Netflix's arrival in Italy in 2015 brought many new production, distribution, rhetorical, and representational strategies to the national media market. These strategies have compelled national players to modernize their production technologies and cultures and significantly change the portrayal of certain underrepresented social groups in Italian television fiction.
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Building on these developments, Rai has begun to incorporate new modes of diversity representation alongside its more traditional narratives in recent years, particularly through original series produced for its streaming platform, RaiPlay, which is aimed at a young audience.
This talk will examine how new inclusivity policies regarding ethnicity, gender, disability, and sexual orientation may have influenced the forms of representation and narration in contemporary Rai series, with a particular emphasis on the teen drama genre. By examining these new narratives, this contribution hopes to better understand how these series, on the one hand, represent industrial strategies designed to meet market demands while also having a social and cultural impact.
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Stefano Guerini Rocco is a research fellow at the University of Bologna, where he collaborates on the project WokeIt. Investigating Representation, Inclusivity and Social Responsibility in Rai鈥檚 Fiction Audiovisual Productions (PRIN 2022 PNRR). He is also an adjunct professor at the Catholic University of Milan and a lecturer at the SAE Institute of Milan.
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Rocco's research interests include the production of media content for teen audiences across both cinema and television, with a focus on examining teen audiences and exploring inclusive narratives within these platforms. He took part in the research project CinCit 鈥� International Circulation of Italian Cinema (PRIN 2015) as a visiting researcher at the Universit脿 della Svizzera Italiana. He has participated in several international conferences and has been published in academic journals like 尝鈥橝惫惫别苍迟耻谤补, Imago, and Comunicazioni Sociali. He is a member of the editorial team of Series 鈥� the International Journal of TV Serial Narratives.