Neapolitan Spaces, Figures and Scenarios in Gomorra - La serie: Ways and Forms of Reception in German-speaking countries

Abstract

This contribution aims to investigate the reception of the “Gomorra brand” (Benvenuti 2017) in Germanspeaking countries. In particular, it focuses on the ways in which the series and some of its peculiar aspects – the decadent urban landscapes, the social context permeated by organised crime, the power of attraction exercised by male and female characters and the authenticity of the narration – have been received, and how they have contributed to convey specific images of Neapolitan identity associated, in some cases, with pervasive stereotypes and clichés. The contribution relies exclusively on the analysis of online documents
(among which, in-depth articles that appeared in newspapers with a wide or sectorial circulation, including Der Spiegel and Die Zeit) in order to analyse the effects produced by the tv series Gomorrah (together with its iconic building, the Vele di Scampia), in disseminating distinct images of Neapolitanism and, ultimately, of Italianness through an exchange between local and global.