The Giallo and the Black: The Representation of Fascism and WWII Between Revisionism and Criticism

Abstract

By reflecting the revisionist historical and political debate of the 1980s and 1990s in Italy, this chapter highlights how crime writers who have set their stories during Fascism and WWII have represented a variety of perspectives that range from the problematic representation of the “good fascist,” to the stigmatization of the ambivalent attitudes of many Italians who survived during Fascism without taking sides, to an open condemnation of a regime that killed freedom of expression in Italy. It also analyzes several film adaptations of historical crime novels. It shows how, for being meant to a more general audience and for its almost symbiotic relationship with political parties, the TV medium in Italy offers a more superficial representation of important topics related to fascism.