Contemporary Italian Youth Television / edited by Luca Barra, Danielle Hipkins, Catherine O'Rawe, Dana Renga.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Barra, Luca, Editor.

Hipkins, Danielle., Editor.

O'Rawe, Catherine, Editor.

Renga, Dana., Editor.

Series:

Literature, Cultural and Media Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion picture plays, European.

Youth--Social life and customs.

Youth.

European Film and TV.

Youth Culture.

Local Subjects:

European Film and TV.

Youth Culture.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (XXIII, 374 p. 1 illus.)

Edition:

1st ed. 2026.

Place of Publication:

Cham : Springer Nature Switzerland : Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan, 2026.

Summary:

This open-access volume is the first English-language study of the vibrant contemporary landscape of Italian youth-oriented television. TV shows addressed include internationally popular series such as SKAM Italia, Baby, Summertime, We Are Who We Are, Zero, Prisma, My Brilliant Friend, Mare Fuori, and many others. The collection explores the changing representation of young people, while contextualising these developments historically and industrially. The opening section examines key issues shaping contemporary Italian youth television, such as fashion, place, music, and language, with a focus on how Italian producers and outlets are adapting local practices in response to transnational production models and international distribution networks. The second and third sections offer focused readings of Italian youth TV series in this contemporary landscape, drawing on a wide range of thematic angles, from immigration to queer identities. Finally, the book concludes with interviews with major industry figures, who reflect on recent adjustments in production and distribution practices by public service broadcasters and digital platforms. Luca Barra is Professor of Television and Media Studies at the Università di Bologna, Italy. He published widely on TV production and distribution cultures, comedy genres, the global circulation of media products, and the evolution of the contemporary media landscape. Danielle Hipkins is Professor of Italian Studies and Film at the University of Exeter, UK. She is currently co-authoring Girlhood and the Italian Screen: A Girls’-Eye View of Italian cinema and television. Catherine O’Rawe is Professor of Italian Film and Culture at Bristol University, UK. Her publications include Stars and Masculinities in Contemporary Italian Cinema (2014) and The Non-Professional Actor. Italian Neorealist Cinema and Beyond (2023). Dana Renga is Professor of Italian and Dean of Arts and Humanities at The Ohio State University, USA. She has published widely in Italian media studies, in particular on the mafia, and is working on the monograph #CastingStardom in Contemporary Italian Serial Television.

Contents:

Chapter 01: Introduction: Bringing Youth into Contemporary Italian Television

Section 1: Trends

Chapter 02: From Tre metri sopra il cielo to Summertime: The Evolution of the “filone giovanilistico” Through Time and Screens

Chapter 03: Fashioning Identity in Contemporary Italian Youth Television Series

Chapter 04: “Talkin’ ‘bout my Generation” The Role of Music in Italian Youth Television Series

Chapter 05: “Teen” Sense of Place: The Representation of Italian Locations in Teen Television Series

Chapter 06: Not Another Teen Drama: Rai, Platformization, and New Representations of Teenagers

Chapter 07: Rai Fiction Teen Series for Mainstream Channels: Programming and Production

Chapter 08: “Ma che stai dicendo?” A Linguistic Overview of Teen Representation in Italian Television Series

Chapter 09: Baby... One More Time: Netflix Italia’s Original First Teen Dramas and the Struggle to Build a New Genre

Chapter 10: A Girls’ Eye-view: Exploring Television Representations of Italian Girlhood through the Lens of Italian Female Adolescence

Section 2: Texts

Chapter 11: Queer Identifications, Activism, and Desire in SKAM Italia

Chapter 12: “Vedo che siamo moderni, eh?” Representations of Social Media Use in SKAM Italia

Chapter 13: Musica, Maestro! Notes on La Compagnia del Cigno’s Teen Cast

Chapter 14: “Is This Italian TV?” How My Brilliant Friend Has Attained Success in Mainland China

Chapter 15: Casa Surace’s Engagement with Southern Youth and National Success Amongst Young Italians

Chapter 16: The Transmedia Universe of Mare Fuori

Section 3: Close-ups

Chapter 17: Male Bonding and Narrative Afterlives in Suburra: Blood on Rome

Chapter 18: Incredible Casting: My Brilliant Friend

Chapter 19: The Horrors of History in Netflix’s Curon

Chapter 20: The Beach in Summertime

Chapter 21: Wrecking the Lagoon: Reading Waste in We Are Who We Are’s Queer Adolescence

Chapter 22: We Are Who We Are or Queerness as Atmospheric

Chapter 23: Visualising the Invisible: Zero and Afro-Italian Urban Utopias

Chapter 24: A Tale of Three Teenagers and a City: Romulus, or the Foundation of Rome According to Sky Italia

Chapter 25: The Pathos of Transnationalism: Exploring the Tourist Gaze in Anna

Chapter 26: Generazione 56K: Nostalgia as a Way to Convergence Media Practices

Chapter 27: An Astrological Guide for Broken Hearts, or Emily in Paris in Turin

Chapter 28: Luna Park: La dolce vita and Retro History

Chapter 29: Coming of Age in Naples in The Lying Life of Adults

Chapter 30: Prisma: Building a Game of Mirrors

Chapter 31: Teens in Prison: Control and Redemption in Mare fuori

Section 4: Interview

Chapter 32: Putting Your Own Stamp on the Writing of Others: A Conversation with Ivan Silvestrini, Director of Mare Fuori

Chapter 33: Youth Culture, Diversity, and Italianness on Television: An Interview with Ludovico Bessegato

Chapter 34: Desperately Seeking Diversity: Challenges and Breakthroughs in the Casting of Netflix’s Zero

Chapter 35: “Indeed there is magic in casting”: An Interview with Sara Casani and Laura Muccino.

ISBN:

3-031-98064-6