Remaking national identity: postcolonial discourses at the intersection of gender and race in Tutto può succedere
Remaking national identity: postcolonial discourses at the intersection of gender and race in Tutto può succedere
In the context of global migrations, ‘new Italians’ have emerged in a group of mainstream TV series, among which Tutto può succedere (‘Anything can happen’) (RAI 1, 2015–18) stands out as the remake of the American Parenthood. This article argues that this process of cultural translation reveals tensions over the negotiation of national identity in Italian society, due to recent migrations and the submerged colonial past. Through the adoption of an intersectional approach, the analysis of the interracial relationship between Feven, an Eritrean-born woman, and Carlo will highlight that the postracial discourses underlying Parenthood are superseded by postcolonial ones in the remake. I demonstrate that the Othering of Feven through sexualization and exoticization exposes the persistence of colonial stereotypes. However, the displacement of race onto gender preoccupations through the prism of postfeminism highlights the attempted ‘normalization’ of the Other, further engaging with the specificities of the Italian context through its association with religion.
global migrations, intersectionality, Italian colonialism, Italian national identity, postcoloniality, postfeminism, television series
321-338
Sammartino, Eleonora
e79435ad-272d-4bae-afa5-1d3234ebbe9a
1 June 2020
Sammartino, Eleonora
e79435ad-272d-4bae-afa5-1d3234ebbe9a
Sammartino, Eleonora
(2020)
Remaking national identity: postcolonial discourses at the intersection of gender and race in Tutto può succedere.
Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies, 8 (3), .
(doi:10.1386/jicms_00025_1).
Abstract
In the context of global migrations, ‘new Italians’ have emerged in a group of mainstream TV series, among which Tutto può succedere (‘Anything can happen’) (RAI 1, 2015–18) stands out as the remake of the American Parenthood. This article argues that this process of cultural translation reveals tensions over the negotiation of national identity in Italian society, due to recent migrations and the submerged colonial past. Through the adoption of an intersectional approach, the analysis of the interracial relationship between Feven, an Eritrean-born woman, and Carlo will highlight that the postracial discourses underlying Parenthood are superseded by postcolonial ones in the remake. I demonstrate that the Othering of Feven through sexualization and exoticization exposes the persistence of colonial stereotypes. However, the displacement of race onto gender preoccupations through the prism of postfeminism highlights the attempted ‘normalization’ of the Other, further engaging with the specificities of the Italian context through its association with religion.
Text
Remaking National Identity
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 15 November 2019
Published date: 1 June 2020
Keywords:
global migrations, intersectionality, Italian colonialism, Italian national identity, postcoloniality, postfeminism, television series
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 478465
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/478465
ISSN: 2047-7368
PURE UUID: 08166dd0-b287-4cee-9f11-dec584fca2c2
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 03 Jul 2023 16:54
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:16
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Eleonora Sammartino
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics