cold blooded” and lacking in morality (Swide 2014) and another states that “empathy is absent” from the series and claims that the viewer is disinclined to identify with the show’s protagonists (Severgnini 2015). I disagree on both counts. As Giancarlo Lombardi argues, Gomorrah creates a “complex form of spectatorial allegiance” for Ciro (Lombardi forthcoming). Allegiance, borrowing from Murray Smith’s work on how we engage with fctional characters, is tied to our ability to morally evaluate them, and to do so we must have “reliable access to the character’s state of mind” and understand why characters act as they do (Smith 1995, 84). At the outset, Ciro’s motivations are at times unclear (e.g., during the frst two episodes of Gomorrah 1 we are led to assume that he acts as the pentito during but remain unsure as to his rationale for potentially betraying the Savastano family). However, the initial few episodes of Gomorrah 1 position him as a caring man for 214 D. RENGA whom we feel compassion. Sympathy is initially created through Ciro’s relationship with father fgure Attilio, an older camorrista who loses his life in a clan war ordered by Don Pietro (much of 1.1 develops this relationship). Attilio’s death deeply moves Ciro, who we later learn grew up in an orphanage. What’s more, Attilio’s death serves to construct Don Pietro, who ordered the attack against the advice of Ciro, as the bad father; he is an unfeeling man disinterested in whether his men live or die. Thus, borrowing from Jason Mittell’s work on why we identify with onscreen hideous men, Don Pietro is “less noble” (Mittell 2015, 144) than Ciro. Furthermore, Ciro is endowed with a backstory and the viewer’s knowledge of his growing up parentless in an orphanage lends pathos to his narrative and helps us make sense of his career choices and understand what the mafa might offer in terms of alternative family. Also, we know him as a feeling individual through following his relationship with Attilio and Attilio’s family, witnessing him grieve several of his friend’s death, and observing during Gomorrah 1 his intimate relationship with his wife and his caring interactions with his daughter, in particular during Gomorrah 2. He also comes across in the opening scene as funny when discussing Facebook with his older colleague, and, unlike Gennaro who at the outset spends his time in nightclubs and looking for a girlfriend, Ciro has long-term plans for the Camorra family. Casting plays an interesting role as well. A seasoned theatrical actor, Marco D’Amore’s frst substantial flm role, was playing a Camorra soldier in Claudio Cupellini’s Una vita tranquilla (A Quiet Life, 2010). Cupellini’s flm is about the Camorra, mafa hired guns, men on the run, and the eco-mafa. However, the flm is mainly interested in staging the oedipal traumas of abandonment, betrayal, parricide, and flicide inherent in the relationship between ex-Camorra hit man Rosario (Toni Servillo) and his son Diego who is played by D’Amore. Although Diego’s involvement in the mafa precludes his status as completely innocent, he is never shown committing any sort of illegal act in the flm. In the end, Diego chooses to save his father from Camorra retribution, a decision which results in Diego’s death. Thus, Marco D’Amore brings an “inter- textual shine” (Mittell 2015, 146) to his portrayal of Ciro whose character is associated with another fctional camorrista who is constructed as a victim and endowed with a moral compass. For several reasons, including his grief over his friend’s death and brief collusion with the authorities, Ciro is rendered less repellent than his fctional counterparts and as 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 215 a result viewers might feel “more connected” to him as he is endowed with a “relative morality [in the] program’s ethical universe” (Mittell 2015, 144). Dubbed “The Immortal,” Ciro survives many an improbable situation. Halfway through Gomorrah 1 (1.6) when he is sent by Donna Imma to Barcelona to make peace with Salvatore Conte, Ciro is frst left by Conte adrift at sea for several hours and then forced to play Russian Roulette by a Russian boss Conte with whom Conte sent Ciro to negotiate. He also evades Genny’s men sent to kill him in the fnal episode of Gomorrah 1 and is left standing after several turf wars. In the frst episode of the series, he walks away unscathed from a shooting and double grenade attack meant to end his life where three others died and several are wounded. After the explosion, he arises as if from the dead and walks through the smoke and rubble while surveying the damage. He is indestructible and his body remains intact. Despite his involvement in and witnessing of copious violent episodes, we do not see him bleed and he remains free of bodily trauma until his breakdown at the end of Gomorrah 2. Up until the fnal episode of Gomorrah 2, Ciro’s body never changes. In Gomorrah 1, he is oftentimes shown hunched in a position which marks him as contemplative and penitent, and is habitually clad in a brown leather jacket and at times in a hooded sweatshirt while in Gomorrah 2 he stands confdently among fellow camorristi, unveil- ing clever plans that will allow them to control or regain territory. We see him topless briefy only twice, the frst time in 1.1 as he prepares to go off to war and then in 2.1 when he attempts to mollify his wife Debora’s (Pina Turco) nerves. Unlike Don Pietro and (during the bulk of Gomorrah 1) Genny whose naked or semi-naked bodies are portly and incongruous with that of the muscle-bound hero or anti-hero of the cinema, Ciro’s partially unclad body is constructed as an object of desire. Notably, while naked save a towel wrapped around his waist and before leaving for battle in 1.1, he engages in an erotic encounter with his wife and the visual focus is on his body and not hers which underscores his sexual appeal and active position. Up until his daughter’s murder, Ciro’s body is impenetrable, immuta- ble, and unscathed. At the same time, D’Amore’s bodily transformation that is discussed in the majority of interviews with the actor calls attention to the very constructedness of the male physique. In her discussion of muscles in the cinema, Yvonne Tasker notes an interesting “paradox 216 D. RENGA over the coming together of naturalness and performance” (Tasker 1996, 232). In particular, she discusses the difference between the apparent innateness of the body and the performance of manliness, an incon- gruity that highlights all that is involved in “being a man” and reminds us of the effort required to maintain the simulation of authentic masculinity. Such a disparity points toward a “crisis of the paternal metaphor” (Tasker 1996, 233), and such a crisis rife in Gomorrah and revolves around Ciro whose biological father is absent, adoptive father (Attilio) is deceased, and surrogate father (Don Pietro) is frst cruel, then absent, then out for his blood. Although Ciro’s body appears immortal, his, like all bodies, is “not fxed or essential but […] fexible” (Richardson and Locks, 1), and such pliability points toward “anxieties about masculine identity and authority that are embodied in the fgure of the struggling [anti-]hero” (Tasker 1996, 243). While, as Giancarlo Lombardi discusses, the narrative thrust of Gomorrah 1 is generational confict (Lombardi 2016, 293) and the emphasis of Gomorrah 2 is power struggles. Ciro, Don Pietro, and Gennaro will stop at nothing to stay on top or do whatever it takes to oust a rival from a central role in the hopes of taking his (or her) place. Fathers betray sons, sons sell out fathers, and lifelong friends turn upon one another. Gomorrah 2 is especially dark when compared to Italian and American small screen counterparts. In particular, in the opening and closing episodes of Gomorrah 2, two different antiheroes execute or orchestrate murders of more central protagonists. And these killings are particularly heinous when considering the status of the victims. In popular American serials with a criminal focus like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, or The Wire, victims in more central roles have some sort of direct tie to or involvement in criminality and they frequently die in the line of dastardly duty. Gomorrah, however, breaks this pattern. In “My Life” (2.1) and “The End of the Day” (2.12), leading antihero Ciro di Marzio experiences the death of the two most important people in his life: frst, Ciro strangles to death his beloved wife Deborah when she threatens to speak to the police; near the end of Gomorrah 2, Ciro’s young daughter Maria Rita (Claudia Veneziano) is killed when shot point blank on the orders of Ciro’s rival Don Pietro. These acts of violence are exceptional in Italian and American television for two reasons: for one, viewers have come to know these two female protagonists whose victim status is undeniable. Also it is striking that the narrative is structured so as to create sympathy almost immediately for frst Ciro and then Don Pietro: 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 217

Viewers are encouraged to grieve for Ciro as he mourns the wife he had just killed or are invited to feel for Don Pietro when he fnally attempts to reconcile with his estranged son, come to terms with the loss of his wife Donna Imma from Gomorrah 1, and begin a new romance just before being shot dead by Ciro at Gomorrah 2’s conclusion. Such an immediate rehumanization of a villain who has committed an extreme crime is scarce in popular serial television—anomalies include the serial killer dramas Dexter and Hannibal (2013–2015) where exceptional exe- cutions committed by main characters are structuring devices intrinsic to the narrative.12 Alberto N. García notes that the complex TV season fnale can represent the means for viewers to recover a sympathetic allegiance with characters who committed what in the real world would be unforgivable acts. He notes that in the conclusions of Breaking Bad and The Shield viewers see antiheroes “pay for their crimes, for the harm they caused, and this restores the comprehensive moral framework we established with them throughout the series.” At this moment, we realize that crime might not pay when “conficted sinners pay for their sometimes-justifed sins” (García 2016, 70). Delaying the viewer’s reconciliation with fallen men allows for the development of other story lines while lending a conclu- sive “narrative coherence” (García 2016, 69) to the program as a whole (and bestowing such a coherence upon the program’s central characters). Instead, Ciro is redeemed instantly after he murders Deborah. He then atones time and again for this crime throughout Gomorrah 2 when he is shown suffering, remorseful, and conscious of his sins. Further, with the murder of his daughter, Ciro will come circle to face his earlier transgression of ordering Donna Imma’s murder. The pathos of Ciro’s predicament of having murdered his wife is instantly apparent: Upon realizing what he has done, he instantly breaks down and sobs as he clutches Deborah’s face lovingly, the camera frames them in a two shot as Ciro’s face is lit by the moonlight (see Fig. 7.2). Then, with the help of best friend Rosario (Lino Musella) he sets Deborah’s car afame with her body inside and he gazes upon the burn- ing vehicle as tears stream down his face as the somber score plays in the background. This moment recalls 1.1 when Ciro sets alight Attilio’s car after his death, and reminds viewers of Ciro’s propensity to feel deeply for those close to him. Further, Ciro’s murder of Deborah changes him: He puts the good of the alliance before personal gain and states regularly that he wants peace, privileges negotiation to vendetta, and will not act 218 D. RENGA

Fig. 7.2 Ciro mourns the death of his wife he just murdered in Gomorrah 2 alone. Most dramatically, he confesses to Gennaro in 2.5 that he murdered Deborah and appears haunted and tormented and asks Gennaro to kill him. He also chooses to let live men and women who he would have murdered in the past without hesitation. For example, in 2.10 he tells Patrizia that “the dead are piling up. All the dead I left behind me come looking for me at night, they scream I have no peace that’s why I can’t kill anymore. That is the difference between [Don Pietro] and me.” Ciro is depicted as genuinely penitent; he is haunted by his past sins for which he must pay dearly. This is not the case for Don Pietro who arranges a celebratory freworks display following Maria Rita’s murder. Ciro is redeemed time and again through his tears, his remorse, and his multiple losses. Throughout Gomorrah 2, Ciro spends much time in cemeteries. In graveyards, he witnesses the funeral of friends and family members either up close or from afar; while walking through tombs he talks with Rosario about all the friends that they have lost over the years; he forgives a man named Angelino Sepino who betrayed his clan and who Ciro threatened to bury alive in a gravesite; and he has his fnal showdown with Don Pietro in front of Donna Imma’s mausoleum. Cemeteries, tombstones, gravesites, and mausoleums are traditional loci to give voice to the sentiment of “too late” characteristic of the melodrama’s conclusion. These spaces of potential reconciliation 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 219 are troubled by the lingering question of “if only” things had been different.13 In Gomorrah 2, Ciro continually lives the state of “if only”: if only he never committed murder; if only he never murdered his wife; if only he never became a mobster. Frequently in melodrama, pathos arrives when the character learns what the audience knew all along, and such realizations arrive either “too late” or “just in time” (Neale 1986, 11). Ciro and the viewer, however, were always on the same page. Such insight into Ciro’s mindset prompts alignment between viewer and villain. Modleski argues that in male melodramas “real men do not cry.” The genre, she notes, features “a strong stoic type whose sorrow lurks under the surface but who is wept over by other characters and by the audience” (Modleski 2009, 136). This is not the case Gomorrah where real men don’t just cry, they sob openly and often and such breakdowns consolidate masculinity in crisis, which is also the case with Romanzo criminale. La serie and 1992/1993. After his daughter’s death in 2.12, Ciro completely falls to pieces, turns to drugs, and appears to want to put an end to his life. When Gennaro fnds him slumped, dazed, and dishevelled, Ciro is the quintessential “fallen man” discussed by Janet Staiger.14 Staiger explains that the fallen man “might be able to redeem himself” which is what Ciro does when he shoots Don Pietro and closes (at least for now) the cycle of vendetta that has motivated much of Gomorrah’s narrative. At Gomorrah 2’s close, Ciro is resurrected, his body is again intact if not a bit scruffy. He is stronger as a result of his suffering which defnes him and viewers are invited to forgive him (again and again) for hideous acts.

Conclusion: Authentic Bodies? This chapter frst explored the limits of agency of female and queer characters who are ultimately effaced from the narrative. I then looked at male bodies both onscreen and offscreen, and questioned how casting, actorly transformation, makeover and makeunder plotlines, performance, and star publicity work to lend authenticity to onscreen bodies while constructing hideous men as worthy of viewer sympathy. All of this is particularly interesting when considering casting choices made in Matteo Garrone’s 2008 flm Gomorrah, where, for the most part, actors were non-profes- sionals (and some were actual camorristi who were arrested for suspected mafa involvement after the flm’s release).15 Critics and scholars praise the flm for its “authentic” (Greene 2012, 247; Grey 2008; Luzzi 2014) 220 D. RENGA depiction of mob life and single out casting choices in the director’s “quest for authenticity” (Grey 2008).16 Camorristi in the flm are unkempt, overweight (Zi’ Bernardino), or scrawny (Marco and Ciro), and as a consequence their bodies read as natural. Gomorrah features instead several seasoned actors, although Esposito, with prior acting experience and years of studying and coaching, is discussed in an interview as though he was plucked off of the street: “years spent working in a fast food restaurant, many friends lost to the streets, his adolescence spent in a diffcult territory that does not cut anyone any slack … this is the resume that Salvatore Esposito brought to his audition” (Buttitta 2014). Similarly, D’Amore speaks to his “physical memory” of Camorra bloodshed in the 1990s in spite of his admitted lack of personal memories or lived experiences of mafa violence (Lo Verme 2014).17 Such revisions give both actors street cred and help lend authenticity to the characters that they depict onscreen. At the same time, Esposito and D’Amore actively work to unmalign their violent mobster image through performance outside of the series. Each episode concludes with a closing title sequence that is combined with prequels to the next episode and is accompanied by the song “Nuje Vulimme’na Speranza” by rappers NTO’ & Lucariello. Sung in Neapolitan dialect, the title translates as “We Want Hope” and the narrative voice is that of a man recently released from prison who desires to change his life and wishes that neighborhood children might live without the “anxiety” of becoming involved with gang business. The song also chastises those who turn a blind eye and never speak out about what is in plain sight such as the drug trade, massacres, and toxic waste. The song’s message is clear: We must fght together to ensure a better future for our children. In the concluding title sequence however, lyrics are not translated and unless one is familiar with Neapolitan dialect, such a hopeful message is lost on viewers who are anticipating the next violent installment. The offcial music video to the song presents a different take on sympathetic perpetrators than does the series by casting Esposito and D’amore in quite contrasting roles to those that viewers are accustomed: Esposito plays a school teacher and D’amore a gym teacher who both, the video implies, work to keep kids off of the street through involving them in soccer and, most apposite, dramatic performance. Esposito’s character teaches students to act which underlines the redemptive potential of art. Also, this recasting presents Gomorrah’s two main villains as sympathetic do-gooders who fght the battle against organized crime 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 221 on the local level. Interestingly, the teacher is particularly focused on a young boy with a Mohawk: Gennaro’s alter ego who might choose a different path. Thus, Esposito and D’amore are positioned both inside and against the Camorra. As O’Rawe has argued, Romanzo criminale. La serie works to present an “uthentic and nostalgic virility” through “the actors’ relationship with Pier Paolo Pasolini” (O’Rawe 2015, 46). In a similar vein, Gomorrah attempts to produce authentic bodies, a process that ultimately disproves that an “‘authentic’ body and face is a cultural truism” (Gilman 2015, 27). In her work in the feld of body studies, Margo DeMello explains how the body is “marked by culture and society” and is “the symbolic stage on which the dramas of society are enacted” (DeMello 2014, 11). The body, like masculinity, is a pliant category that is quite fruitful to examine to interrogate how masculinity is performed and received in the series. In tracing the bodily mutations in Gomorrah, this chapter has attempted to answer Gennaro’s question “What Man Are You”? and has evaluated what it means to be a man (and a woman) in the mafa.

Notes 1. A Google search for the term “fenomeno gomorra” (“gomorrah phenomenon”) yields close to 1000 hits. For example, Fabio Amato has a 2018 article entitled “Il fenomeno Gomorra. Propollente per il fuoco eterno dell’eccezione a Napoli,” Miriana Capozzelli notes that “Gomorrah has become a real phenomenon” (Capozzelli 2016) while the title of another article on the series is “The Gomorrah Phenomenon: It Arrives in the US and Critics Go Crazy” (Carotenuto 2016). The “Gomorrah phenomenon” is comprised of the television series, Roberto Saviano’s 2006 memoir Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples’ Organized Crime System, the 2008 Matteo Garrone flm, and several transmedial offshoots such as blog sites, remediated YouTube videos, fan fction, and spoofs, and several “paratexts”—recalling Marta Boni’s work (Boni 2014, 111)—such as iPhone apps, Facebook pages, marketing campaigns, merchandising, trailers and recaps, and offcial Web sites and fan pages. 2. Ilaria de Pascalis discusses Gomorrah as part of a “complex narrative ecosystem” that includes the Saviano book, the 2007 theatrical production, the 2008 Matteo Garonne flm, the series, and a series of strategies regarding how the Gomorrah universe is marketed, distributed, and received (De Pascalis 2018, 113–27). 222 D. RENGA

3. For more on the protests surrounding the series and Saviano’s involvement in it, see Renga (2016, 287–89). 4. In addition, in the series the Camorra is represented as an intricate “system,” as described by Saviano in Gomorrah, of both corrupt and legitimate connections into national and international commerce, industry, and politics. See the chapter “The System” in Saviano (2007). 5. Gomorrah 3 is discussed in the frst section of the book’s conclusion, entitled ***SPOILER ALERT***. 6. For more on the history and function of women in the Sacra Corona Unita and the Camorra, see Allum (2007) and Massari and Motta (2007). 7. Laura di Bianco notes that Donna Imma’s “relationship to cityscapes sheds light on her power relationship with the clan” and addresses how her power is enforced visually through scenes of her gazing over urban spaces (di Bianco 2016, 313–14). 8. Doane notes that for Joan Riviere (the psychoanalyst whose clinical observations Doane studied), “masquerade is not theorized … as a joyful or affrmative play but as an anxiety-ridden gesture, as a position which is potentially disturbing, uncomfortable, and inconsistent, as well as psychi- cally painful for the woman” (Doane 1988–1989, 47). 9. In an interview, Donadio defnes Scianel as a “post post-femminista” (Casiraghi 2016). 10. To lose weight on both occasions, Esposito followed the Italian Tisanoreica diet, and while on the regiment he regularly posted photos of his meals on his Facebook page (Mele 2015). 11. On female aging as connected to shame and invisibility, see, for example, J. Books Bouson (2016) especially the introduction (1–38) and see also Jeannette King (2013). 12. For a compelling analysis of how serial killing “can be seen as representa- tive, of humanity, masculinity, its time,” see Dyer (2015, 13). 13. Borrowing from Franco Moretti’s work on belatedness in the melodrama, Steve Neale notes that the “if only” moment so common to the melodramatic formula allows viewers to shed a tear when realizing although it is too late, “it might have been possible.” Neale continues: “The words ‘if only’ mark both the fact of loss, that it is too late, yet simultaneously the possibility that things might have been different, that the fantasy could have been fulflled, the object of desire indeed attained” (Neale 1986, 22). 14. For a discussion of the “fallen man” in the flm noir and male melodrama, see Janet Staiger’s “Film Noir as Male Melodrama” (2008). 15. Bernardino Terracciano, who played both a mob boss in Garrone’s L’imbalsamatore (2002) and clan boss Zi’ Bernardino in Garrone’s 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 223

Gomorrah, was arrested together with six other suspected Camorristi on suspicion of arms dealing, murder, and extortion. Similar controversies surrounded Gomorrah. During the flming of Gomorrah 2 of the series in 2015, Azize Pjamaa, who played a Nigerian drug dealer in Gomorrah 1, was arrested for possession of heroin and cocaine. A year earlier, Vincenzo Sacchettino who interpreted “Danielino” in three episodes of Gomorrah 1 was arrested for involvement in a stabbing. 16. Numerous other critics discuss Garrone’s Gomorrah in terms of authenticity, realism, and neorealism and mention principally the use of non-professional actors and on location shooting. For example, Damiano Frasca addresses the flm’s “etno-antropologico” neorealism (Frasca 2008) and The Criterion Collection notes the flm represents “one of cinema’s most authentic depictions of organized crime” (The Criterion Collection 2008). 17. The entire citation by D’amore reads: “I have a ‘physical memory’ of the many violent and tense moments in the ’90s when Caserta was a border land between legality and illegality. When you grow up in that sort of context, you develop a sort of ‘sixth sense’ that helps you survive” (Lo Verme 2014).

References Allum, Felia. 2007. “Doing It for Themselves or Standing in for Their Men? Women in the Neapolitan Camorra (1950–2003).” In Women and the Mafa: Studies in Organized Crime, edited by Giovanni Fiandaca, 9–17. New York: Springer-Verlag. Antonello, Pierpaolo. 2016. “1.7: A ‘Storia e’ Maria: Gender Power Dynamics and Genre Normalization (‘Imma contro tutti’, Francesca Comencini).” The Italianist 36 (2): 322–27. Barigozzi, Adelaide. 2016. “Gomorra 2: ecco 11 cose da sapere su Genny Savastano.” June 13. Accessed November 15. http://www.cosmopolitan.it/ lifestyle/news/a113961/gomorra-2-cose-da-sapere-genny-savastano/. Bergman, S. Bear. 2009. “Sometimes I’m Fat, and Sometimes I’m Not.” In The Fat Studies Reader, edited by Esther Rothblum and Sondra Solovay, 139–42. New York and London: New York University Press. Boni, Marta. 2014. Romanzo Criminale: Transmedia and Beyond. Venice: Edizioni Ca’ Foscari. Bouson, J. Brooks. 2016. Shame and the Aging Woman: Confronting and Resisting Agism in Contemporary Women’s Writings. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Butler, Judith. 1993. Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex”. New York and London: Routledge. 224 D. RENGA

Butler, Judith. 2013. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory.” In Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global Perspectives, edited by Carole R. McCann and Seung-kyung Kim, 462– 73. Oxon and New York: Routledge. Buttitta, Alessandro. 2014. “Salvatore Esposito, Genny di Gomorra: ‘Seconda stagione? Forse. A Napoli certe critiche sono strumentali.’” L’Huffngton Post, June 21. Accessed July 9, 2015. http://www.huffngtonpost. it/2014/06/20/salvatore-esposito-genny-gomorra-intervista-_n_5515299. html. Buttitta, Alessandro. 2016. “Gomorra 2: martedì 10 maggio la prima puntata su Sky. 10 motivi per cui non riuscerete a resistere alla seconda stagione.” L’Huffngton Post, May 9. Accessed September 9. http://www.huffngtonpost.it/2016/05/09/gomorra-2-10-maggio_n_9867380.html. Capozzelli, Miriana. 2016. “Il fenomeno gomorra.” Ua-Time, November 1. Accessed November 1. http://www.ua-time.com/2016/06/20/il-fenomeno- gomorra/. Carotenuto, Claudia. 2016. “Fenomeno Gomorra: arriva negli USA e la critica impazzisce.” L’ulitma ribattuta, August 22. Accessed November 1. http:// www.lultimaribattuta.it/51427_fenomeno-gomorra-arriva-negli-usa-la- critica-impazzisce. Casiraghi, Claudia. 2016. “Gomorra 2, Cristina Donadio: ‘Scianel? Una post post-feminista.’”Vanity Fair, June 16. Accessed November 5. http:// www.vanityfair.it/show/tv/16/06/16/gomorra-la-serie-sky-atlantic- intervista-scianel-cristina-donadio. Corriere del Mezzogiorno. 2016. “Denize Capezza ‘Marinella’: ‘Gomorra non ha eroi fanno tutti una brutta fne.’” Corriere del Mezzogiorno, June 15. Accessed November 3. http://corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it/napoli/spettacoli/ 16_giugno_15/denise-capezza-marinella-gomorra-non-ha-eroi-fanno-tutti- brutta-fne-b5c65e42-3318-11e6-815d-85ddede72c17.shtml. De Pascalis, Ilaria A. 2018. “An Italian Ecosystem: Gomorra.” In Reading Contemporary Serial Television Universes: A Narrative Ecosystem Approach, edited by Paola Brembilla and Ilaria A. De Pascalis, 113–27. New York and London: Routledge. DeMello, Margo. 2014. Body Studies: An Introduction. London and New York: Routledge. di Bianco, Laura. 2016. “1.5: Donna Imma’s ‘Dream of Domination’ (‘Il rug- gito della leonessa’, Francesca Comencini).” The Italianist 36 (2): 312–17. Doane, Mary Ann. 1988–1989. “Masquerade Reconsidered: Further Thoughts on the Female Spectator.” Discourse 11 (1): 42–54. Dyer, Richard. 2015. Lethal Repetition: Serial Killing in European Cinema. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 225

Erbaggio, Pierluigi. 2015. “#GomorraLaSerie: Converging Audience and Enhanced Authorship on Twenty-First-Century Italian Screens.” Modern Italy 20 (4): 335–49. Esch, Kevin. 2006. “‘I Don’t See Any Method At All’: The Problem of Actorly Transformation.” Journal of Film and Video 58 (1–2): 95–107. Farmer, Brett. 2000. Spectacular Passions: Cinema, Fantasy, Gay Male Spectatorships. Durham: Duke University Press. Feasey, Rebecca. 2011. “Mature Masculinity and the Aging Action Hero.” Groniek 190: 507–19. Frasca, Damiano. 2008. “Matteo Garrone – ‘Gomorra.’” Allegoria, 59. Accessed November 7, 2016. http://www.allegoriaonline.it/index.php/ raccolte-tremila-battute/allegoria-59/273-matteo-garrone-qgomorraq. Fusco, Fabio. 2016. “Gomorra 2: Scianel, tutto sulla performance con il vibratore d’oro.” Movieplayer.it, June 8. Accessed November 4. http:// movieplayer.it/news/gomorra-2-scianel-tutto-sulla-performance-con-il-vibratore-doro_43408/. García, Alberto N. 2016. “Moral Emotions, Antiheroes and the Limits of Allegiance.” In Emotions in Contemporary TV Series, edited by Alberto N. García, 52–70. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Gilman, Sander L. 2004. Fat Boys: A Slim Book. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Gilman, Sander L. 2015. Illness and Image: Case Studies in the Medical Humanities. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. Goodman, Tim. 2016. “Gomorra: TV Review.” The Hollywood Reporter, August 18. Accessed November 4. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/ gomorrah-tv-review-920178. Greene, Shelleen. 2012. Equivocal Subjects: Between Italy and Africa— Constructions of Racial and National Identity in the Italian Cinema. New York and London: Continuum International Publishing Group. Grey, Tobias. 2008. “Nonprofessional Actors Give European Films a New Realism.” The Wall Street Journal, November 7. Accessed July 9, 2015. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122600891243306167. Gross, Stephanie Stringer. 2015. “Machiavellian Men: How Walter White Learns ‘Not to Be Good.’” In Masculinites in Breaking Bad: Critical Perspectives, edited by Bridget Roussell Cowlishaw, 110–31. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. Iannone, Pasquale. 2014. “Gomorrah Never Dies.” Sight and Sound 24 (9): 11. King, Jeannette. 2013. Discourses of Ageing in Fiction and Feminism: The Invisible Woman. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Krutnik, Frank. 1991. In a Lonely Street: Film Noir, Genre, Masculinity. New York and London: Routledge. 226 D. RENGA

Kunze, Peter C. 2013. “Send in the Clowns: Extraordinary Male Protagonists in Contemporary American Fiction.” Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society 2 (1): 17–29. Lai, Manuel. 2016. “Gomorra 2: Scianel, il vibratore e le inutili polemiche.” Melty, June 10. Accessed November 5. http://www.melty.it/gomorra-2-la-serie-scianel-il-vibratore-e-le-inutili-polemiche-a201909.html. Latilla, Antonella. 2016. “Salvatore Esposito svela: l’amore per Paola e novità su Gomorra 2.” Gossip e tv, August 22. Accessed November 15. http:// www.gossipetv.com/salvatore-esposito-svela-lamore-per-paola-e-novita-su- gomorra-2-184888. Lombardi, Giancarlo. 2016. “1.1: Of Generational Clash and Sympathy for the Renegade (‘Il Clan dei Savastano’, Stefano Sollima).” The Italianist 36 (2): 293–98. Lombardi, Giancarlo. Forthcoming. “Sympathy for the Renegade: Defning Spectatorial Empathy in Gomorra: La Serie.” In Mafa Movies: A Reader, 2nd ed., edited by Dana Renga, 2nd ed. Toronto, Buffalo and London: The University of Toronto Press. Lo Verme, Stefano. 2014. “Gomorra, intervista a Marco D’Amore: ‘Ciro, ant- ieroe tragico come Iago.’” Movieplayer.it, June 10. Accessed July 7, 2015. http://movieplayer.it/articoli/gomorra-intervista-a-marco-damore-ciro-anti- eroe-tragico-come-iago_12777/. Luzzi, Joseph. 2014. A Cinema of Poetry: Aesthetics of the Italian Art Film. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. MacKinnon, Kenneth. 2003. Representing Men: Maleness and Masculinity in the Media. London: Arnold. Massari, Monica, and Cataldo Motta. 2007. “Women in the Sacra Corona Unita.” In Women and the Mafa: Female Roles in Organized Crime Structures, edited by Giovanni Fiandaca, 53–66. New York: Springer. McDonald, Paul. 2014. “Stallone’s Stomach: Cop Land and the Weight of Actorly Legitimisation.” In The Ultimate Stallone Reader: Sylvester Stallone as Star, Icon, Auteur, edited by Chris Holmlund, 147–70. New York: Columbia University Press. Mele, Vincenzo. 2015. “Anticipazione Gomorra 2 le serie: Genny sarà ancora più magro.” Urban Spettacolo, August 26. Accessed November 15, 2016. http:// urbanpost.it/anticipazioni-gomorra-2-la-serie-genny-sara-ancora-piu-magro/. Mittell, Jason. 2015. Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling. New York and London: New York University Press. Mobley, Jennifer-Scott. 2014. Female Bodies on the American Stage: Enter Fat Actress. New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Modleski, Tania. 1991. Feminism Without Women: Culture and Critique in a ‘Postfeminist’ Age. New York and London: Routledge. 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 227

Modleski, Tania. 2009. “Clint Eastwood and Male Weepies.” American Literary History 22 (1): 136–58. Naso, Domenico. 2016a. “Gomorra 2, la nuova stagione è ancora più feroce: una scarica di sangue e morte per raccontare un’Italia che esiste davvero.” Il fatto quotidiano, May 11. Accessed November 3, 2016. http://www. ilfattoquotidiano.it/2016/05/11/gomorra-2-la-nuova-stagione-e-ancora- piu-feroce-una-scarica-di-sangue-e-morte-per-raccontare-unitalia-che-esiste- davvero/2717341/. Naso, Domenico. 2016b. “Gomorra 2, tutti pazzi per Scianel e il vibratore dorato. Ma la neomelodica Cinza Oscar si dissocia: ‘Azione legale.’” Il fatto quotidiano, June 10. Accessed November 4, 2016. http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2016/06/10/gomorra-2-tutti-pazzi-per-scianel-e-il-vibratore-dorato-ma-la-neomelodica-cinzia-oscar-si-dissocia-azione-legale/2815638/. Nava, Alessandra. 2013. “Salvatore Esposito – la rivelazione di Gomorra.” Starssystem, July 22. Accessed June 29, 2015. http://www.starssystem.it/ people/interview/salvatore-esposito-la-rivelazione-di-gomorra. Neale, Steve. 1986. “Melodrama and Tears.” Screen 27 (6): 6–22. Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey. 1977. “Minnelli and Melodrama.” Screen 18 (2): 113–18. O’Rawe, Catherine. 2014. Stars and Masculinities in Contemporary Italian Cinema. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. O’Rawe, Catherine. 2015. “Romanzo criminale: la serie: Stardom, ideologia, nostalgia.” Bianco e nero 581: 43–49. Paone, Di Renato. 2016. “Roberto Saviano racconta Salvatore Conte, lo spietato boss di Gomorra, e di quel suo ‘amore non ordinario.’” L’Huffngton Post, May 22. Accessed November 5. http://www.huffngtonpost. it/2016/05/19/roberto-saviano-salvatore-conte-gomorra-amore-non-ordi- nario_n_10042966.html. Plotz, Barbara. 2013. “Paul Blart and the Decline of White Working-Class Masculinities.” Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society 2 (2): 173–82. Press TV. 2014. “Suicide Rate Growing in Italy Jails.” Press TV, March 14. Accessed July 9, 2015. http://www.presstv.com/detail/2014/03/14/ 354610/suicide-rate-growing-in-italy-jails/. Ravveduto, Marcello. 2014. “Donna Imma: La martire protettrice di Gomorra.” Fanpage.it, July 26. Accessed July 2, 2015. http://www.fanpage.it/ donna-imma-la-martire-protettrice-di-gomorra. Rees, Jasper. 2016. “Gomorrah, Series 1, Sky Atlantic, Review: ‘Ugly, in a Good Way.’” The Telegraph, May 11. Accessed November 3. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/2016/05/10/gomorrah-sky-atlantic-review-ugly- in-a-good-way/. 228 D. RENGA

Renga, Dana. 2016. “Gomorra: la serie: Beyond Realism.” The Italianist 36 (2): 287–92. Richardson, Niall, and Adam Locks. 2014. Body Studies: The Basics. London and New York: Routledge. Robertson, Pamela. 1999. “‘The Kind of Comedy That Imitates Me’: Mae West’s Identifcation with Feminist Camp.” In Camps Grounds: Style and Homosexuality, edited by David Bergman, 156–72. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. Salemi, Roselina. 2014. “Gomorra, Genny e Ciro cattivi ma non troppo.” l’Espresso, June 16. Accessed June 29, 2015. http://espresso.repubblica. it/visioni/2014/06/12/news/gomorra-genny-e-immortale-cattivi-ma- non-troppo-1.169079. Sannino, Conchita. 2016. “Ecco Gomorra la serie 2 tra realtà e fction: ‘È il neorealismo della television.’” la Repubblica, May 10. Accessed September 9. http:// napoli.repubblica.it/cronaca/2016/05/10/news/ecco_gomorra_2_tra_real- ta_e_fction_e_il_neorealismo_della_televisione_-139476615/?ref search. = Saviano, Roberto. 2007. Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples’ Organized Crime System. Translated by Virginia Jewiss. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Saviano, Roberto. 2014. “Gomorra La Serie – Intervista a Roberto Saviano.” YouTube, May 6. Accessed November 3, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v Y_00ZaHT0x8. = Sbrizzi, Vincenzo. 2016. “Gomorra, intervista alla trans Alessandra Langella: ‘Ogni giorno mi scontro con i pregiudizi.’” Napolitoday, May 22. Accessed November 6. http://www.napolitoday.it/cronaca/gomorra-trans-alessandra-langella-intervista.html. Scalise, Piera. 2016. “In Gomorra – La Serie Genny 2.0 è pronto a prendere le redini della famiglia: anticipazioni 17 e 24 settembre.” Optimagazine, September 17. Accessed November 14. http://www.optimaitalia.com/blog/ 2016/09/17/in-gomorra-la-serie-genny-2-0-e-pronto-a-prendere-le-redini- della-famiglia-anticipazioni-17-e-24-settembre/390204. Scozzafava, Monica. 2016. “Io Nina, trans di Gomorra Ho pianto sul set come nella vita.” Corriere del Mezzogiorno, May 19. Accessed November 5. Severgnini, Beppe. 2015. “‘Gomorrah’: Italy’s Criminally Great TV Show.” The New York Times, January 27. Accessed July 12. http://www.nytimes. com/2015/01/28/opinion/beppe-severgnini-gomorrah-italys-criminally-great-tv-show.html?_r 2. = Siebert, Renate. 1996. The Secrets of Life and Death: Women and the Mafa. Translated by Liz Heron. London and New York: Verso. Smith, Murray. 1995. Engaging Characters: Fiction, Emotion and the Cinema. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 7 MAKING MEN IN GOMORRAH 1 AND GOMORRAH 2 229

Sontag, Susan. 2002. “Notes on Camp.” In Camp: Queer Aesthetics and the Performing Subject: A Reader, edited by Fabio Cleto, 53–65. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Staiger, Janet. 2008. “Film Noir as Male Melodrama: The Politics of Film Genre Labeling.” In The Shifting Defnitions of Genre: Essays on Labeling Films, Television Shows, and Media, edited by Lincoln Geraghty and Mark Jancovich, 71–91. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. Stoloff, Sam. 2002. “Normalizing Stars: Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle and Hollywood Consolidation.” In American Silent Film: Discovering Marginalized Voices, edited by Gregg Bachman and Thomas J. Slater, 148–75. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. Swide. 2014. “5 Things About Marco D’Amore the Immortal.” Swide, August 20. Accessed July 7, 2015. http://www.swide.com/art-culture/marco-damore-5-things-on-the-italian-actor-of-gomorrah-and-perez/2014/08/20. Tasker, Yvonne. 1996. “Dumb Movies for Dumb People: Masculinity, the Body, and the Voice in Contemporary Action Cinema.” In Screening the Male: Exploring Masculinities in Hollywood Cinema, edited by Steven Cohan and Ina Rae Hark, 230–44. Routledge: Oxon and New York. Tasker, Yvonne. 2010. “Aging and Action Authenticity.” in medias res a mediacommons project, August 12. Accessed July 12, 2015. http://mediacommons. futureofthebook.org/imr/2010/08/12/aging-and-action-authenticity. The Criterion Collection. 2008. “Film Info.” The Criterion Collection. Accessed November 7, 2016. https://www.criterion.com/flms/1590-gomorrah. Vimercati, Giovanni. 2014. “TV Review: Gomorrah.” Variety, May 28. Accessed October 30, 2016. http://variety.com/2014/tv/reviews/tv-review- gomorrah-1201195153/. Weiner, Irving B. 2003. Principles of Rorschach Interpretation, 2nd ed. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. CHAPTER 8

#ciaonetfix: Suburra. La serie as “International Patrimony”

#ciaonetflix The Internet entertainment service Netfix debuted in Italy on October 22, 2015, just days after it launched in Spain and Portugal.1 Netfix was originally promoted to potential Italian clients with the friendly and inviting hashtag #ciaonetfix, and various marketing campaigns attempted to attract viewers who would like to choose when, where, and how to stream high-quality flm and television content. One tagline reads, “watch TV series and flms when you want, where you want” (YouTube 2015), while a Twitter post assures subscribers “hey, we’re at home” as brief clips play from popular Netfix series including Marco Polo (2014–2016), Sense8 (2015–2018), and Narcos (2015–) (Twitter 2015a). Netfix’s personalized platform offers a more immediate and emotional programming experience than Rai, Mediaset, or Sky. Like Sky, Netfix has aimed to appeal to Italian subscribers who crave original content diverging from the more mainstream and narratively predictable offerings available on Rai and Mediaset. As one promotional spot suggests, viewers can expect to fnd comfort in familiar story lines about life, loss, heroes, and villains, but will be surprised by narrative innovations that guarantee “it won’t be the same old story” (Twitter 2015b). Entering a market already rich in video-on-demand and streaming options such as Mediaset’s Infnity, Sky Online, Chili TV, and Tim Vision, Netfix needed to fnd its niche. Luca Barra notes that the inauguration of Netfix in Italy represented the umpteenth symptom of a “television

© The Author(s) 2019 231 D. Renga, Watching Sympathetic Perpetrators on Italian Television, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11503-6_8 232 D. RENGA transformation” occurring in the country (Barra 2015), a general sea change underlined by Netfix founder Reed Hastings in an interview in Wired Italia: “for ffty years we’ve had linear tv, but everything has its season and sooner or later is replaced: television of the future will be a large iPad” (Pesce 2015). At the same time, Barra and Francesco Marrazzo point to the many challenges faced by Netfix that are particular to the Italian landscape, including an aging population that tends to prefer traditional or generalist programming, limited broadband capabilities, lower Internet speeds, endemic piracy, and a tendency for low spending on digital entertainment (Barra 2015; Marrazzo 2016, 62).2 To increase its quo- tient of subscribers, Netfix enticed members with a subscription cost of €7.99/month (in the US Netfix runs $9.99 monthly) and a “free trial” of one month (compared to the two-week stint in the States). Italian Netfix subscribers are on the rise, with 800,000 reported on October 6, 2017 (Filippetti 2017) compared with 110,000 “actual” viewers (meaning those not only using the free trial) in January of 2016 (Ligas 2016).3 However, member numbers amount to a small portion of Netfix’s world- wide total 110 million subscribers (Netfix Media Center 2017b) and pale in comparison with the premium pay network Sky’s close to fve million subscribers (Bayre 2017). One reason for Netfix’s limited growth might be its more restricted library compared to competitors such as Sky and Mediaset. For example, two of Netfix’s most popular series air elsewhere—House of Cards is available on Sky while Mediaset shows Orange is the New Black (2013–). Also, Sky owns the show rights to the popular HBO shows Game of Thrones (2011–), Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014), True Blood (2008–2014), and Big Little Lies (2017), among many others. Netfix appears to pride itself on its thoughtfulness in determining what consumers want when they enter a new market. In the words of Chief Content Advisor Ted Sarandos, the company offers clients “unprecedented choice” in terms of both the variety and multiplicity of programs available, but also in terms of linguistic options as shows can be watched both subtitled and dubbed, an innovative option for the Italian market that is used to dubbed content (Thomas Reuters Streetevents 2014). Further, Netfix claims to give some thought as to what local-content consumers might want to view in the long term. As Sarandos underlines, subscribers are most enthusiastic early on with novel content and note that the breakdown for new markets tends to be 80–85% “Hollywood or international content” with 15% to 20% com- prising local material (Thomas Reuters Streetevents 2014). 8 #CIAONETFLIX: SUBURRA. LA SERIE AS “INTERNATIONAL PATRIMONY” 233

To hook and retain Italian clients, Netfix turned toward a local-content model that has worked well for Sky, producing factually based criminal sagas told principally from the perspective of attractive and alluring antiheroes. The debut of Netfix in Italy was preceded by announcements of the frst-ever Netfix original series called Suburra. La serie (various directors, one season: 2017, with a second in production). The series would premiere in 2017 and would act as a prequel for the 2015 eponymous Michele Placido flm due out in theaters on October 14, 2015 (and streamed simultaneously on Netfix only eight days later).4 This very distinctive marketing strategy primed viewers for the series which was touted as “Netfix’s next big foreign addiction” (Nguyen 2017). Netfix programming is incredibly global in appeal and transcends individual markets to engage viewers from 190 different countries (Netfix Media Center 2017b). The transnational appeal of the Netfix model is perhaps most apparent in the successful sci-f series Sense8 (2015–2018) which at its core is interested in the “crossing of national, gender and sexual borders” (Shaw 2017). After the success of Suburra. La serie, in 2017 Netfix announced two more Italian productions due out the following year. The frst is a docuseries granting viewers intimate access into the “real lives” of the elite Turin-based soccer club Juventus (Netfix Media Center 2017a); the other is a coming-of-age prostitution drama called Baby that is based on a true story and promises, according to Netfix, to “explore the diverse experiences of Italian teenagers” (Vivarelli 2017).5 Like stories of the mafa, stories of soccer and female sex work produced according to the Netfix model may likely engage viewers in Italy and internationally, especially those interested in stories focusing on male bonding, or as might be the case with Baby, in women in need of saving.

Suburra. La serie as “International Patrimony”

Sympathetic Perpetrators Dubbed the “Italian answer to Narcos” (Nguyen 2017), the entire frst season of Suburra. La serie (various directors) was available for download on October 6, 2017, on the Internet entertainment service Netfix that debuted in Italy in 2015. Suburra. La serie is Italy’s frst made-for-Net- fix series and is a prequel to the 2015 flm (Stefano Sollima) and 2013 novel (Giovanni De Cataldo and Carlo Bonini), both entitled Suburra 234 D. RENGA and both of which chronicle the church, state, and mafa involvement in 2011 in a corrupt development deal in the seaside town of Ostia, located thirty kilometers from Rome. Spanning a twenty-one-day period in February and March 2008, the series is a coming-of-age story focusing primarily on the exploits of three attractive, young men who angle for their share of the profts in the nascent stages of the Ostia land and port deal: Leading antihero Aureliano Adami (Alessandro Borghi) is the son of a small-time gang leader who struggles with his semi-impotent father Tullio (Federico Tocci) and controlling and power-hungry sister Livia (Barbara Chichiarelli); Alberto “Spadino” Anacleti (Giacomo Ferrara) is in love with Aureliano and must repress his homosexuality from the members of his Sinti crime family, in particular his older, traditional brother Manfredi (Adamo Dioisi); and Gabriele “Lele” Marchilli (Eduardo Valdarnini) is a middle-class son of a policeman who prefers dealing drugs and the Roman nightlife to his studies. All three are under the control of Roman mafa kingpin Samurai (Francesco Acquaroli) who is working to bring the Sicilian mafa into Rome through the Ostia port arrangement. Aureliano, Spadino, and Lele commit murder, deal drugs, manage sex work, and engage in extortion, and their involvement in such illicit acts leads to the death of several of those most dear to them. And yet, like many male protagonists gracing small Italian screens over the last ten years or so, they are represented in highly sympathetic terms. In particular, Suburra. La serie engages in a representation of queer masculinity that is distinctive in relation to Italian serial drama as a whole and especially in relation to serial dramas that depend upon sympathetic perpetrators to create relationships with viewers. This essay investigates fascinations surrounding glamorized criminals by looking at how recent Italian history and queer bodies are represented, negotiated, and received in Suburra. La serie, both in Italy and in internationally. In many ways, the series is a distinctly Italian production, especially in terms of the popular mafa-corruption plot that is based on real-life events. However, on par with or even more so than the smash hit Gomorrah (2014–), Suburra. La serie is a transnational production that engages viewers outside of Italy. In what follows, I pay attention to the series’ interesting marketing strategy that fagrantly draws attention to fctional/historical consistencies, before moving on to address the physical allure and charisma of criminal antiheroes who appear trapped in a perpetual adolescence. Further, I address how Suburra. La serie’s singularity as a transnational co-production allows for a unique 8 #CIAONETFLIX: SUBURRA. LA SERIE AS “INTERNATIONAL PATRIMONY” 235 representation of gender and sexuality on Italian small screens, as it marks an opening up of a mainstream space on the small screen to tell stories from the perspective of a non-normative sexual orientation. As I will argue, Suburra. La serie is a queer text with an address to viewers spanning continents, cultures, and languages. Or, in the words of one reviewer, “Suburra mixes The Godfather with The Sopranos for the queer generation” (Reddish 2017).

“Suburra vs. Reality” The book, flm, and series are very loosely based on the Mafa Capitale scandals that rocked the Italian nation when they were unveiled in 2014 and pointed toward an intricate web of mafa-church-state corruption in the nation’s capital dating to at least 2000. Those who write on the flm and book note affnities between fact and fction, such as similarities between historical and fctional bad guys (such as Samurai’s resemblance to Roman mafa legend Massimo Carminati), Pope Benedict XVI’s resigning from offce, the fall of then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government, elaborate parties involving politicians and prostitutes, and emergent criminal gangs in the Eternal City. As one reviewer writes, “it’s like watching the newspapers come to life with all of the scandals that captured the public eye” (Mereghetti 2015). One publicity stunt for the flm involved promoting a building project called “Ostia Waterfront” that promised to transform Ostia into an Italian Las Vegas by 2017. The pseudo-advertising campaign involved a Web site (www.ostiawaterfront. it) and a truck adorned with billboards and accompanied by scantily clad women passing out fyers advertising the hoped-for beachside revolution (De Santis 2015). The promo was met with public scandal, in particular on the Facebook Page of the group “Rome is disgusting” which is part of a platform that allows for disgruntled citizens to voice discontent regarding the governmental mismanagement, collusion, criminality, corruption, and degradation apparently rife in Rome (Facebook 2015). Since Mafa capitale made the headlines over three years ago, it is not uncommon to read news accounts of gang activity in and around Ostia. For example, during the month following Suburra. La serie’s release, news outlets reported on topics that include police sweeps in Ostia so as to prevent mafa turf wars in late November (The Local 2017) or the 6 November violent assault by Roberto Spada—of the notorious Spada organized crime family—on a Rai journalist in broad daylight during a 236 D. RENGA taped interview (Fiano 2017). The Sky series and miniseries Romanzo criminale. La serie (2008–2010), Faccia d’angelo (Angel Face, 2012), and Gomorrah met with much controversy due to what victim’s groups, politicians, neighborhood coalitions, and other stakeholders felt was these programs’ representation of criminality through the eyes of alluring wrongdoers who might lead viewers down the wrong path. Unlike its flmic predecessor, this is not the case for the Netfix production, even though the series features good-looking criminals whose infltration into the Vatican and national politics must resonate among Italian viewers, many of whom are surely aware of the mafa’s stronghold in Rome. What might account for this dramatic difference in reception? One simple explanation involves Netfix’s relative popularity in Italy. Although subscriptions are on the upswing with 800,000 reported on the day of Suburra. La series’s release of October 6, 2017 (Filippetti 2017), members pale in comparison with the premium pay network Sky’s close to fve million subscribers (Bayre 2017). And of these Italian 800,000 subscribers (or Netfix’s 110 million international clients), it is impossible to know many actually watch the series, as Netfix, like the other streaming servers Amazon and Hulu, keeps their streaming numbers to themselves (Koblin 2017). Also, as of writing, it is still early in the game, and it is possible that further coverage through reviews, critical essays, and fan blogs, coupled with the recent announcements of a guaranteed second season and talk of a third, might bring greater attention to the series, possibly resulting in greater scrutiny (Leonardi 2017). As it stands, the coverage that I have encountered (and there is not much) that links contemporary criminality with the series is almost lackadaisical in tone, and straightforwardly mentions that the series is inspired by real-life events: “Ostia, Suburra with a sea view” (Haver 2017); “The growing lawlessness in the Roman municipality inspired the plotline for the Netfix series Suburra” (Nadeau 2017); or “Ostia like Suburra, the infamous area of the television capital full of disrepu- table brothels and dives” (Haver 2017), a statement which directly links the oceanside neighborhood with the lower-class ancient Roman sub- urb “Subura” known for its red-light district. Such an anti-critical tone mirrors the resigned reactions that local residents have to elevated crime in the area. For example, one woman fatly notes that local youth enter organized crime as networks offer the only viable option for getting by (Nadeau 2017). This attitude stands in juxtaposition to the calls for arms voiced by detractors of Gomorrah, where protesters are primarily 8 #CIAONETFLIX: SUBURRA. LA SERIE AS “INTERNATIONAL PATRIMONY” 237 concerned with how the series might equate several Campanian cities with the Camorra or are infuriated that Roberto Saviano, author of the book Gomorrah (2006) and co-creator of the series, might be getting rich off of the criminal organization while exploiting the residents of Naples and Scampia. Suburra. La serie is also conspicuous from the much-debated Sky counterparts Romanzo criminale. La serie, Faccia d’angelo, and Gomorrah in its explicit narrative focus on church and state corruption. While it is clear that gangsters enter into affairs with politicians, the police, or an array of legitimate businesses in these other programs, narratives focus principally on the lives and loves of gangsters (e.g., in Gomorrah politicians and agents of legality fgure little, if at all, in the majority of episodes and in Faccia d’angelo police investigators are represented as upstanding citizens consumed with bringing the protagonist to justice). Instead, the narrative of Suburra. La serie is divided between the triumvirate’s romances, bromances, and criminal endeavors, and the fagrant venalities at work the Vatican and in Parliament, and this narrative focus is clear in the story line of Amedeo Cinaglia (Filippo Nigro), a seemingly incorruptible left-wing politician who, without much prod- ding, goes into business with Samurai. Thus, Aureliano, Spadino, and Lele are cast as the lesser evils when set against a crooked national scene. Further, Gomorrah is about the city of Scampia and directly engages stakeholders who respond quite negatively and vehemently to what is perceived as a negative representation of the city. On the contrary, most of Suburra. La serie that relates to the criminal trio is shot in nonspe- cifc locations, and the depiction of criminality is more directly associated with church (the Vatican) and state (several political offces). Also, Romanzo criminale. La serie witnessed a publicity campaign around the slogan “crime pays” that enraged constituencies and provoked protest. A series of four posters appeared in cities throughout Italy that featured the faces of Freddo, Libanese, Dandi, and Patrizia. To the right of each visage appeared the wording “I stole” (Freddo), “I killed” (Libanese), “I dealt drugs” (Dandi), and “I sold myself” (Patrizia), with “Crime Pays” featuring under the wording “Romanzo criminale la serie.” Those behind the creation and promotion of Suburra. La serie do not appear concerned regarding any polemics that might result from the series’ perceived mimetic take on daily life, and instead make the most out of recent malfeasant developments in the capital: Leading up to the October 6, 2017 release of Suburra. La serie, the entertainment 238 D. RENGA company Netfix launched a publicity campaign on the social media networks Twitter and Facebook that blatantly foregrounded the parallels between the fctional product and contemporary, real-life events in and around Rome. On October 4, both networking services featured the game “Suburra vs. Reality.” “The reality of events is often more discon- certing than fction” proclaims the post that challenges fans to discern whether a set of fve newspaper headlines correspond to “Suburra” or “la Realtà.” Stories—of which there are about twenty or so to choose from—involve the arrest of corrupt politicians, gangland fghts, homicides, suicides, the discovery of the bodies of a priest and a “Asian man,” drug traffcking, prostitution, the arrest of two Sinti men, and home- less camps around the Vatican (Facebook 2017b). Based on the score received (zero to fve correct), players receive derisive, encouraging, or congratulatory messages from leading antiheroes Aureliano and Spadino, who look out toward and speak directly to viewers—with a perfect score, Aureliano exclaims “Well done, you know how Rome is run,” while with only two correct, Spadino scoffs “you didn’t want to take your time!” In addition to the game, the Twitter page includes several tweets prompting users to refect upon topics that include the history of Rome, contemporary politics, corruption in church and state, and local mafa activity and arrests—one post from the day before the series’ premiere references a contemporary article in the leading newspaper La Repubblica that includes the tagline “Ostia political-criminal laboratory” (Angeli 2017) while another from September 28 links to an article about the arrest for money laundering of a member of the Roman mafa the Banda della Magliana (la Repubblica 2017). Interestingly, these posts are not included on the much more popular Facebook page, which might hint that the network is being cautious regarding marketing strategies with a potential backlash—as of December 27, 2017, the offcial Twitter page @SuburraNetfx has only 1977 followers (Twitter 2017) compared with the Facebook page’s 37,847 followers on the same day (Facebook 2017a). Many debates have ensued on social media and blogging sites surrounding what many feel is a glamorized representation of the Roman criminal gang the Banda della Magliana in the Romanzo criminale series, and found that users have conficted, and even angry, reactions to content that equates historical fact and fction (Renga 2017). It is interesting that protests to posts on both Facebook and Twitter on Suburra. La serie that present villains as alluring or confate real-life events with fction are nonexistent. Instead of voicing concern surrounding the dangers of 8 #CIAONETFLIX: SUBURRA. LA SERIE AS “INTERNATIONAL PATRIMONY” 239 casting perpetrators in a fascinating light, users comment on, for example, Borghi’s beauty and Spadino’s dance moves, they encourage friends to watch and comment the series, commend the series for a job well done, debate its merits or criticize the subtitling, they laud the actors’ abilities, express a desire for a second season, ask advice as to where to purchase Aureliano’s sunglasses, worry that the series might act as a spoiler for the flm, or, as I discuss in detail later, enthusiastically discuss the obvious chemistry between Aureliano and Spadino. One commenter writes remarks under the “Suburra vs. reality” post, “for a while now, reality has surpassed the imagination” (enric0.v, October 4, 2017, comment on Twitter 2017), and this straightforward tone is also apparent in the reception of the series, fan interactions with web-based content, and the coverage of recent criminal events in Rome and Ostia. Unlike the 2015 flm, the Netfix series has (as of yet) side- stepped the protests surrounding other popular, recent series and miniseries with a criminal focus, all the while featuring Spadino, an attractive, queer protagonist who is not reduced to a cliché, punished, or alienated from the narrative. Indeed, Suburra. La serie has “revolutionized tv” in Italy in more ways than one (Pasquini 2017).

The Allure of Evil Suburra. La serie’s leading bad men Aureliano, Spadino, and Lele add to the profusion of conventionally good-looking sympathetic antiheroes on Rai, Mediaset, and Sky programming. One reviewer writes, “Suburra is a traumatic experience in a reality that we would not like to experience, but that we cannot look away from” (Ahlen 2017). Such a statement gets to the heart of flm and television scholarship on why many viewers take pleasure in forming virtual relationships with fctional characters who, were they to show up at our doors, would terrify many of us, and push us to call the police as we know what these men are capable of. Discussed as “perverse allegiances” (Smith 1999), “sympathy for the devil” (Carrol 2004), “appealing, attractive murderer[s]” (Smith 2011), or “sympathetic allegiance [with] antiheroes” (García 2016, 70), focal antiheroes who are endowed with qualities that elicit viewer alignment are abundant in contemporary serial television programming. Take, for example, Aureliano Adami, a key member of the gangster trio in the series who is the feature character in the book and flm. The Adami family misft is played by conventionally attractive actor 240 D. RENGA

Alessandro Borghi who is called “The Italian Brad Pitt” (Proietti 2016) and was chosen to be the frst man to act as the “host” of the 2017 Venice Film Festival, an honor typically awarded to an Italian actress who is dubbed the “madrina/sponsor.” Borghi is described by many blog- gers and reviewers as a “sex symbol,” and Vanity Fair notes that he is the “madrino” of the Venice Film Festival, and a “sex symbol” who comes off as an “Italian James Bond” (Abbiadati 2017). The rising star is the center of much media attention around the series and is featured prominently on Suburra. La serie’s Facebook and Twitter pages, where he or his fctional counterpart Aureliano have a more prominent presence than the other characters/actors involved in the series. Some images and short videos accentuate Aureliano’s dark side. For example, one post warns users to “Never turn the other cheek” to Aureliano Adami who gazes seductively out toward viewers while a super-imposed video features Aureliano violently beating a rival to death. Posts also feature the following: Jokes about his speedy driving, tongue in cheek how-to lessons that instruct users on how reach his “Zen” condition, warnings about never getting on his bad side, a feature on the “Aureliano Adami state of mind,” or a short video called “ties” where he is shown playing with his beloved dog (Facebook 2017a). User reactions to these videos are uni- formly positive and enthusiastic, which makes sense in that the Facebook page is “liked” by a community of alleged fans. Aureliano Adami is a consummate example of a sympathetic perpetrator, and he is endowed with many of the characteristics that render likeable the many sympathetic perpetrators omnipresent on small screens as of late. Viewers might align with and feel allegiance for Aureliano for several reasons, even though he is a hard-core criminal who maims and murders many, and exhibits particular violence when killing Spadino’s cousin and his girlfriend’s pimp, and even murders his good friend Lele’s father. First off, we get to know Aureliano quite well, as we see him in several spaces and contexts: at the gym boxing, alone swimming or brooding, playing with his dog at the beach, arguing with his sister and father, developing intimate friendships with Lele and Spadino and rivalries with Samurai and Sara Monaschi (Claudia Gerini), who works for the Vatican and is manipulated by several key players in the Ostia deal. When he meets Lele for the frst time, he invites him into the boxing ring to prove his worth. After Lele takes a punch and appears fearful of reprisal, Aureliano approaches him in a threatening way, and they are shown in a medium two-shot as the tension builds before Aureliano playfully invites 8 #CIAONETFLIX: SUBURRA. LA SERIE AS “INTERNATIONAL PATRIMONY” 241 him to discussion (see Fig. 8.1). Although he is spoken about by his father and Samurai as the least adept of the Adami siblings, he is positioned as the clear leader of the trio and is physically ft and clever in his criminal enterprises (although not incredibly successful) and moves up the chain of command by the end of the season when Samurai accepts his power position and cuts him in on the deal. He also falls in love with Isabelle (Lorena Cesarini), a prostitute from Senegal who, in a very stereotypical fashion, he attempts to rescue but cannot as she is murdered by his vindictive sister Livia. Isabelle’s death endows Aureliano with further pathos while vilifying Livia. Further, he has a compelling backstory that marks him as a tragic fgure as his mother died giving birth to him and as a result his father resents him: Like most televisual antiheroes as of late, Aureliano has father issues and endeavors to take his father’s place so that he can come-of-age in the streets on his own terms. Perhaps most importantly, Aureliano struggles with his criminal dark side and, unlike Samurai, Manfredi Anacleti, or his sister, is not at ease harming or mur- dering people who he feels do not deserve it (he even refuses to abandon his dog, even though keeping the animal makes him vulnerable as it ties him to a murder). Aureliano suffers over and over again: He cries, looks bereft, and experiences what is best described as existential angst when confronted with what he feels is his solitary position in life. In the words

Fig. 8.1 Aureliano (Alessandro Borghi) and Lele (Eduardo Valdarnini) spar in the boxing ring in Suburra. La serie 242 D. RENGA of Jessica Page Morrell, “and here is the trick with creating antiheroes: They always possess an underlying pathos” (Morrell 2014, 143). Like many actors, Borghi is involved in the dissemination of story lines about his character that might engage viewers and push them to consider the complexity of Aureliano’s persona. The rising Italian star recounts to an interviewer that Suburra. La serie is not interested in just showing the “negative sides” and “ugly aspects” of characters, but instead strives to narrate a “moment of humanity” that frequently (and paradoxically) is juxtaposed with violent scenes (Vitali 2017). However, Giacomo Ferrara (who plays Spadino) disagrees with Borghi and hopes that viewers will have a more Manichean reaction to Suburra. La serie’s characters, and will be disgusted by them (“facciano schifo”) and not follow in their footsteps (Fumarola 2017). Such responses by those involved in the production of programs featuring glamorized representations of criminality are common, as actors, showrunners, creators, or producers work to preempt debates and polemics potentially spurred by what victims, activists, or average citizens might perceive as irresponsible representations of alluring delinquents. In the same interview however, Ferrara discusses the diffculties of interpreting Spadino without transforming him into a “caricature” and notes that he worked hard to make the character nuanced, a move that counters Ferrara’s earlier statement regarding the loathsome quality of the characters in the series (Fumarola 2017). In many ways Spadino is quite nuanced, and, as I will now discuss, engenders the frst gay sympathetic perpetrator in a central role in the Italian small screen tradition.

“Meet the Fairy Godfather” Before Suburra. La serie, Italian premium serial television was reluctant to feature gay or queer characters, and any minor gay characters are represented as stereotyped, closeted, under-developed, or their perceived “deviant” behaviors resulted in their being ostracized or killed off (and this is the case, with few exceptions, for mainstream Italian television). For example, In Romanzo criminale. La serie the only openly gay character Ranocchia has a minor role and is bullied by main male protagonist Dandi and develops a fatal illness that Catherine O’Rawe notes is “coded as AIDS” and speaks to an “anxiety about contamination” running throughout the series (O’Rawe 2014, 131); Although 1992/1993 introduces a few minor gay characters, some with HIV/AIDS and one 8 #CIAONETFLIX: SUBURRA. LA SERIE AS “INTERNATIONAL PATRIMONY” 243 closeted politician representing the extreme right regionalist and federalist Northern League whose sexual dalliance result in his being black- mailed (as discussed in Chapter 6), the series focuses on a white, straight character named Luca who contracts HIV because he is unknowingly exposed to tainted blood and is represented as a martyr fgure whose suffering is foregrounded; Finally, one episode in both Gomorrah 1 and Gomorrah 2 focuses on a different transgender character, both of whom are quite developed. In the end, however, one character named Luca is murdered and the other called Nina is publicly shamed and then abandoned before being left to melancholically suffer. Conversely, Suburra. La serie is genuinely interested in exploring the complexities of what it means to be gay if “you are the heir to a rising mafa family” (Corsi 2017). Spadino from the Netfix production is a sui generis queer protagonist in the Italian small screen tradition, both in terms of his representation within the series and how he is marketed and received extra-diegetically. Viewers learn that Spadino is gay early on in “21 Days” (1.01) when he speaks unhappily with his mother about his impending arranged marriage with Angelica (Carlotta Antonelli), the daughter of another Sinti clan boss. To console him, she tells him in Sinti: “I know what you are. I understand” and he questions “what am I?” to which she responds, “what you are, whatever you are, you can’t be that here, in this house, in this family. You can’t.” For the frst time in the series, the melodramatic theme music commences that will serve as a trope to underline the sadness, longing, and distress frequently felt by Aureliano, Spadino, and Lele, and is heard in particular when Aureliano and Spadino feel bereft about the direction their lives are heading (e.g., the second time we hear the music occurs two minutes later when Spadino drives to a gay cruising area, but cannot bring himself to pick up a man who strikingly resembles Aureliano, in particular with his piercing eyes and bleached blonde hair). The representation of Spadino is “completely distant from the typical LGBT clichés that Italian television frequently accustoms viewers” (Boni 2017). Suburra. La serie makes overt the queer theme from the beginning, and each episode develops Spadino’s story line. In particular, in episodes 1.01–1.04, Spadino’s angst with having to live in the closet are obvious, as is his discomfort with the arranged marriage and his developing attraction toward Aureliano, and their chemistry increases with every episode. The focus of “The She-Wolf” (1.05) is the gauche wedding cer- emony complete with a mockup of the Trevi Fountain which is followed 244 D. RENGA by Spadino’s unwillingness to consummate the marriage (he instead cuts his arm with a dagger to simulate the virginal blood on the sheets). In “Garlic, Oil, and Chili Pepper” (1.06) the homoerotic nature of the Spadino-Aureliano relationship is made manifest as the pair takes a road trip during which they further bond while relaxing in a thermal hot spring where they rub mud on one another’s backs (this episode is a favorite with fans who “ship” or “root for”/“believe in” the Spadino/Aureliano relationship, as I discuss later). In the following two episodes, Spadino is ever more frustrated with his forced union until Angelica spies on him while he meets with Aureliano and she easily guesses that her husband in love with a man. An eyeline match depicts Spadino unawares of being observed: He is framed in a close-up in focus as he sniffs Aureliano’s hat and appears forlorn (see Fig. 8.2). At this point, she attempts to blackmail him, telling him that she will keep his secret if he impregnates her. In the penultimate episode “Pitch Black” (1.09), Spadino’s euphoria at having fnally stood up to his family leads him to kiss Aureliano who then turns on Spadino and insults him with homophobic slurs. In the fnal episode “Call It Sleep” (1.10), Spadino comes into his own, takes over his family, and has sex with Angelica so as to maintain his paterfamilias status, and this scene is particularly touching as Angelica gently assists Spadino

Fig. 8.2 Angelica (Carlotta Antonelli) spies on Spadino as he sniffs Aureliano’s hat in Suburra. La serie 8 #CIAONETFLIX: SUBURRA. LA SERIE AS “INTERNATIONAL PATRIMONY” 245 in coitus who is grimacing, and patently discomforted. In their fnal con- frontation, Spadino does not kill Aureliano when he has the chance (and nor does Aureliano kill Spadino when he has a clear shot), and Spadino tells his friend that he knows who he is and does not have to prove anything to anyone, as he is a “a gypsy and a fa***t.” Spadino’s narrative concludes when he confdently picks up the Aureliano-doppelganger prostitute and drives off in his luxury car.1 Like Aureliano, Spadino (and to a lesser extent Lele, only because he is given less screen time) is presented as a compassionate and complex fgure, and his ill deeds pale in comparison with that of his two friends who, for example, each murder the other’s father. Born into a family that will never accept him, he struggles with flial ascension and is set up in contradistinction with his older brother Manfredi who is cruel, unsympathetic, lecherous, and follows antiquated patriarchal customs (e.g., before Spadino meets his betrothed, Manfredi forces him to kill a sheep, a violent and outdated ritual with which Spadino is clearly at odds). Unlike Aureliano and Lele, Spadino does not commit murder and refuses to “be a man” in the way his mother orders, and instead prefers to spend his time playing and plotting with his friends or in his club dancing. One reviewer notes that Spadino’s “joyous, snake-hipped” dancing marks “his only true moments of freedom” (Feay 2017). I would add to this his intimate bonding with Aureliano, his affnity for music, or his day in the city center with Angelica where they disrupt diners at a fve-star restaurant in Rome’s most affuent shopping district and gleefully run off without paying their tab.1 Like his criminal counterparts, Spadino suffers profoundly and openly weeps. All this, coupled with his charisma and good looks, endow him with pathos and prompt viewers to respond positively toward him. Reactions to Spadino and the Spadino/Aureliano coupling in reviews, blog sites, and in comments to Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube posts are plentiful and consistently positive and speak to the “participatory culture” of online communities (Jenkins et al. 2009), for example:

beautiful! I adore these two, there are no words to describe how much I love them. Spadino is the frst gay character who is distanced from the classic caricatured and parodic fgure that Italian television has gotten us used to, and this really, really means something […] I hope that the authors will be courageous enough to continue to deepen their relationship and 246 D. RENGA

maybe, who knows, gift us with a little happiness. (User comment to BloodlessAgain 2017) In the super macho criminal world, it sounds ironic and surely satisfying that it is precisely a gay character who is the most manly. In fact, Spadino, more than anyone else, realizes a complete journey of maturation and affr- mation. Now we have a mafoso who is as gay intelligent and screwed up as a straight mafoso, as happy and sad as a straight mafoso, e, according to the limiting gender logic of this world, as masculine as his heterosexual counterpart. (Romano 2017)

“Meet the fairy godfather” is the tagline of an English-language review that lauds the Netfix series for putting forward a “sexy, stylish gay mobster” who is the craftiest of the triad and is “more gangster” possibly due to his “double minority status” (Reddish 2017) as Sinti and gay, a position that leads him to develop survival skills that allow him to get ahead, and even thrive, in seemingly impossible circumstances. In terms of character complexity and allure, Spadino gives onscreen white male criminal fgures such as Tony Soprano (James Gandolfni), Walter White (Bryan Cranston), and Ciro di Marzio (Marco D’Amore) a run for their money. Netfix is not at all shy in drawing attention to Spadino’s sexuality and to the erotic nature of the Spadino/Aureliano relationship. For example, on October 21, 2017, Netfix posted a video called “Word is spreading that Anacleti and Adami are getting into trouble” to the offcial Twitter and Facebook sites. The forty-eight-second video is composed of eighteen Spadino/Aureliano moments, the majority of which we see the pair laugh, bond, look meaningfully at one another, enjoy a plate of pasta or soak in a thermal hot spring. In a few other clips, Spadino breaks down or wistfully smells Aureliano’s sweater, and in one moment Aureliano lies in bed with his girlfriend. The post is accompanied by the love song “It’s You” by Martha Bean and Chris Lewis that is on the soundtrack to Netfix’s frst Spanish original series “Las chicas del cable/Cable Girls,” a period drama set in the 1920s that focuses on female bonding and has queer themes, and develops intimate relationships between key female protagonists. In this way, the Suburra. La serie video has a transnational appeal. The series’ address to viewers across the globe who are attracted to queer programming might also be heightened considering that Spadino is the second gay criminal character featured in a 2017 Netfix production, the frst being the openly gay and powerful drug traffcker Helmer “Pacho” Herrera in the American Netfix production Narcos, 8 #CIAONETFLIX: SUBURRA. LA SERIE AS “INTERNATIONAL PATRIMONY” 247 a character who is “revolutionizing what it means to be a powerful gay man” (Friedlander 2017). At the same time, the video speaks to a national fan base through including quotations from four Twitter posts written in Italian of different fans of the series, which read:

“International patrimony” @lifewithbi “Romeo and Juliet who?” @pinkplumcake “I ship Aureliano and Spadino and I do not at all feel badly about it” @ Helactras

Thus, in Netfix’s promotional video, the Spadino and Aureliano overshadow that of Romeo and Juliet and become ingrained in Italian cultural history (as the Shakespeare play takes place in Ravenna). Further, the @Helactras tweet expresses an open acceptance of a gay relationship, and the use of the popular term “to ship for” invites other users to follow suit. Of the more than ffty posts on the Facebook site (as of the time of writing) the Spadino/Aureliano post is the third most popular in terms of “likes” (more than 4000) and fourth most favored according to “shares” (almost 500) and “comments” (all 695 of which are affrmative). Such contributions by the network promote a form of what Jason Mittell calls “forensic fandom that invites viewers to dig deeper, prob- ing beneath the surface to understand the complexity of the story and its telling” (Mittell n.d.). Netfix’s advertising campaign regarding the Spadino/Aureliano coupling might imply that the service is attempting to gain access to, in Suzanne Danuta Walters words, the “gay market’” which is a “com- modity” ready to be exploited for capitalist proft (Walters 2001, 254). However, the queer response to the series emphasizes an “unsettling of the mainstream” that is central to the project of queer television studies (Joyrich 2014, 133). Lynne Joyrich argues that television queerness can be both reactionary and progressive, both “the electrical spark and the grounding against any possible shock.” This paradox is at play in Suburra. La serie as the Spadino story line marks a “small revolution” (Romano 2017) in the representation of LGBT characters in Italian small screen programming, even though his popularity is most certainly bolstered by his association with a series of routine conventions used in Sky programs to represent criminal antiheroes (i.e., they are attractive, 248 D. RENGA glamorous, white, and engage in deep bromances). Concomitantly, Suburra. La serie engages viewers internationally who turn to streaming platforms such as Netfix and Amazon Prime—both of which have developed a signifcant reputation for producing serial dramas featuring sympathetic LGBT characters (i.e., Netfix’s Sense8, 2015–2018, and Amazon Prime’s Transparent, 2014–). With Suburra. La serie, Netfix uses dependable production and marketing strategies to hook a sizable international viewership. Such tactics do not negate the series’ potential as a queer text. Alexander Doty notes, “queer reception (and production) practices can include everything from the reactionary to the radical to the indeterminate.” Queer reception is anti-essentializing (someone might identify to one’s family or friends one way, yet “queerly experience” a media product in quite a different fashion) (Doty 1993, 15). Sara Ahmed points out that while compulsory heterosexuality is socially comfortable (and is structured around wed- dings, childbirth, labor, death), it is by no means mandatory. She argues that when queer bodies push against “narratives of ideal heterosexuality” (Ahmed 2014, 146) there is a potential to rework the heteronormative. She writes: “The hope of queer is that the reshaping of bodies through the enjoyment of what or who has been barred can ‘impress’ differently upon the surfaces of social space, creating the possibility of social forms that are not constrained by the form of the heterosexual couple.” Thus, queer can be highly revolutionary when positioned nearby heteronormativity, and the “hope of queer politics” involves transformed modes of being with others (Ahmed 2014, 165). The representation of Spadino and the circulation and reception of the queer Spadino/Aureliano videos, both offcial and fan-based, certainly endorse such a progressive position.

Conclusion: “Brutal Masculinity” In the Italian mainstream television tradition, Suburra. La serie’s representation of a gay male character is revolutionary. With its overt queer subtext, Suburra. La serie is pioneering in the representation of sex and gender on Italian small screens and appeals to viewers inside and outside of Italy. At the same time, the focus on the homosocial exploits of a criminal band of brothers who attempt to make it big in Rome against a larger political and criminal backdrop might draw in, for example, fans of the Sky hit series Romanzo criminale, the majority of whom reside 8 #CIAONETFLIX: SUBURRA. LA SERIE AS “INTERNATIONAL PATRIMONY” 249 within the nation’s borders. The queer position that the series promotes however comes at the expense (as per usual) of women, pretty much all of whom are represented in problematic terms and are not put forward as characters that prompt audience alignment. With regard to the treatment of women in the Sollima flm, Danielle Hipkins astutely points out, “Quite different to the knowing and playfully extended boyhood of male characters, the preoccupation with female youth in Italian cinema gives us the disposable girl corpse of Suburra” (Hipkins 2017, 271). Although female characters in the series are more developed and have greater screen time and increased power positions than the few women in the flm (most of whom are prostitutes and one drug-addled girlfriend), all female characters in the series are represented as power hungry, vindictive, manipulative, or compliant to the men around them. To cite two examples of many, the only woman of color in the series is Aureliano’s girlfriend Isabelle who works as a prostitute, returns to Aureliano over and over again regardless of how poorly he treats her, and is murdered by Livia who, like many of the women in the series, is coded as a lesser human-being than her male counterparts as she is selfsh and conniving (Livia also cold-heartedly kills Aureliano’s dog and orders her lover’s murder). It is interesting that the only woman put forth as a positive fgure is Aureliano’s mother who we never meet as she has been dead for a few decades. Instead, as is common in contemporary quality programming, the father/son bond, and all of its nuances (becoming the father, growing up differently than the father, rebelling against the father, killing off the father) drives the story forward. As is frequently the case in male melodrama, the diverse crises experienced by youthful male protagonists are narratively central and further assist in rendering these men likable to viewers. To cite an extreme case, even Aureliano’s overt homophobia is packaged as potentially excusable when he is depicted as despondently mourning the close bond with his friend Spadino. Even though the two straight characters Lele and Spadino have love interests, the connections privileged by the series are those between men, and these “brutal masculinit[ies]” (Feay 2017), bromances, and homosocial bonds are cast as the most compelling relationships that, according to the thousands of fan blogs and posts that I consulted, engage gay, straight, lesbian, and bisexual audiences internationally. In this way, @lifewithbi’s post “Aureliano + Spadino international patrimony!!” is telling. The etymology of “patrimony” relates to “social organization defned by male dominance or relationship through the male line” 250 D. RENGA

(Oxford English Dictionary). In Suburra. La serie, male power and pat- rilineal succession are front and center, regardless of who is looking at, and liking, who.

Notes 1. The most thorough study of Netfix programming in Italy is found in Marrazzo (2016), in particular the introduction (7–14) and chapter two (51–76) and 113–73. Luca Barra (2015) offers an insightful take on Netfix’s arrival in Italy. 2. In particular, Barra notes that although Netfix is a powerful, affordable, user-friendly, and intuitive platform, it is not an “easy substitute for traditional television” or an instant rival for mainstream or pay TV (Barra 2015). 3. Marrazzo points out that due “linguistic and infrastructural reasons” Netfix faired quite well in Great Britain, Holland, and in Scandinavian countries (Marazzo 2016, 45). Based on these numbers, Netfix still has a bit of ground to cover before living up to 2015 predictions of 7 million subscribers in Italy, Spain, and Portugal by 2020 (digitalmediawire 2015). 4. See Barra and Scaglioni for a discussion of Netfix and Sky’s characteristic marketing plans involving transmedia storytelling (2016, 413). 5. Also, Catteyla is producing for Sky the eight-episode series ZeroZeroZero that is based on Roberto Saviano’s book on the international cocaine trade, in particular involving Mexican cartels and the ’ndrangheta, the Italian mafa of Calabria.

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Conclusions: Gomorrah 3 and Italian Television Abroad

***Spoiler Alert*** With Gomorrah 3, Gomorrah is even more popular inside and outside of Italy: It is the most-watched series in the history of Italian pay TV and show rights have been purchased in over 190 countries (Sky Atlantic HD 2017). Moreover, a survey I conducted on teaching Gomorrah reveals that the series is taught in the university classroom with increasing fre- quency. I discovered that the series—from one, two, or three episodes to an entire season—is included as course content in at least seventeen institutions of higher learning in the US, the UK, and Italy, and is offered at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. In ten of these courses, students are asked to watch the series on Netfix, which attests to Gomorrah’s increasing international availability. Ten of these offerings count toward the universities’ General Education Requirement and the same number are required courses for a departmental major or minor in Italian, screenwriting, or cinema and media studies. Enrolments in these courses span twenty to 260 with an average enrolment of sixty students. Hence, the series has also found a wide audience in the international academic setting.1 I begin to close this book on the allure of sympathetic perpetrators on Italian television by offering some observations on Gomorrah 3 which The Hollywood Reporter hails “the best mafa show since The Sopranos” (Anderson 2017). In what follows, I address the series’ continued controversy and innovative marketing strategy. I also discuss my position as

© The Author(s) 2019 257 D. Renga, Watching Sympathetic Perpetrators on Italian Television, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11503-6_9 258 D. RENGA a viewer who has watched the series knowing how it would end—this is an important question considering the global popularity of Gomorrah and the shifting viewing practices of millions of fans who do not have immediate access to the product. I then note how Gomorrah 3 ticks all of the boxes essential to creating the serial perpetrator identikit discussed in the book’s introduction. I conclude (and here is the big spoiler) by considering the ramifcations of Marco D’Amore’s ascension from actor interpreting leading antihero Ciro di Marzio to one of the four directors of forthcoming episodes of Gomorrah 4. If you have not yet heard, this career move is a result of Ciro being killed by lifelong frenemy Gennaro Savastano in the concluding moments of Gomorrah 3. Like preceding seasons, Gomorrah 3’s premiere was accompanied by a barrage of polemics. The accusations against the series are similar to those launched against programs treated throughout this book. These include excessively humanizing and glamorizing criminals and organized crime groups or offering an unrealistic or “folkloristic” representation of gang life. Such depictions, stakeholders maintain, hamper real-life battles against the Camorra, or “hurt youthful generations” who might emulate onscreen gangsters.2 Those involved in Gomorrah 3’s serial universe counter such claims by pointing out that no one desires to resemble series’ protagonists in the series (director Francesca Comencini; Coen 2017), note that Gomorrah 3 is a work of fction and not a documentary (actor D’Amore; Canino 2017), or underline that in the series “good does not exist” (creator Roberto Saviano; Fumarola 2017). Such controversies did not bother those behind the marketing and distribution of Gomorrah 3. Indeed, on November 14 and 15, 2017, the frst two episodes of Gomorrah 3 were screened in 325 Italian movie theaters for a two-day run, just days before the series premiered on Sky on November 17. This frst-time game-changer in Italian television distribution was a colossal success, earning the top position at the box offce on both Tuesday and Wednesday and bringing in more than €500,000 in these two days (Vivarelli 2017) from the almost 56,000 viewers who purchased tickets (Gagliardi 2017).3 As Sky Italia content head Andrea Scrosati points out, this original marketing strategy is a new source of income for pay TV (Vivarelli 2017) while opening up new ways to rethink traditional distribution models (La Stampa 2017). Cast members made appearances at several theaters in Milan, Rome, and Caserta (outside of Naples), a promotional gesture which further underlines the cinematic quality of the series. This successful pioneering endeavor 9 CONCLUSIONS: GOMORRAH 3 AND ITALIAN TELEVISION ABROAD 259 expands Sky offerings onto the big screen and blurs the lines between cinema and television. Further, Gomorrah 3’s theatrical debut solidifes the star status of the series’ actors and the criminal allure of its characters. As a Gomorrah diehard fan living in the US with no legal means to watch Gomorrah 3 in late 2017, I had to make a decision: do I suspend my Facebook and Twitter accounts and avoid reading any episode recaps until I found a way to watch the series? Or, do I live vicariously through all that social media has to offer, spoilers be damned? Curiosity got the best of me, and I followed the exploits of Ciro, Gennaro, Enzo (Arturo Muselli), Scianel, Patrizia, and Valerio (Loris De Luna) from afar. And, probably similar to the hundreds of thousands of viewers throughout Italy, I was shocked and saddened by Ciro’s passing, and on YouTube watched and rewatched those fnal moments of Gomorrah 3 with fascination and with more than one tear. I was curious to see how I would respond to the series when I could fnally watch it, knowing all that I did. Interestingly, the quality of my viewing experience during those few days of binge-watching remained intact, and in many ways was more pleasurable. I felt increasingly invested in Ciro’s longevity and traced the contours of Gennaro’s eventual betrayal. I grew increasingly suspicious of Enzo and evaluated Scianel’s misguided trust in Patrizia. Why might this be? In other words, do spoilers really spoil? Much work has been done on whether undercutting suspense impov- erishes the viewing experience. Research has shown that the infuence of spoilers on enjoyment is overestimated for several reasons. Noël Carroll’s work on the “Paradox of Suspense” places an emphasis on the imaginative capacities of the viewer whose emotions might be generated “on the basis of thoughts, rather than only on the basis of beliefs,” even when thoughts are in dissonance with beliefs (Carroll 2001, 268). Such a creative position recalls Murray Smith’s work on the “structure of sympathy” discussed in the book’s introduction whereby viewers are positioned to engage with unscrupulous characters, and possibly form allegiances with them. In the words of Alberto N. García, “to narrate is to produce emotions” (García 2016, 55). Another study of spoilers shows that when viewers or readers have complete comprehension of a narrative and how it plays out, they may “(intentionally) devote their full attention to the process,” especially when the quality of the product is high (Yan and Tsang 2016, 89), as is certainly the case of Gomorrah. Another seminal study by Jonathan D. Leavitt and Nicholas J. S. Christenfeld concludes that giving away surprises “makes readers like stories better” because 260 D. RENGA the consumer is placed in an omniscient position which allows them to be more actively involved in the narrative process. In particular, pleasure arises when readers understand the consequences of events, make sense of narrative developments, or analyze any ambiguities a situation might raise (Leavitt and Christenfeld 2011, 1154)—all of which makes sense for my own Gomorrah 3 viewing experience.4 Similarly, viewers fnd pleasure in the experience of the narration of history—even if we frequently know how things will end. In this way, and recalling the discussion in the introduction on Rosenstone’s writings on the pain and pleasure of narrating history, history is not only what hurts, but also that which gives a complex form of cognitive pleasure. Even more so than Gomorrah 1 and Gomorrah 2, Gomorrah 3 is replete with narrative twists and turns. Betrayals abound, gang members switch sides with little warning, protagonists are killed off unex- pectantly or conceal their motives, and viewers are frequently made aware of deceptions in real time (or at times not too long before other characters are brought up to speed as to the new state of allegiances). As such, the series requires attentive spectators who closely monitor Camorra machinations. Gomorrah 3 also introduces new central characters in Enzo and Valerio, and several supporting and minor characters in Enzo’s Naples-based Camorra clan. As well, new alliances are developed between Scianel and Patrizia, Ciro and Enzo, and most centrally, Ciro and Gennaro, whose deep homosocial bond drives the Gomorrah 3’s narrative. Gomorrah 3 also expands flming locations, with almost an entire episode taking place in Bulgaria, and Naples is regularly featured as Ciro and Gennaro expand their alliances and adversaries into the city from the outskirts. While so much is new, several events and plotlines recall Gomorrah 1 when Gennaro and Ciro were younger, and when Ciro had not yet murdered his wife and sealed his tragic fate. For example: a raid in 3.5 recalls the raid on Salvatore Conte in 1.1; Enzo’s initia- tion by fre in 3.6 evokes Gennaro’s botched induction in 1.2; Gennaro’s reunited family unit in 3.11 mirrors Ciro’s intact family in Gomorrah 1; Ciro’s exploding of Giuseppe Avitabile’s (Gianfranco Gallo) car in 3.11 brings to mind when he burns the car in 1.1 and mourns the death of his mentor and father fgure Attilio (Antonio Milo); and Gennaro’s murder of his friend Gegé in 3.4 (Edoardo Sorgente) matches Don Pietro’s killing of close ally Bookie (Mimmo Esposito) in 1.2—both father and son beat the victim to death and then calmly wash their hands. These and many other “textual doublings” throughout Gomorrah 3 can be quite 9 CONCLUSIONS: GOMORRAH 3 AND ITALIAN TELEVISION ABROAD 261 pleasurable for viewers who want, in Terry Castle’s words, “a repetition that does not look like one, the old story in a new and unexpected guise. They wish to read the ‘unforgettable’ text once more, yet as if they had forgotten it” (Castle 1986, 134). Thus, even though Ciro frequently appears rudderless, he is anchored to a period when he was an immortal, cunning, loyal, and (for the most part) composed family man. Consistent in Gomorrah is a redemption narrative that creates pathos for fallen men, frst and foremost for Ciro. Ciro murders his daughter’s assassin Malammore (Fabio De Caro) in 3.1, and 3.3 takes place one year later when Ciro is in Bulgaria, where he is depicted as cruel and uncaring: He mercilessly evicts an elderly couple from an apartment and oversees illegal migrants who have been forced into sex work, and he treats these women horribly. Clearly, he is in need of redemption. As Giancarlo Lombardi argues, “Bulgaria is a journey through hell which re-establishes [Ciro’s] empathic viability” (Lombardi forthcoming). Once back in Campania, Ciro spends much of his time in a dingy hotel room where he looks forlornly at a photo of his wife and daughter or reestablishes his loyalty with Gennaro. Throughout Gomorrah 3, Ciro comes across as a sympathetic perpetrator par excellence. He has many redeeming qualities such as his close friendship with Gennaro, (apparent) mentorship of Enzo, and he saves the young Albanian woman he rescues from prostitution; he is frequently positioned as the lesser evil against those who are more ruthless and bloodthirsty (such as Mladan in Bulgaria or Scianel); his remorse regarding his murder of his wife and his responsibility for the death of his daughter has become a character trait; he displays “Machiavellian intelligence” in his ability to manipulate Enzo and others5; perhaps most poignantly, his backstory is made apparent when the circumstances behind his nickname “L’immortale” are fnally revealed: when he was twenty-one days old, he was the only person to survive an earthquake that killed thirty people, his mother and father included. Thus, his indestructability is equated with his status of victim and not perpetrator. All of these “exterior markers” help to reveal, in the words of Jason Mittell, Ciro’s “true subjective state” (Mittell 2015, 135): a complex sympathetic perpetrator seeking, and deserving of, absolution.6 In Gomorrah 3, as is consistent with the series, men and male crisis are on center stage, and much less screen-time is devoted to women when compared to the previous two seasons. While Scianel and Patrizia were focal characters in Gomorrah 2, here they are mainly depicted indoors 262 D. RENGA where they negotiate with men (and this is true for the female members of Enzo’s clan). Patrizia’s disquiet with Scianel is palpable, and it comes as little surprise when Patrizia murders her rival and joins forces with Gennaro. Male bonding, however, comes easy. At the end of 3.4, Gennaro has lost everything: He has no access to his wife and son, and his assets and power position have been taken from him, all as a consequence of his betrayal of his stepfather Giuseppe Avitabile. At the end of the episode, Gennaro is dumped on the ground in the center of Scampia as the melancholic theme music “Doomed to Live” plays on. Beaten and destitute, Gennaro turns to his old friend and rival Ciro, and the pair immediately connect over the loss of family. Gennaro declares “after all that they have done to us, we are still here. You and me,” and they begin plotting revenge. In subsequent, episodes they meet regularly in dark and depressing spaces—crowded hotel rooms, rooftops, cars, cemeteries—and speak about their bond and all that they have lost. For example, Ciro notes that it was great that they had come such a long way together (3.11), Gennaro calls Ciro his brother (3.6) and tells him he no longer wants to be alone (3.7). Both of them are regularly teary eyed, one over a family impossible to reobtain and the other fearful of losing his family forever. Most interestingly, Ciro and Gennaro exchange deep, protracted gazes in almost every episode. In these instances, they are positioned with their heads close together as if on the verge of a kiss. Tension builds (at least for me) with each encounter as I wonder what is next, how will their relationship evolve, how it is possible that one brother can murder another (and … could it be that some other form of taboo contact will take place?). Interestingly, Ciro and Gennaro’s relationship blossoms in the beginning of 3.5, just after, at the end of 3.4, Gennaro murders his close friend Gegé who is gay and who has a boyfriend. In 3.2 Gegé and Silvano kiss, which is a frst for the series.7 The gay relationship generated numerous, and disparate, reactions from viewers: queer blogging sites and Web sites lauded the series for inclusivity, while many fans of the show were left “disgusted” by the gay relationship.8 Gay characters in buddy flms are common, and the series conforms to the buddy flm as theorized by Robin Wood: In Gomorrah 3, the homosocial bond and the male love story are narratively central, women are marginalized, the season includes an obvious gay character, home is absent, Gennaro and Ciro are on a journey to nowhere, and Ciro dies (Wood 2003, 202–5). Wood writes, “the emotional center, 9 CONCLUSIONS: GOMORRAH 3 AND ITALIAN TELEVISION ABROAD 263 the emotional charge, is in the male/male relationship, which is patently what [buddy] flms are about” (Wood 2003, 204). Further, she notes that gay characters in buddy flms serve as disclaimers that announce “our boys aren’t like that,” while women have a similar function, which is assuring the (anti)heroes’ heterosexuality (Wood 2003, 204). It comes as no surprise that Gegé meets a violent end at the hand of his lifelong friend Gennaro as gay men in buddy flms are frequently ridiculed (as in Mean Streets) or abused. This is because, as John M. Clum notes, in the buddy flm, “real men may love each other, but they can’t have sex” (Clum 2009, 179). Gennaro and Ciro’s bromance comes to an end after a dramatic set of twists and turns, the details of which I will not spoil. In the episode’s concluding moments, the pair is on a boat, and Gennaro is forced to end his friend’s life. After he accepts the gun, the couple stares intensely at one another one last time. They are framed closely together in a two shot in focus in a long take as they take one another in for the fnal occasion (see Fig. 9.1). Sorrowful and contemplative theme music plays and Ciro and Gennaro’s eyes are heavy with tears. With his gaze and a subtle nod of his head, Ciro implores Gennaro to complete the ritual he was incapable of accomplishing in 1.2. They draw nearer to one another, until they are intimately close.9 Ciro appears almost aroused as Gennaro grabs

Fig. 9.1 Ciro and Genny prepare to say goodbye forever in Gomorrah 3 264 D. RENGA his neck and pulls him close, cradling his head in his hand, their opposite cheeks and temples pressed tightly together. A gunshot is heard and Ciro expires. Gennaro hugs his friend and openly sobs. A cut brings us underwater where Ciro’s lifeless body slowly sinks into the bowels of the bay of Naples.10 This wordless fnale lasts over two minutes. I agree with Lombardi that this sequence “dismays” viewers who are left “fatally unsutured from the character with whom they had most stably aligned throughout thirty-six episodes” (Lombardi forthcoming). For some fans, myself included, this conclusion is also a tearjerker, as it marks the end of an epic “love story” that could never be (Bellopede 2017). Recalling Wood on the buddy flm, the “male relationship must never be consummated (indeed, must not be able to be consummated), and death is the most effective impediment” (Wood 2003, 204).11 One reviewer notes that the murder of Ciro is a “Shakespearean tragedy” that can be compared to the friendship parable inherent in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men (Bellopede 2017). The obvious difference with this correlation is Lennie’s unintentional murder of a woman compared with Ciro’s inten- tional murders of several women, from innocent victims to perpetrators to his wife (for more on Ciro’s serial homicides, see Chapter 7). In accepting death from his lifelong friend and rival, Ciro is now utterly redeemed. What happens next? How will the series go on without this focal, immortal, antihero? As expected, this fnale shocked and outraged fans, many of whom protested against the new direction of the series on blogs, Web sites, and social media.12 One Twitter user proposes a “national day of mourning” for Ciro (@Dli22 2017), while another writes that the death of Ciro is “more painful than Italy’s elim- ination from World Cup” (Boborock cited in Lorenzoni 2017). Many hoped that Ciro would be “resurrected,” as in the plot device typical of the soap opera, including the creators of a popular Berlusconi election campaign Meme which promises voters he will bring Ciro Di Marzio back to life (Salamandra 2018). Gomorrah’s story-editor Leonardo Fasoli denied this possibility and explained to the season fnale’s almost one million viewers that Ciro would not be coming back, unless, he jokingly added, they decide to launch a new series that combines Gomorrah with The Walking Dead (Vitali 2017). In late March, after fans had the chance to let Ciro go, Sky unveiled a new twist: Ciro would be back, but not as a criminal perpetrator. Instead, this time Marco D’Amore would be behind the camera to direct two episodes of Gomorrah 4 (most likely the fnal dyad) that is set to 9 CONCLUSIONS: GOMORRAH 3 AND ITALIAN TELEVISION ABROAD 265 premiere in 2019. The move from television actor to episode director is not new, especially in the American tradition. Many actors playing sympathetic perpetrators in US series took on this role: Jon Hamm directed two episodes of Mad Men, Bryan Cranston directed three installments of Breaking Bad, and Michael Chiklis directed four episodes of The Shield, D’Amore is involved in the production of paratexts surrounding the series and has a role in the series’ distribution and marketing, in particular on social media. This position is in contradistinction to Hamm who has no social media accounts and claimed that social media is “the visual equivalent to masturbating” (Vulpo 2017). D’Amore maintains that before taking on the role of Ciro, he had a horrible relationship with social media. As a result of the series, however, he changed his mind and joined Twitter, as he felt that it was necessary to engage in debates surrounding the series, and to participate in how Gomorrah is advertised and marketed (Add+Communication, n.d.). Thus, D’amore is an active orchestrator in the creation, production, and circulation of the Gomorrah phenomenon. With Marco D’Amore’s ascension from star to artist, Gomorrah’s immortal sympathetic perpetrator attains a kind of afterlife. Though no longer a corporeal presence in the series, Ciro remains a spirit infuencing the screen-bound fgures he left behind.

Italian Television Abroad In September 2018, it was announced that Ciro di Marzio would indeed be resurrected on screen. Marco D’Amore is set to direct and star in a feature-length flm that is a prequel to Gomorrah and will be released in 2019. The Immortal will be produced by Cattleya, the company behind the smash hits Romanzo criminale. La serie, Gomorrah, and Suburra. La serie. Cattleya head Riccardo Tozzi discusses the flm as an origin tale which will recount Ciro’s tragic backstory which involves surviving an earthquake that caused the death of his entire family, spending his formative years in an orphanage, and then working for Don Pietro while dodg- ing bullets from all directions (Vivarelli 2018). As I discuss throughout this book, a traumatic upbringing is a key ingredient to the sympathetic perpetrator identikit, and Ciro’s coming-of-age in the streets in The Immortal is sure to appeal to viewers across the globe. As Tozzi notes, “internationally there is a fxation” with Ciro, “even more than in Italy” (Vivarelli 2018). Italian sympathetic perpetrators are no longer confned within national borders. Italian television series 266 D. RENGA focusing on national criminality, and in particular on organized crime, are plentiful and are growing rapidly in popularity. This is particularly interesting as Italy’s mafas are deadly, lucrative, adaptable, and international structures. Mafas such as the Camorra, Cosa Nostra, and ’ndrangheta are culturally specifc while also global in nature. They have pervaded almost every facet of cultural life, and have left tens of thousands of victims. A daily look at the news reveals stories of corruption, clan wars, raids, drug busts, and homicides which are mafa related, and which resonate with the narratives of the programs discussed in this book. The average person living in Italy is no doubt aware that Italy’s mafas are national problems. Dom Holdaway notes that the recent turn to Italian quality mafa flms signals not only “a shift in the social meaning of the mafa, but moreover that this subject matter has affrmed itself as a proftable and exportable image of Italy’s ‘dark side’” (Holdaway 2016, 453). The same is true with Italian quality mafa television programs wherein Italian mafas are not associated with Italian cultural trauma, but with an Italian cultural heritage that is “proftable and exportable”. It is fascinating that spectators enjoy re-experiencing Italy’s painful recent past and present in the safety and comfort of their own homes in forms that invite compulsive viewing habits. At the same time, protests against mafa-related television programs are common in Italy, and a focus of this book is the debates that arise from the obvious trend in recent Italian television to represent criminals in a glamorized light when these fctional characters are based upon historical fgures who killed and wounded real people in recent Italian history. Mia E. M. Treacey notes that several historians working in flm and television studies are “blinded by an apparent mimetic connection between History on screen, and the past” (Treacey 2016, 150). This blind spot experienced by many critics of the programs discussed in this book can overlook the medium itself, and how it is produced, received, and consumed. Indeed, Sky and Netfix have been successful in producing local crime content with an appeal to global audiences. In particular, they imported a model into Italy that had worked well and had attracted audiences in the USA: series featuring likable criminal antiheroes. They also added their own twist to that model in a focus on conventionally physically attractive perpetrators who are engaged in factually based criminal acts and associated with actual organized crime groups. 9 CONCLUSIONS: GOMORRAH 3 AND ITALIAN TELEVISION ABROAD 267

As I discuss throughout Sympathetic Perpetrators, the popularity of these programs results from several factors. For example, they offer viewers a window into Italy’s tainted history in pleasurable narrative forms with high-quality production values; they focus on organized crime, a subject with selling power, thus attracting viewers across the globe while speaking to a national audience; they engage with several grand narratives such as romance, coming-of-age, and family drama; they have a protracted format that allows for narrative complexity and character development; and, most importantly, they foster viewer alignment through depicting attractive and complex sympathetic perpetrators who are constructed to warrant viewer sympathies despite their associations with real-life organized crime groups. Robert A. Rosenstone writes that characters in mainstream dramas are,

at the center of the historical process. Through their eyes and lives, adventures and loves, we see strikes, invasions, revolutions, dictatorships, ethnic confict, scientifc experiments, legal battles, political movements, holo- causts. But we do more than see: we feel as well […] [T]he dramatic flm aims directly at the emotions. It does not simply provide an image of the past, it wants you to feel strongly about that image – specifcally, about the characters involved in the historical situation that it depicts […] Film does more than want to teach the lesson that history hurts; it wants you, the viewer, to experience the hurt (and pleasure) of the past. (Rosenstone 2017, 18)

Rosenstone’s comments are applicable to serial drama, especially Italian serial drama depicting historical situations through the perspective of sympathetic, attractive, and complex perpetrators. As Albrecht argues, recent quality programming is replete with representations of complex masculinities in crisis (Albrecht 2015, 4–11). In contemporary Italian criminal television, such crises do not marginalize or disempower male characters. Instead, the grief, insecurity, loss, pain, or powerlessness felt by male leads lends to them pathos, and their suffering (physical and emotional) is meaningful and narratively central. The emphasis in these programs on the perpetually absolved and attractive antihero shifts the focus from national tragedies to individual stories that have a broad appeal outside of Italy’s borders. 268 D. RENGA

As noted in a recent Variety article, “The global rise of Italian TV series is now in full swing” (Vivarelli 2018) thanks in great part to the international successes of many of the programs discussed in this book which appear on channels or streaming services that attest to their transnational appeal and growing fan base: HBO, The Sundance Chanel, Hulu, Netfix, Sky Atlantic, iTunes, and Amazon Instant Video. Italy’s most popular, exported series feature alluring and attractive criminal antiheroes, and offer fctionalized accounts of historical events or fgures. In particular, series on Sky and Netfix Italia highlight the routine violence of daily life in the mafa, the police force, and the political sphere, all the while rendering that violence, and its perpetrators, worthy of sympathy. Although content is frequently dark and violence common, Italian broadcasters have made an international name for themselves in presenting Italian tragedy in formats that are visually pleasurable and, for many across the globe, highly addictive.

Notes 1. The survey was set up on Survey Monkey and asked the following questions: Which episodes of Gomorrah do you teach? How many class days do you devote to teaching Gomorrah? How do students view Gomorrah (screened in class, streaming on University server, streaming on Netfix, etc.)? What readings do you assign when teaching Gomorrah? Course Name and Level (i.e., Undergraduate: General Education; Undergraduate: major/minor; Graduate, etc.); Course taught in English or Italian? Average enrollment in course? Name of College or University. 2. An article by Francesco, Canino (2017) offers a succinct overview of several Gomorrah 3-related controversies. Internet searches for “Gomorra 3” “controversie” or “Gomorra 3” “polemiche” produce thousands of results. 3. This tactic has already been tried out in US theaters with much success, for the frst time in 2015 when the fnal two episodes of Season Four in Game of Thrones were screened in IMAX theaters. More recently, in April 2018, the fnale of Season Eight of The Walking Dead (2010–) and the frst installment of the fourth season of Fear of the Walking Dead played in theaters throughout the country. 4. A very thorough 2017 study on the effects of spoilers on the viewing experience provides more questions than answers. However, it confrms “very limited effects of spoilers on audience reactions” (Johnson and Rosenbaum 2017, 23). 9 CONCLUSIONS: GOMORRAH 3 AND ITALIAN TELEVISION ABROAD 269

5. Jason Mittell discusses the cognitive concept “Machiavellian intelligence” with regards to Blakey Vermeule’s thesis by which “success in a socially complex environment depends upon the ability to understand and manipulate other people,” a trait that Mittell notes correlates well in “complex television series focusing on amoral fgures” (Mittell 2015, 145). 6. Gennaro’s redemptive arc is also quite interesting in Gomorrah 3, in particular with regards to his wife and son who are kept from him. However, as Lombardi argues, “Genny’s complete dispossession (of family, power, and material goods) at the hands of his father-in-law hardly facilitates spectatorial sympathy because of emphasis placed on the character’s manipulative behavior” (Lombardi forthcoming). My position is in contradistinction to one reviewer who notes that it is “laughable” that Gomorrah exalts antiheroes (Dondi 2017). 7. In Gomorrah 2, Salvatore Conte has a relationship with Nina (Alessandra Langella), a transgender woman performer. He is in love with her, but refuses to be seen in public with her. The two do exchange kisses; however, Conte is obviously uncomfortable when they are intimate. 8. See, for example, an article that states “A great new entry that slaps in the face all those homophobic bigots who are not scandalized when a man shoots another, but are horrifed by a gay kiss” (Bitchyf 2017). The article includes several social media posts where users express disgust and outrage at the gay storyline. 9. On viewer’s reactions to the season, one reviewer writes, “If there is a reason why we don’t shed tears in front of crude and dirty crime news, but we are capable of crying in front of these characters, it is because the Immortals are not the false idols that might inspire us, but they are bonds, the moral that is hidden behind the story and that embellishes with reassuring distance how awful it is to kill what you hold most close, while holding it close” (Bellopede 2017). 10. This shot is reminiscent of the fnale of The Shape of Water (Guillermo Del Toro 2017), another impossible love story. 11. On the imbrication of eroticism and violence in the buddy flm, Ed Madden writes, “the homoerotic possibilities of the male-male relationships, cinematically embodied in the buddy flm, surfaced in violent forms” (Madden 2009, 204). 12. An Internet search using keywords such as “ciro” “gomorra” “morte” “fan” reveals thousands of hits to sites and blogs where fans express their shock and outrage, discuss their lack of interest in watching another season, and list hundreds of reactions on social media to Ciro’s death. For example, see: M.B. (2018), Nettuno (2017), and Lorenzoni (2017). 270 D. RENGA

References (@Dli22). 2017. Twitter, December 22. Accessed May 31, 2018. https://twitter.com/Dli_22/status/944323578161442821. Albrecht, Michael Mario. 2015. Masculinity in Contemporary Quality Television. Surrey and Burlington: Ashgate. Ariston, Anderson. 2017. “It’s All-Out War in ‘Gomorrah’ Season 3.” Hollywood Reporter, September 14. Accessed May 29, 2018. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/it-s-all-war-gomorrah-season-3-trailer-1039010. Bellopede, Vincenzo. 2017. “La storia d’amore tra Ciro e Genny.” Hall of Series, December 28. Accessed May 27, 2018. https://www.hallofseries.com/ gomorra/ciro-e-genny-storia-amore/. Bitchyf. 2017. “Gomorra: entra un personaggio gay (come Suburra e Narcos) e scatta il primo bacio – ecco chi è.” Bitchyf, November 19. Accessed May 31, 2018. https://www.bitchyf.it/gomorra-entra-un-personaggio- gay-suburra-narcos/. Canino, Francesco. 2017. “Gomorra: perché i magistrate hanno criticato le serie tv.” Panorama, December 6. Accessed May 27, 2018. https://www.panorama.it/televisione/serie-tv/gomorra-critiche-magistrati/. Carroll, Noël. 2001. Beyond Aesthetics: Philosophical Essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Castle, Terry. 1986. Masquerade and Civilization: The Carnivalesque in Eighteenth-Century English Culture and Fiction. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Clum, John M. 2009. “Batting for the Other Team: Masculinity, Homosexuality, and Sports in Contemporary Drama and Film.” In Performing Difference: Representations of “The Other” in Film and Theatre, edited by Jonathan C. Friedman, 172–85. Lanham and Boulder: University Press of America. Coen, Emanuele. 2017. ‘“Rapporti ambigui e psichologie complesse;’ Comencini svela I segreti di Gomorra 3.” L’Espresso, September 25. Accessed March 18, 2018. http://espresso.repubblica.it/visioni/ cultura/2017/09/19/news/francesca-comencini-ecco-le-donne-di-gomorra-3-1.310253. Dondi, Beatrice. 2017. “La solitudine del male e le inutile polemiche sugli anti-eroi.” la Repubblica, November 27. Accessed May 30, 2018. http:// espresso.repubblica.it/visioni/2017/11/24/news/gomorra-la-solitudine-del-male-e-le-inutili-polemiche-sugli-anti-eroi-1.314976. Fumarola, Silvia. 2017. “Gomorra 3, Roberto Saviano: ‘La nostra forze? Siamo autentici: non c’è il bene.’” la Repubblica, November 14. Accessed May 27, 2018. http://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/tv-radio/2017/11/14/news/ gomorra_3_roberto_saviano_la_nostra_forza_siamo_autentici_non_c_e_il_ bene_-181091204/. 9 CONCLUSIONS: GOMORRAH 3 AND ITALIAN TELEVISION ABROAD 271

García, Alberto N. 2016. “Moral Emotions, Antiheroes and the Limits of Allegiance.” In Emotions in Contemporary TV Series, edited by Alberto N. García, 52–70. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Holdaway, Dom. 2016. “Boss in Sala: Cultural Legitimacy and Italian Mafa Films.” Comunicazioni sociali 3: 445–54. Johnson, Benjamin K., and Judith E. Rosenbaum. 2017. “(Don’t) Tell Me How It Ends: Spoilers, Enjoyment, and Involvement in Television and Film.” Media Psychology (No issue number): 1–31. La Stampa. 2017. “Fenomeno Gomorra 3, i primi episodi escono al cinema e conquistano il box offce.” La Stampa, November 15. Accessed May 27, 2017. http://www.lastampa.it/2017/11/15/spettacoli/fenomeno-gomorra-i-primi-episodi-escono-al-cinema-e-conquistano-il-box-offce-F6jiKJZpH- 35wU9kgT36CBN/pagina.html. Leavitt, Jonathan D., and Nicholas J. S. Christenfeld. 2011. “Story Spoilers Don’t Spoil Stories.” Psychological Science 22 (9): 1153–54. Lorenzoni, Adriano. 2017. “Tv ‘Gomorra’: Final shock, Gennaro uccide Ciro. Fan in Rivolta su Twitter.” Terni in rete, December 23. Accessed May 31, 2018. http://www.terninrete.it/Notizie-di-Terni/ tv-gomorra-fnale-shock-gennaro-uccide-ciro-fan-in-rivolta-su-twitter-436902. M.B. 2018. “Gomorra 4, Genny Savastano scalda i fan: ‘Ciro è morto davvero?’” Corriere della Sera, April 4. Accessed May 31, 2018. https://www.iodonna.it/personaggi/cinema-tv/2018/04/04/ gomorra-4-genny-savastano-scalda-fan-ciro-e-morto-davvero/. Madden, Ed. 2009. “The Buggering Hillbilly and the Buddy Movie: Make Sexuality in Deliverance.” In The Way We Read James Dickey: Critical Approaches for the Twenty-First Century, edited by William B. Thesig and Theda Wrede, 195–209. Columbia, SC: The University of South Carolina Press. Mittell, Jason. 2015. Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling. New York and London: New York University Press. Nettuno, Attilio. 2017. “Gomorra 3: Morto Ciro l’Immortale, su Twitter i fan si scatenano.” Caserta News, December 23. Accessed May 31, 2018. http:// www.casertanews.it/cronaca/morte-ciro-di-marzio-gomorra-3-twitter-caserta.html. Rosenstone, Robert A. 2017. History on Film: Film on History, 3rd ed. Oxon and New York: Routledge. Salamandra, Antonio. 2018. “‘Riporterò in vita Ciro di Marzio’: spopola la foto su Instagram.” Anteprima24.it, January 20. Accessed June 11, 2018. https:// www.anteprima24.it/napoli/vita-ciro-foto/. Sky Atlantic HD. 2017. “Sky Upfront: ecco le serie tv della stagione televisiva 2017–2018.” SkyAtlanticHD, 12 September. Accessed May 12, 2017. http://skyatlantic.sky.it/skyatlantic/news/2017/09/12/sky-upfront- 2017-2018.html. 272 D. RENGA

Treacey, Mia E. M. 2016. Reframing the Past: History, Film and Television. Oxon and New York: Routledge. Vitali, Alessandra. 2017. “Gomorra 3, uno degli autori: ‘vi speigo perché è fnite come non volevate.’” la Repubblica, December 25. Accessed May 31, 2018. http://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/tv-radio/2017/12/25/news/ gomorra_3_ciro_leonardo_fasoli-185175218/. Vivarelli, Nick. 2017. “‘Gomorra 3’ TV Series Soars to Top of Italian Theatrical Box Offce Prior to TV Outing.” Variety, November 16. Accessed May 27, 2018. http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/sky-italias-new-gomorrah-3-tv-series-soars-to-top-of-italian-theatrical-box-offce-in-innovative-experiment-exclusive-1202616341/. Vivarelli, Nick. 2018. “MIP: Italy’s Rich Cinema History Infuences Country’s New TV Lineup.” Variety, April 7. Accessed May 9, 2018. http://variety. com/2018/tv/news/my-brilliant-frined-mip-italys-rich-cinema-history-infuences-countrys-new-tv-lineup-1202746323/. Vulpo. 2017. “Jon Hamm Thanks Social Media Is the ‘Visual Equivalent to Masturbating.’” ENews, June 2. Accessed July 11, 2018. https:// www.eonline.com/news/858761/jon-hamm-thinks-social-media-is-the- visual-equivalent-of-masturbating. Wood, Robin. 2003. Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan… and Beyond. New York and Chichester: Columbus University Press. Yan, Denfeng, and Alex S. L. Tsang. 2016. “The Misforecasted Spoiler Effect: Underlying Mechanism and Boundary Conditions.” Journal of Consumer Psychology 26: 81–90. Appendix

“Program Title” (if available); Director (if multiple); Premiere Date; Average Number of Viewers Tables: Television Programs

Table A.1 Era mio fratello, 1.1 September 30; 4,402,000 Claudio Bonivento, 2007 (Rai) 1.2 October 1; 5,400,000

Sources 1.1 Genna, Antonio. 2007. “Ieri e oggi in TV.” Antoniogenna. https://antoniogenna.com/2007/ 10/01/ieri-e-oggi-in-tv-01102007/. Accessed August 7, 2017 1.2 E-duesse. 2007. “Ascolti prime time.” E-duesse. http://www.e-duesse.it/News/Televisione/ Ascolti-prime-time-vince-la-fction-di-Canale-52. Accessed August 7, 2017

Table A.2 L’ultimo dei Corleonesi, 1.1 February 14; 6,360,000 Alberto Negrin, 2007 (Rai) Source 1.1 Wikipedia. 2017. “L’ultimo dei Corleonesi.” Wikipedia. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27ultimo_ dei_Corleonesi. Accessed August 7, 2017

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), 273 under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2019 D. Renga, Watching Sympathetic Perpetrators on Italian Television, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11503-6 274 APPENDIX

Table A.3 Crimini (Rai) Season Two: 2010 2.2 “Nothing personal”; Ivano De Matteo; April 16, 2010; 2,038,000

Source 2.2 Wikipedia. 2017. “Episodi di Crimini.” Wikipedia. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episodi_di_ Crimini_(seconda_stagione)#Niente_di_personale. Accessed August 29, 2017

Table A.4 Il segreto dell’acqua, Renato De Maria, 2011 (Rai)

1.1 “The Return”; September 11; 3,028,000 1.2 “The Thirsty City”; September 12; 3,311,000 1.3 “The Missing Map”; September 20; 2,998,000 1.4 “The Nativity”; September 21; 2,638,000 1.5 “The Old Man and the Rocks”; September 25; 2,823,000 1.6 “Two Brothers”; October 2; 3,683,000

Sources 1.1–1.6 Wikipedia. 2017. “Il segreto dell’acqua.” Wikipedia. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_segreto_ dell%27acqua#Il_ritorno. Accessed August 8, 2017

Table A.5 Il Sistema, 1.1 April 18; 4,621,000 Carmine Elia, 2016 (Rai) 1.2 April 25; 3,997,000 1.3 May 2; 3,920,000 1.4 May 9; 4,182,000 1.5 May 16; 4,408,000 1.6 May 17; 4,572,000

Sources 1.1 Padoan, Stefano. 2016. “Ascolti tv.” Tvzap. http://tvzap.kataweb.it/news/166978/ascolti-tv-il- sistema-debutta-e-batte-lisola-dei-famosi-il-reality-resta-re-del-socialscore/. Accessed August 8, 2017 1.2 Primaonline. 2016. “Ascolti tv.” Primaonline. http://www.primaonline.it/2016/04/26/234328/ ascolti-tv-di-lunedi-25-aprile-share-per-218-per-lisola-dei-famosi-su-canale-5-su-rai1-la-fction-il-sistema-si-ferma-al-159/. Accessed August 8, 2017 1.3 Mainfatti. 2016. “Il sistema attira quasi 4 milioni di spettatori.” Mainfatti. http://www.mainfatti. it/ascolti/Il-sistema-attira-quasi-4-milioni-di-spettatori-ascolti-Rai-2-maggio-2016_0137610033.htm. Accessed August 8, 2017 1.4 Mainfatti. 2016. “Il sistema supera di poco i 4 milioni di spettatori.” Mainfatti. http://www. mainfatti.it/ascolti/Il-sistema-supera-di-poco-i-4-milioni-di-spettatori-ascolti-Rai-9-maggio- 2016_0138920033.htm. Accessed August 8, 2017 1.5 Traversa, Fabio. 2016. “Ascolti.” Blogo. http://realityshow.blogosfere.it/post/710372/ ascolti-lunedi-16-maggio-2016 1.6 Padoan, Stefano. 2016. “Ascolti tv.” Tvzap. http://tvzap.kataweb.it/news/170591/ascolti-tv-il-sistema-chiude-in-bellezza-con-45-milioni-di-telespettatori-continua-il-successo-di-gomorra-2/. Accessed August 8, 2017 APPENDIX 275

Table A.6 Uno Bianca, Michele 1.1 February 5; 8,153,000 Soavi, 2001 (Mediaset) 1.2 February 6; 9,936,000

Source 1.1–1.2 Bosatra, Marco. 2012. “Sanremo 2012, Mediaset a tutto flm.” Davidemaggio. https:// www.davidemaggio.it/archives/53321/sanremo-2012-mediaset-a-tutto-flm-niente-controprogram- mazione-confermato-solo-quarto-grado. Accessed August 8, 2017

Table A.7 Il capo dei 1.1 “1943–1959”; October 25; 7,146,000 capi, Enzo Monteleone 1.2 “1963–1969”; November 1; 7,810,000 and Alexis Sweet, 2007 1.3 “1969–1978”; November 8; 7,545,000 (Mediaset) 1.4 “1979–1981”; November 15; 6,985,000 1.5 “1982–1987”; November 22; 7,731,000 1.6 “1988–1993”; November 29; 7,995,000

Sources 1.1–1.6 Wikipedia. 2017. “Il Capo dei Capi.” Wikipedia.org. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_Capo_ dei_Capi. Accessed August 29, 2017

Table A.8 L’ultimo padrino, 1.1 January 13; 5,721,000 Marco Risi, 2008 (Mediaset) 1.2 January 14; 6,141,000

Sources 1.1 Traversa, Fabio. 2008. “Ascolti tv.” Blogo. http://realityshow.blogosfere.it/post/93658/ascolti- tv-lultimo-padrino-vince-ma-non-sfonda-2-punti-di-share-in-piu-rispetto-ad-una-replica-de-il. Accessed August 8, 2017 1.2 Odello, Diego. 2008. “Ascolti tv.” Cinetivu. http://www.cinetivu.com/programmi-tv/14-gennaio- ascolti-tv-parte-bene-ma-perde-costanzo/. Accessed August 8, 2017 276 APPENDIX

Table A.9 Il clan dei camorristi, 1.1 January 25; 4,986,000 Alessandro Angelini and Alexis 1.2 February 1; 4,597,000 Sweet, 2013 (Mediaset) 1.3 February 8; 4,838,000 1.4 February 22; 4,575,000 1.5 March 1; 3,810,000 1.6 March 8; 3,880,000 1.7 March 15; 4,404,000 1.8 March 22; 4,432,000

Sources 1.1, 1.5 Duello, Gennaro Marco. 2013. “Il Clan dei Camorristi.” Fanpage. http://tv.fanpage.it/ il-clan-dei-camorristi-ultima-puntata-di-una-fction-che-poteva-dare-di-piu/. Accessed August 9, 2017 1.2 Terninrete. 2013. “Ascolti tv.” Terninrete. http://www.terninrete.it/Mercatino/Leggi-gli-Annunci/ ascolti-tv-vince-la-serata-ma-perde-spettatori-il-clan-dei-camorristi-130054. Accessed August 9, 2017 1.3 Traversa, Fabio. 2013. “Il clan dei camorristi a 4.8 milioni.” Blogo. http://realityshow.blogosfere.it/post/460512/il-cla-dei-camorristi-a-milioni-riusciranno-i-nostri-eroi-a-bene-crozza. Accessed August 9, 2017 1.4 Traversa, Fabio. 2013. “Red or black?” Blogo. http://realityshow.blogosfere.it/post/463476/red-or- black-a-47-milioni-1719-il-clan-dei-camorristi-a-45-1616-bene-crozza-e-striscia. Accessed August 9, 2017 1.6 Traversa, Fabio. 2013. “Il clan dei camorristi a 3.8 milioni.” Blogo. http://realityshow.blogosfere. it/post/466572/il-clan-dei-camorristi-a-38-milioni-15-red-or-black-a-34-1372-bene-crozza-e-rex-4. Accessed August 9, 2017 1.7 Pasqui, Giulio. 2013. “Il clan dei camorristi a 4,4 milioni.” Blogo. http://realityshow.blogosfere. it/post/467838/il-clan-dei-camorristi-a-44-milioni-red-or-black-a-36-scende-rex-ok-crozza. Accessed August 9, 2017 1.8 Pastore, Zelia. 2013. “Ascolti tv.” Tvzap. http://tvzap.kataweb.it/news/16871/ascolti-tv-accorsi- mattatore-con-il-clan-dei-camorristi/. Accessed August 9, 2017

Table A.10 L’onore e il rispetto (Mediaset)

Season One: Salvatore Samperi, 2006 1.1 September 5; 5,256,000 1.2 September 13; 5,857,000 1.3 September 20; 5,721,000 1.4 September 21; 5,578,000 1.5 September 25; 5,656,000 1.6 October 2; 6,448,000 Season Two: Salvatore Samperi and Luigi Parisi, 2009 2.1 September 8; 5,025,000 2.2 September 15; 5,770,000 2.3 September 20; 5,604,000 2.4 September 22; 6,785,000 2.5 September 29; 7,002,000 2.6 October 6; 7,134,000 APPENDIX 277

Season Three: Luigi Parisi and Alessio Inturri, 2012 3.1 September 11; 4,999,000 3.2 September 12; 5,710,000 3.3 September 18; 5,640,000 3.4 September 25; 5,883,000 3.5 September 26; 6,051,000 3.6 October 2; 6,629,000 Season Four: Luigi Parisi and Alessio Inturri, 2015 4.1 September 1; 4,205,000 4.2 September 4; 3,604,000 4.3 September 15; 3,354,000 4.4 September 22; 3,617,000 4.5 September 29; 3,673,000 4.6 October 6; 4,324,000 Season Five: Luigi Parisi and Alessio Inturri, 2017 5.1 March 31; 3,630,000 5.2 April 7; 3,513,000 5.3 April 14; 2,981,000 5.4 April 21; 3,515,000 5.5 April 28; 3,301,000 5.6 May 5; 3,393,000 5.7 May 12; 3,286,000 5.8 May 19; 3,541,000

Sources 1.1–4.6 Bamba. 2015. “L’onore e il rispetto 4.” Bubinoblog. http://bubinoblog.altervista.org/ lonore-e-il-rispetto-4-media-fnale-analisi-target-e-vincitori-supertotoshare-la-quinta-stagione-ci-sara- anticipazioni/. Accessed August 9 5.1 Franchi, Francesco. 2017. “Ascolti tv.” Tvzoom. http://www.tvzoom.it/2017/04/01/50723/ ascolti-tv-31-marzo-vince-lonore-rispetto-1510/. Accessed August 9, 2017 5.2 Buonocore, Mattia. 2017. “Ascolti tv.” Davidemaggio. https://www.davidemaggio.it/archives/ 146440/ascolti-tv-venerdi-7-aprile-2017. Accessed August 9, 2017 5.3 Rossi, Giovanni. 2017. “Ascolti tv.” Davidemaggio. https://www.davidemaggio.it/archives/ 146759/ascolti-tv-venerdi-14-aprile-2017. Accessed August 9, 2017 5.4 Buonocore, Mattia. 2017. “Ascolti tv.” Davidemaggio. https://www.davidemaggio.it/archives/ 147038/ascolti-tv-venerdi-21-aprile-2017. Accessed August 9, 2017 5.5 Buonocore, Mattia. 2017. “Ascolti tv.” Davidemaggio. https://www.davidemaggio.it/archives/ 147292/ascolti-tv-venerdi-28-aprile-2017. Accessed August 9, 2017 5.6 Buonocore, Mattia. 2017. “Ascolti tv.” Davidemaggio. https://www.davidemaggio.it/archives/ 147663/ascolti-tv-venerdi-5-maggio-2017. Accessed August 9, 2017 5.7 Buonocore, Mattia. 2017. “Ascolti tv.” Davidemaggio. https://www.davidemaggio.it/archives/ 148147/ascolti-tv-venerdi-12-maggio-2017. Accessed August 9, 2017 5.8 Buonocore, Mattia. 2017. “Ascolti tv.” Davidemaggio. https://www.davidemaggio.it/archives/ 148564/ascolti-tv-venerdi-19-maggio-2017. Accessed August 9, 2017 278 APPENDIX

Table A.11 Romanzo criminale. La serie, Stefano Sollima (Sky)

Season One: 2008–2009 1.1 November 10; 373,753 1.2 November 10; 326, 221 1.3 November 17; 454,000 1.4 November 24; approx. 370,000 1.5 December 1; approx. 360,000 1.6 December 8; approx. 425,000 1.7 December 15; approx. 500,000 1.8 December 22; approx. 425,000 1.9 January 5; approx. 400,000 1.10 January 5; approx. 375,000 1.11 January 12; 299, 344 1.12 January 12; 317, 255 Season Two: 2010 2.1 November 18; 373,753 2.2 November 18; 326,221 2.3 November 25; 431,608 2.4 November 25; 451,805 2.5 December 2; 330,517 2.6 December 2; 327,591 2.7 December 9; 271,184 2.8 December 9; 315,254 2.9 and 2.10 December 16; 514,324 combined viewers

Sources 1.1–1.2 Patruno, Igor. 2015. “Romanzo criminale, la serie, primo episodio.” Vitaliquida. http://www. vitaliquida.it/index.php/2015/06/29/rewind-romanzo-criminale-primo-episodio/. Accessed July 12, 2018 1.3 Adnkronos. 2008. “Tv: Ascolti settimanali satellite.” Adnkronos. http://www1.adnkronos.com/ Archivio/AdnAgenzia/2008/11/24/Spettacolo/Televisione/TV-ASCOLTI-SETTIMANALI- SATELLITE-146-MLN-DI-SPETTATORI-SINTONIZZATI-3_191345.php. Accessed August 10, 2017 1.4–1.10 Valmachino. 2012 2.1–2.2 Camilleri, Gianluca. 2010. “Ascolti satellite.” Davidemaggio. https://www.davidemaggio.it/ archives/33409/ascolti-satellite-di-giovedi-18-novembre-2010-373-000-spettatori-per-il-ritorno-di-romanzo-criminale. Accessed August 10, 2017 2.3–2.4 Camilleri, Gianluca. 2010. “Ascolti satellite.” Davidemaggio. https://www.davidemaggio.it/ archives/33605/ascolti-satellite-di-giovedi-25-novembre-2010-romanzo-criminale-2-sale-a-452-000- spettatori-record-per-lo-speciale-sulla-banda-della-magliana-a-175-000. Accessed August 10, 2017 2.5–2.6 Camilleri, Gianluca. 2010. “Ascolti satellite.” Davidemaggio. https://www.davidemaggio.it/ archives/33812/ascolti-satellite-di-giovedi-2-dicembre-2010-romanzo-criminale-2-conquista-330-000- spettatori-156-000-per-glee. Accessed August 10, 2017 2.7–2.8 Camilleri, Gianluca. 2010. “Ascolti satellite.” Davidemaggio. https://www.davidemaggio.it/ archives/33992/ascolti-satellite-di-giovedi-9-dicembre-2010-300-000-spettatori-circa-per-il-penulti- mo-appuntamento-con-romanzo-criminale. Accessed August 10, 2017 2.9–2.10 Camilleri, Gianluca. 2010. “Ascolti satellite.” Davidemaggio. https://www.davidemaggio.it/ archives/34172/ascolti-satellite-di-giovedi-16-dicembre-2010-l-ultima-puntata-di-romanzo-criminale-2-conquista-oltre-500-000-spettatori. Accessed August 10, 2017 APPENDIX 279

Table A.12 Faccia d’angelo, 1.1 March 12; 660,609 Andrea Porporati, 2012 (Sky) 1.2 March 19; 618,033

Sources 1.1 Apt. 2012. “La fction Faccia d’angelo record su sky.” Apt. http://www.apt.it/news/la-fction-faccia-dangelo-record-su-sky. Accessed August 10, 2017 1.2 Odello, Diego. 2012. “Ascolti tv.” Cinetivu. http://www.cinetivu.com/share/ascolti-tv-sky- 19-marzo-2012-faccia-dangelo-per-618-033-spettatori-roma-geona-per-827-186-spettatori/. Accessed August 10, 2017

Table A.13 1992; 1993, Giuseppe Gagliardi (Sky)

1992, 2015 1.1 March 24; 723,070 1.2 March 24; 617,051 1.3 March 31; 545,000 1.4 March 31; 456,000 1.5 April 7; 445,744 1.6 April 7; 434,403 1.7 April 14; 383,342 1.8 April 14; 354,954 1.9 April 21; 463,463 1.10 April 21; 422,958 1993, 2017 2.1 and 2.2 May 16; 519,000 combined viewers 2.3 May 23; 202,000 2.4 May 23; 229,000 2.5 and 2.6 May 30; 393,000 combined viewers 2.7 June 6; 240,000 2.8 June 6; 242,000

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Table A.14 Gomorrah (Sky)

Season One: 2014 1.1 “The Savastano Clan”; Stefano Sollima (SM); May 6; 641,641 1.2 “Do You Trust Me?”; SM; May 6; 674,839 1.3 “The Man is Home”; SM; May 13; 562,969 1.4 “African Blood”; SM; May 13; 655,243 1.5 “The Roar of the Lioness”; Francesca Comencini (FC); May 20; 681,644 1.6 “Spanish Roulette”; SM; May 20; 669,674 1.7 “Imma Against All”; FC; May 27; 665,751 1.8 “The White Ballot”; Claudio Cupellini (CC); May 27; 696,379 1.9 “Gelsomina Verde”; CC; June 3; 694,085 1.10 “Now We get Conte”; CC; June 3; 748,140 1.11 “One Hundred Ways to Kill”; SM; June 10; 821,858 1.12 “The Immortals”; SM; June 10; 873,798 Season Two: 2016 2.1 “My life”; SM; May 10; 827,000 2.2 “Tears and Blood”; SM; May 10; 725,000 2.3 “My Fault”, SM, May 17; 1,185,270 2.4 “The Smell of a Hyena”; FC; May 17; 1,120,999 2.5 “Eyes in Eyes”; CC; May 24; 1,124,597 2.6 “o Track”; CC; May 24; 1,059,030 2.7 “The Prince and the Dwarf”; Claudio Giovannesi (CG); May 31; 1,145,955 2.8 “Divide and Conquer”; CG; May 31; 1,083,981 2.9 “Seven Years”; FC; June 7; 1,264,436 2.10 “Ghosts”; FC; June 7; 1,221,987 2.11 “In Joy and Pain”; CC; June 14; 1,258,730 2.12 “The End of the Day”; CC; June 14; 1,121,549 Season Three: 2017 3.1 “Viva il Re!”; CC; November 17; 978,000 3.2 “Hasta la muerte”; CC; November 17; 1,153,135 3.3 “Inferno”; CC; November 24; 1.303,650 3.4 “Il flo e la Moira”; FC; November 24; 1,114,968 3.5 and 3.6 “Sangue Blu”&“Come nascere”; FC; December 1; 751,000 combined viewers 3.7 “Sangue del mio sangue”; CC; December 8; 1,010,000 3.8 “Guerra aperta”; CC; December 8; 938,000 3.9 “Giuda!”; CC; December 15; 937,135 3.10 “Insieme”; FC; December 15; 849.718 3.11 “Fede”; FC; December 22; 948,000 3.12 “Per sempre”; FC; December 22; 885,000 APPENDIX 281

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Table A.15 Suburra. La serie, 2017 (Netfix) Season One: 1.1 “21 Days”; Michele Placido (MP); October 6* 1.2 “Plebes and Partisans”; MP; October 6 1.3 “Rabid Dogs”; Andrea Molaioli (AM); October 6 1.4 “Enjoy Your Meal”; AM; October 6 1.5 “She Wolf”; AM; October 6 1.6 “Garlic, Oil, and Chili Pepper”; AM; October 6 1.7 “Last Customer”; Giuseppe Capotondi (GC); October 6 1.8 “A New Man”; GC; October 6 1.9 “Pitch Black”; GC; October 6 1.10 “Call it Sleep”; GC; October 6

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0-9 Andreotti, Giuliano, 127 1992, 5, 7, 11–14, 19, 107, 108, Angela, 195 163–167, 169–175, 177–186, Angelini, Alessandro, 63, 65, 81, 86, 219, 242 96 1993, 5, 7, 12, 13, 19, 107, 108, anni di piombo (leaden years), 41, 109, 163–181, 183–186, 219, 242 111 antihero, 4–6, 9–13, 15–17, 19, 43, 45, 50–52, 56, 57, 67, 69, 75, A 81, 85–87, 92, 108, 113, 114, abjection, 114, 115, 174, 175, 212 143, 145, 147, 149, 152, 176, Accorsi, Stefano, 12, 14, 19, 82, 164, 193, 216, 217, 234, 238, 239, 176, 184 241, 247, 258, 264, 266–268 acting, 13, 47, 51, 57, 84, 143, 146, antiheroine, 16 164, 170, 175, 201, 205, 220 antimafa, 1, 40–42, 44, 46–48, 69, advertising campaigns, 173, 235, 247 71–73, 75, 76, 78, 80–82, 84, Albrecht, Michael Mario, 17, 25, 29, 85, 154, 175 106, 267 martyrs, 23, 24, 47, 76, 85 alignment, 7, 10, 15, 19, 26, 27, 45, mentality, 130, 155 49, 73, 91, 113, 194, 208, 219, Antonello, Pierpaolo, 197, 200 239, 249, 267 audiences, 4, 7, 8, 15, 21, 23, 26, 27, allegiance, 4, 7, 15, 25, 27, 28, 47, 40, 43, 53, 58, 64, 89, 94, 97, 87, 110, 113, 115–117, 119, 105, 106, 110, 111, 132, 158, 121, 126, 175, 210, 212, 213, 165, 171, 177, 219, 249, 257, 217, 239, 259, 260 266–268 American Gangster, 20

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), 327 under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2019 D. Renga, Watching Sympathetic Perpetrators on Italian Television, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11503-6 328 Index

B Broadcase, 3, 4, 23, 29, 39, 57, 63, bambino in fuga, un (A Child on the 77, 106, 112 Run), 41 Bromance, 113, 114, 237, 248, 249, bambino in fuga – tre anni dopo, Un 263 (A Child on the Run – Three Bruun Vaage, Margrethe, 8, 11, 14, Years Later), 41 25, 27, 28, 123, 124, 142, 143 Banda della Magliana, La (documen- buddy flm, 72, 262–264, 269 tary), 111 Buonanno, Milly, 23–25, 27, 28, 42, Banda della Magliana, 5, 45, 107–111, 78, 88, 97 121, 125, 126, 128, 129, 132, Butler, Judith, 115, 173, 185, 201, 142, 238 203, 211 Banda della Magliana – La vera storia, La (The Banda della Magliana – The True Story), 111, 131, 144 C Barra, Luca, 5, 24, 26, 40, 41, 43, 63, cable, 2, 26, 28, 105, 132 64, 89, 94, 106, 109, 132, 134, Calzone, Maria Pia, 16, 193 184, 232, 250 Camilleri, Andrea, 4, 24 Bauman, Rebecca, 42 Camorra, 1, 2, 5, 42, 81–86, 96, 107, Bayman, Louis, 168 109, 111, 141, 158, 193–197, Beatty, Warren, 20 200, 204, 214, 220–222, 237, Berlusconi, Silvio, 5, 24, 63, 64, 95, 258, 260, 266 107, 163, 165, 166, 168, 170, camp, 198, 199, 238 171, 173, 174, 179, 181–183, Canale 5, 63, 64, 95, 166 185–187, 235, 264 capo dei capi, Il, 18, 45, 58, 63, 65, Big Little Lies, 232 66, 69–78, 82, 84, 85, 88, 96, biopic, 1, 47, 71, 73, 144, 145, 157 146 blogs, 22, 87, 110, 113, 122, 156, Carminati, Massimo, 108, 109, 131, 221, 236, 245, 249, 264, 269 142, 235 Boardwalk Empire, 25, 232 Carroll, Noël, 8, 9, 113, 130, 259 Bocci, Marco, 108, 114 casting, 7, 13, 51, 58, 82, 84, 88, 106, body studies, 206, 221 107, 132, 146, 157, 205, 214, Bonivento, Claudio, 41 219, 220, 239 Bonnie and Clyde, 20 Cerlino, Fortunato, 193 Borghi, Alessandro, 13, 19, 234, Cesare deve morire (Caesar Must Die), 239–242 84, 118 Borsellino, Paolo, 23, 69, 71, 76, 77, Chase, David, 7, 16, 19 154 chicas del cable, Las (Cable Girls), 246 Boylan, Amy, 23 Chiklis, Michael, 15, 265 Breaking Bad, 5, 12, 48, 79, 107, 193, clan dei camorristi, Il, 63, 65, 66, 204, 216, 217, 265 81–86, 96 Bribesville scandals (‘tangentopoli’), Clean Hands Operations (mani pulite), 165 163 Index 329 collaborator of justice. See pentito E Comencini, Francesca, 169, 197, 258 Eastwood, Clint, 186, 212 coming-of-age narrative, 50 Edelman, Lee, 181, 182, 184, 186 Comolli, Jean-Louis, 171 Elia, Carmine, 42 Compagni di scuola (Classmates), 52 Elsaesser, Thomas, 8, 121, 130 complex man. See masculinity Era mio fratello, 41, 42 complex television, 8 Esposito, Salvatore, 11, 82, 96, 193, Coppola, Francis Ford, 2, 77, 79, 196 205, 206, 220 Corleone, 44, 69, 73, 74, 77, 80, 152, 209 Corleonesi, the, 43, 44, 47 F Cosa Nostra, 2, 5, 40, 44–46, 69–71, Faccia d’angelo (Angel Face), 11, 105, 73–75, 78, 80, 95, 109, 111, 141, 236 131, 141, 158, 187, 196, 266 Facebook, 22, 40, 56, 58, 69, 77, 95, Cranston, Bryan, 12, 19, 246, 265 97, 122, 155, 156, 184, 199, Crimini, 48 203, 214, 221, 222, 235, 238, Cupellini, Claudio, 214 240, 245–247, 259 Curb Your Enthusiasm, 6 Falco, Teo, 181 Currie, Gregory, 3, 7 Falcone, Giovanni, 40, 46, 69, 71, 76 fandom, 247 Fascism, 42 D fatherhood, 90 D’Amore, Marco, 10, 11, 193, 204, fat studies, 206 213–215, 220, 221, 246, 258, fatti della Banda della Magliana, 264, 265 110 Damon, Matt, 20 Favino, Pierfrancesco, 111 David, Larry, 6 Feasey, Rebecca, 17, 211 Deadwood, 7, 25 Felicia Impastato, 1, 2, 14, 23 De Cataldo, Giancarlo, 113, 121, 131, feminism, 16, 170, 197 143, 233 Ferrara, Giacomo, 12, 234, 242 De Maria, Renato, 43, 50, 51, 55, 88 flm noir, 20, 164, 176, 222 De Matteo, Ivano, 43, 48 Fininvest, 63, 64, 164, 185 De Niro, Robert, 20 Finocchiaro, Donatella, 48 Departed, The, 20 Forza Italia, 163, 166, 170, 171, 182, Dexter, 5, 10, 13, 18, 48, 57, 217 183, 185 DiCaprio, Leonardo, 20 Freud, Sigmund, 92, 93, 154 Dickie, John, 70, 75 Diele, Domenico, 108, 164 Doane, Mary Ann, 199, 222 G Donadio, Cristina, 16, 96, 134, 195, Gagliardi, Giuseppe, 107, 165, 258 199, 222 Galantuomini (Brave Men), 195 Donnie Brasco, 2 Game of Thrones, 1, 25, 232, 268 330 Index

Gandolfni, James, 7, 19, 246 Hall, Michael C., 10, 13 García, Alberto N., 6, 7, 9–12, 17, 25, Hamm, Jon, 4, 265 217, 239, 259 Hannibal, 10, 217 Garko, Gabriel, 66, 87–89, 91–94, 97 Hawks, Howard, 83, 147 Garrone, Matteo, 23, 83, 84, 193, HBO, 6, 19, 106, 232, 268 219, 221–223 hegemonic masculinity, 173 gay male identity, 248 heteronormativity, 202, 248 as repressed, 248 Hipkins, Danielle, 64, 165, 168, 169, gender identity, 201 173, 249 gender politics, 74, 82, 166 history, 5, 21, 22, 24, 28, 40, 43, 45, Gente di mare (People of the Sea), 41 46, 57, 64, 66, 71, 72, 78, 86, Germano, Elio, 11, 19, 141, 144–147, 89, 106, 114, 118, 121, 130, 149, 150, 157, 158 132, 133, 143, 151, 152, 157, Gibson, Mel, 177 165, 182, 222, 234, 238, 247, Gioè, Claudio, 42, 65, 70, 72, 75 257, 260, 267 giorno speciale, Un (A Special Day), 169 as represented in Italian fction, 266, Godfather, The, 2, 20, 73, 78, 79, 111, 268 112, 147, 152, 196 in the present, 5, 66, 121 Godfather Part II, The, 20, 73, 152, 196 HIV/AIDS, 82, 89, 164, 166, 177, Gomorrah, 1, 7, 10, 11, 16, 19, 23, 178, 180, 182, 184, 186, 242 24, 26, 77, 83–85, 96, 107, 108, Holdaway, Dom, 266 164, 165, 174, 193–195, 199, homophobia, 202, 210, 249 200, 204, 213, 236, 237, 259 homosexuality, 13, 90, 115, 234 Gomorrah 1, 1, 16, 23, 84, 164, 195, as abjected, 115 197, 198, 200, 203, 205, 206, as a threat, 114 208–211, 213–217, 223, 243, 260 homosocial masculinity, 202, Gomorrah 2, 1, 2, 16, 23, 107, 262 195–198, 200, 205, 207–209, honour, 125 211, 214–219, 223, 243, 260, House of Cards, 1, 5, 19, 165, 232 261, 269 Ho voglia di te (I Want You), 51, Gomorrah 3, 2, 23, 222, 257–263, 54 268, 269 Gomorrah 4, 23, 258, 264 Gomorrah (book), 237 I Gomorrah (flm), 84, 219 Impastato, Giuseppe, 1 Goodfellas, 2, 111, 112, 147, 151 Innocenti, Veronica, 186 grande bellezza, La (The Great Beauty), 173, 174, 179 J Jenkins, Henry, 122, 123, 129, 131, H 245 Halberstam, Judith, 22 Index 331

K marketing campaigns, 120, 122, 221, King of the Underworld, 20 231 Kristeva, Julia, 174, 175 Martin, Brett, 9, 15, 28, 111 masculinity and aging, 78 L and illness, 180 Langella, Alessandra, 200, 203, 269 and the homosocial, 114, 115, 133, Leone, Miriam, 145, 148, 158, 164 174, 248 Lodovini, Valentina, 50, 55, 58 as abjection, 114, 175 Lombardi, Giancarlo, 3, 24, 26, 107, as a construct, 173, 196 113, 118, 213, 216, 261, 264, as complex, 6, 9, 15, 267 269 as feminized, 166 Lotz, Amanda, 16, 17, 19, 25, 26, 28, as queer, 234 105 gay, 91 in crisis, 5, 17, 25, 28, 175, 196, 219, 267 M nostalgia for intact masculinity, 213 Mad Men, 4, 107, 164, 165, 178, 265 performance of, 70, 173, 200, 216 mafa Mean Streets, 20, 263 as homosocial, 72 Mediaset, 4, 22, 24, 27, 39–41, as traumatizing, 5 43–46, 50, 56, 58, 63–67, 74, as “piovra” (octopus), 42, 78 75, 81–83, 85, 86, 88, 95, 105, mafa capitale, 5, 108, 109, 130, 131, 106, 108, 166, 231, 232, 239 235 melodrama, 8, 20, 26, 90, 106, 112, mafa women, 158 143, 148, 158, 184, 218, 222 mafosi (men of honour), 2, 4, 21, 41, serial, 8 65, 87, 94–96, 112, 129, 131, method acting (bodily modifcations), 134, 154, 156, 200, 213 206 Mala del Brenta, 5, 107, 141, 142, middlebrow 144–147, 151, 152, 154–158 cinema, 52, 67 Mala del Brenta – La vera storia (Mala television, 52, 63, 67 del Brenta – The True Story), 144 Mittell, Jason, 4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 17, 18, male melodrama, 20, 92, 111, 153, 25–27, 85, 96, 97, 106, 113, 164, 165, 171, 176, 178, 186, 132, 214, 215, 247, 261, 269 208, 212, 219, 222, 249 Modleski, Tania, 28, 29, 90, 91, 93, mani dentro la città, Le (Hands Inside 97, 186, 197, 212, 219 of the City), 65 Montanari, Francesco, 10, 109 Maniero, Felice, 107, 141–146, 149, Monteleone, Enzo, 24, 45, 57, 63, 150, 153–157 69, 74 Marchioni, Vinicio, 13, 109, 120 Moro, Aldo, 70, 109, 114, 132, 151 Marini-Maio, Nicoletta, 172 mourning, 46, 92, 250, 264 Mulvey, Laura, 91 332 Index

N Placido, Michele, 18, 29, 42, 45, 52, Narcos, 231, 233, 246 66, 75, 76, 78, 79, 85, 95, 109, ’ndrangheta, 5, 41, 42, 48, 49, 57, 65, 174, 233 141, 158, 250, 266 as actor, 18, 52, 77, 85 Negrin, Alberto, 5, 43–46 as director, 77, 233 neorealism, 23, 223 polemics and scandals (around pro- Netfix, 4, 10, 22, 24, 27, 41, 43, 46, grams), 88 56, 57, 64, 66, 69, 73, 131, 165, Porporati, Andrea, 11, 105, 141, 231–233, 236, 238, 239, 243, 145–148, 151, 154, 156 246–248, 250, 257, 266, 268 postfeminism, 169, 170, 185, 197 “Niente di personale” (Nothing post-mafa, 131, 155 Personal), 43, 48, 49, 57 Pretty Woman, 170 prima linea, La (The Front Line), 51, 52, 55, 58, 88, 157 O prison system in Italy, 210 O’Leary, Alan, 29 protests (of programs), 6, 21 O’Rawe, Catherine, 5, 18, 25, 28, Provenzano, Bernardo, 44–47, 57, 29, 51, 54, 55, 58, 88, 114, 115, 75–80, 95, 96, 131, 134 127–129, 132, 133, 144, 145, 151, 157, 166, 174, 178, 186, 196, 212, 213, 221, 242 Q onore e il rispetto, Il, 56, 58, 63, 65, quality television, 1, 4, 6, 7, 25, 26, 66, 87–94, 97 89, 106, 112, 164 Orange is the New Black, 16, 232 queer bodies, 166 organized crime. See mafa queer futures, 184 Orsitto, Fulvio, 151 queer politics, 165, 248 Oz, 6, 106 queer television, 247 Özpetek, Ferzan, 89 Quo vadis, baby?, 16, 106

P R Pasolini, Pier Paolo, 183, 184, 187, Rai, 2, 4, 22, 39–44, 46, 47, 50, 52, 221 53, 55, 56, 63–66, 74, 78, 82, pentito (collaborator of justice), 154, 83, 85, 105, 106, 108, 165, 231, 194, 213 235, 239 performance, 13, 25, 27, 47, 57, 64, Rai 1, 1, 40, 43, 56 84, 107, 143, 145, 146, 164, reception, 4, 57, 69, 70, 77, 80, 195, 173, 184, 198–200, 211, 216, 199, 200, 236, 239, 248 219, 220 Reich, Jacqueline, 55, 58 Pescatore, Guglielmo, 186 remediation, 121, 131, 132 Pickering-Iazzi, Robin, 69, 80, 81, Renga, Dana, 2, 20, 70, 74, 109, 131, 95, 133 133, 153, 222, 238 piovra, La (The Octopus), 4, 42, 78 Rigoletto, Sergio, 25 Index 333

Riina, Totò, 43–47, 65, 66, 69–75, Servillo, Toni, 214 77, 78, 85, 95, 96, 131, 134 Sex and the City, 26, 106, 167, 185 Risi, Marco, 63, 75, 77, 78, 81, 84 Shield, The, 4, 5, 217, 265 Rizzotto, Placido, 23, 47, 71, 73 shipping, 8, 244, 247 Roja, Alessandro, 109 show girl (on television), 168 Romanzo criminale, 7, 13, 24, 29, 52, Sicily, 21, 50, 87 74, 77, 106, 111, 121, 143, 213 sistema, Il, 42, 58 Romanzo criminale (flm), 29, 85, 96, Six Feet Under, 13, 28, 164 133, 186 Sky, 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 16, 21–24, 27, Romanzo criminale (novel), 109 40, 41, 43–46, 56, 64–66, 69, Romanzo criminale (paratexts), 174 73, 74, 76, 82, 85, 87, 88, 105– Romanzo criminale. La serie, 19, 24, 108, 112, 120, 132, 133, 142, 45, 74, 77, 106–110, 112, 114, 144, 145, 147, 164, 231–233, 119, 132, 134, 141, 144, 165, 236, 237, 239, 247, 248, 250, 174, 193, 219, 221, 236, 237, 258, 259, 264, 266, 268 242, 265 Smith, Murray, 4, 6, 9, 10, 14, 15, 20, Rosenstone, Robert A., 45, 267 25, 27, 78, 109, 110, 113, 116, Rossi Stuart, Kim, 18, 21, 67, 111, 113 119, 121, 133, 153, 158, 175, 195, 210, 213, 239 soap operas, 24, 64, 65, 89–91, 93, S 97, 264 Salvatore Giuliano, 23 Soavi, Michele, 57, 67 Sartoretti, Andrea, 109 social media, 22, 40, 56, 70, 71, 96, Saviano, Roberto, 23, 83, 193–195, 132, 134, 195, 199, 238, 259, 200, 203, 205, 221, 222, 237, 264, 265, 269 250, 258 online communities in, 245 Scaglioni, Massimo, 5, 10, 24, 26, 40, social network analysis, 22 41, 43, 63, 64, 89, 94, 106, 107, Sollima, Stefano, 106, 109, 204, 213, 109, 132, 134, 250 233 Scamarcio, Riccardo, 50–56, 58, 88, Sontag, Susan, 180, 181, 198, 199 109, 111, 157 Sopranos, The, 6, 7, 19, 21, 26, 106, Scampia, 84, 193, 194, 203, 237, 262 107, 111, 123, 164, 178, 216, Scarface (de Palma), 20 235, 257 Scarface (Hawks), 83, 147 Soprano¸Tony, 16, 18, 19 Schiavone, Walter, 83 Sorrentino, Paolo, 152, 173, 179 Scimeca, Pasquale, 47, 73 Spacey, Kevin, 19 Scorsese, Martin, 2, 20, 111, 147 spoilers, 2, 239, 258, 259, 268 Secondigliano, 193, 194 Staiger, Janet, 111, 176, 219, 222 Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky, 114 Stewart, Kim Rossi, 145 Segio, Sergio, 51, 55, 88 streaming, 231, 236, 248, 268 segreto dell’acqua, Il, 27, 43, 50–58 Suburra, 12, 13, 131, 165, 233, segreto dell’acqua, Il, 53, 55 235–239, 242, 243 Sepinwall, Alan, 28 334 Index

Suburra. La serie, 11, 19, 233–244, ultimo padrino, Il, 63, 65, 66 247–248, 250, 265 Uno Bianca, 19, 67–69, 95, 146 Suburra (flm), 131, 249 uomo perfetto, L’ (The Perfect Man), Sweet, Alexis, 45, 63, 69, 74, 81, 86 54 sympathetic perpetrator identikit, 6, 9, 10, 27, 265 sympathetic perpetrators, 20 V as glamorized, 2, 234, 242, 266 Vallanzasca, gli angeli del male (Angels backstories, 261, 265 of Evil), 18, 144, 145 casting, 47, 220 Vallanzasca, Renato, 128 charisma, 4, 5, 10, 234 vendetta, 79, 91, 148, 204, 217, 219 childhood trauma, 12 Vidal, Belén, 71–73 conventionally attractive, 3, 19, 239 vita tranquilla, Una (A Quiet Life), inside knowledge, 22 214 just vendetta, 10 Vittime del Dovere, 18, 146 lesser evil, 10, 87, 261 moral relativism, 10 redeeming qualities, 10, 261 W remorse, 261 Washington, Denzel, 20 sympathy, 1, 3, 4, 6–9, 13, 15, 19, Weeds, 16 25, 27, 28, 47, 49, 78, 110, 112, Weepies, 82, 245 113, 117, 121, 130, 133, 153, White, Walter, 18, 19 158, 175, 177, 198, 212, 214, Williams, Linda, 8 216, 219, 239, 259, 268, 269 Winspeare, Edoardo, 195 Wire, The, 5, 7, 107, 193, 216 women, 15, 16, 27, 28, 42, 46, 49, T 56, 58, 64–66, 74, 82, 86, 87, Tarantino, Quentin, 112 90–93, 107, 108, 118, 119, 124, Tasker, Yvonne, 210, 215, 216 128, 142, 150, 152, 158, 164, teen flm, 51, 52, 55 166–171, 173, 178, 179, 181, terrorism, 3, 29, 41, 52, 109 185, 186, 194–200, 207, 218, Torre, Roberta, 195 222, 233, 235, 249, 261, 262, trauma, 12, 13, 21, 23, 108, 115, 131, 264 165, 174, 178, 214, 215, 266 as marginalized, 65, 262 Tre metri sopra il cielo (Three Steps as scapegoated, 168 Above Heaven), 51 True Blood, 232 Twitter, 1, 22, 23, 40, 42, 231, 238– Z 240, 245–247, 259, 264, 265 Zeno, Giuseppe, 66, 82, 86, 174

U ultimo dei Corleonesi, L’, 43–47, 57, 58