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European Television Crime Drama and Beyond pp 139–156Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

When the Local Goes Global

The Transnational Appeal of the Italian Mafia Story

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Part of the book series: Palgrave European Film and Media Studies ((PEFMS))

Abstract

By presenting the comparative case study of the two most iconic and ground-breaking mob dramas ever made in Italy—The Octopus (Raiuno, 1980s) and Gomorrah (Sky Atlantic, 2000s)—the chapter engages in the contextualised analysis of the range of factors that helped to make these shows the most successful exports in the history of Italian television. The comparison is meant to highlight how the conditions for local crime drama to achieve transnational circulation and reputation have significantly changed over time. In particular, the shift has enabled Gomorrah to disrupt ethical concerns and narrative canons of the mafia story as they were successfully and influentially established by The Octopus.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The average audience earned by the first four miniseries of La Piovra that made up ‘the cycle of Cattani’ (1984–1989) ranged from 12 to 14 million viewers, and peaked at 17 million for the cycle finale.

  2. 2.

    Broadcast dates were: 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001.

  3. 3.

    The narrative survived the loss of its first and most popular hero. Two successive hero-protagonists followed, both of them destined to die.

  4. 4.

    Judge Giovanni Falcone was one of the most enlightened and expert investigators of Mafia crime. In May 1992 he was the victim of a powerful bomb attack just outside Palermo, ordered by the bloodthirsty Corleone boss Totò Riina (the so-called ‘Capaci slaughter’). Judge Paolo Borsellino was assassinated three months later.

  5. 5.

    France, Spain, Germany, Austria, United Kingdom, Sweden, Czech Republic, partnered the co-production of different sequels of La Piovra.

  6. 6.

    This was a biopic of the Mafia boss Totò Riina (see note 4).

  7. 7.

    At the time of writing this chapter, two seasons had been aired respectively in 2014 and 2016; the third season aired in late 2017.

  8. 8.

    Following the wave of praise, Gomorrah director and showrunner Stefano Sollima has been hired by Hollywood to produce a sequel to the crime-thriller Sicario.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Milly Buonanno

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  1. Milly Buonanno
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Correspondence to Milly Buonanno .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Aalborg University, Aalborg East, Denmark

    Kim Toft Hansen

  2. Grantham College, Grantham, UK

    Steven Peacock

  3. Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

    Sue Turnbull

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Buonanno, M. (2018). When the Local Goes Global. In: Toft Hansen, K., Peacock, S., Turnbull, S. (eds) European Television Crime Drama and Beyond. Palgrave European Film and Media Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96887-2_8

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