Gomorra

Il y a quarante-quatre ans que le projet d’une grande réalisation urbanistique est sortie de terre
dans un quartier au nord de Naples, il y a dix ans que la Scampia est devenue une plaque tournante de
trafic de drogue tenu par la maffia et il y a six ans que le roman de Roberto Saviano, Gomorra, a été
publié et traduit en plusieurs langues. Ces trois phénomènes, plus ou moins liés, peuvent être réunis
sous le nom des Vele.

Based on an analysis build upon the narratological principles and the categories fiction/non-fiction, as well
as on a range of specific comparisons with other authors (Leonardo Sciascia, Truman Capote, Emmanuel Carrère and Primo Levi), this essay explores the way the hybrid form of the text Gomorrah works and
considers its “literary” characteristics as the key of the book’s success. The comparison with In Cold Blood
and L’Adversaire allows to emphasize the different ways the text functions and the effects regarding the
presence (or absence) of the first-person narrator within the merely seemingly homogenous genre (the nonfiction
novel). The process of the “expansion of meaning”, a proper characteristic of every great poetic
work, is intensified in Gomorrah by means of the construction of a special hybrid form, where
autobiographical narration and the factuality of data are interwoven to form a single logic, which is capable
of involving the reader emotionally and to induce an active reflection on the subject.
                                                             
Tramite un’indagine che si richiama a postulati di narratologia e alle categorie di finzionalità/non finzionalità, e
attraverso una serie di raffronti mirati con opere di altri autori (Sciascia, Capote, Carrère e Primo Levi), il saggio
esplora il funzionamento della forma ibrida del testo di Gomorra e le sue caratteristiche “letterarie”, in quanto
chiavi del successo del libro. Il confronto con In Cold Blood e con L’Adversaire permettono di evidenziare,
all’interno di un genere (il non-fiction novel) soltanto apparentemente omogeneo, funzioni ed effetti differenti
legati alla presenza (o assenza) del narratore in prima persona. Il processo di “espansione di significato”, caratteristica
propria di qualsiasi grande opera poetica, viene potenziato in Gomorra dalla costruzione di una forma
ibrida particolare, nella quale narrazione-testimonianza e fattualità dei dati si intrecciano in un’unica logica,
capace di coinvolgere emotivamente il lettore e di spingerlo alla riflessione.

It’s a matter of fact that nowadays criminal associations are evolving. Many of them have been undergoing a slow and peculiar process through which their illegal criminal activities have been transformed into legal, taxed and official business. Consequently, the idea that society developed about these organizations is no longer effective.  The ambition to change the status of their criminal associations is a common feature in the two TV series analysed in this essay: Peaky Blinders (2013, Steven Knight) 1 and Gomorra – La serie (2014, inspired by Roberto Saviano’s novel Gomorra) 2. The main characters of these two stories, Thomas Shelby and Gennaro Savastano, mutually connected due to many common features that I’ll try to explain in this paper, struggle in order to overturn their criminal businesses into legal affairs, so that they can finally detach from their past. Therefore, analysing and comparing these two characters as gangsters that belong to a new generation of crime will be the aim of this short essay. Part of this research is dedicated to proxemics and power relationships that occur between Gennaro and his “wops” as well as for Thomas and his “Peaky Fuc**** Blinders”. Moreover, by using some of the fundamental analytic tools of Multimodal Discourse Analysis, several pictures taken from both the series will be discussed in order to investigate hidden meanings revealed by visive factors.

Lo scopo di questo breve lavoro è quello di analizzare, attraverso quegli strumenti che la semiotica dei media ci offre, una delle più recenti e brillanti serie tv italiane, Gomorra – La serie. L’analisi che ci accingiamo a fare riguarderà l’uso del montaggio audiovisivo in alcune puntate in cui la scelta della colonna sonora da parte degli autori avrà diverse funzioni narrative ben precise. Muovendo dall’assunto che i materiali sensoriali mediali non siano dei contenuti che determinano automaticamente l’esperienza mediale dello spettatore, ma che questi si configurino di volta in volta in una serie di processi interpretativi svolti da un soggetto culturalmente situato in un contesto dato, l’approccio a cui ci atterremo sarà di tipo semiotico. Dunque, ciò che in questo lavoro c’interessa sarà il progetto di costituzione artificiale dell’esperienza. Il lavoro si comporrà di due parti, nella prima vedremo in generale come si struttura la colonna sonora nella serie e soprattutto come i diversi generi musicali utilizzati (neomelodico e rap) siano legati a funzioni narrative diverse. Nella seconda invece, analizzeremo nel dettaglio due sequenze rispettivamente della terza e dell’undicesima puntata in cui la musica neomelodica fa sottofondo musicale a due scene di morte.

Adnan Oktar (Harun Yahya)

Onlara, kendilerinden öncekilerin; Nuh, Ad, Semud Kavmi'nin, ‹brahim Kavmi'nin, Medyen ahalisinin ve yerle bir olan flehirlerin haberi gelmedi mi? Onlara resulleri apac›k deliller getirmifllerdi. Demek ki Allah, onlara zulmediyor de°Ëildi, ama onlar kendi nefislerine zulmediyorlard›. (Tevbe Suresi, 70)

Asırlar boyunca kimi toplumlar Allah'ın dinini kabul etmişler, kimileri ise inkar etmişlerdir. Bazen inkarcı bir toplumun içinden küçük bir azınlık çıkmakta ve sadece bunlar elçiye uymaktadırlar.

Ancak kendilerine tebliğ gelen kavimlerin çok büyük bir kısmı bunu kabul etmemişlerdir. Sadece Allah'ın elçisinin kendilerine getirdiği tebliği dinlememekle kalmamış, aynı zamanda elçiye ve ona uyanlara da zarar vermeye çalışmışlardır. Elçilere, birçok kez "yalancılık, büyücülük, delilik, şımarıklık" gibi iftiralar atılmış, hatta birçok kez kavmin önde gelenleri onları öldürmeye teşebbüs etmişlerdir.

Oysa her peygamber, kavminden yalnızca Allah'a itaat etmesini istemiştir. Bunun karşılığında para ya da başka bir dünyevi çıkar talep etmemişlerdir. Allah'ın emri gereği kavimlerinin üzerinde herhangi bir konuda baskı kurmamışlardır. Elçiler gönderildikleri toplumları hak olan dine davet etmekte ve kendilerine uyanlarla birlikte Allah'ın rızasına uygun bir hayat yaşamaktadırlar.

Kendilerini Allah'a iman etmeye ve yaptıkları adaletsizliklerden vazgeçmeye çağıran Hz. Şuayb'a, kavminin gösterdiği tepki ve bu yüzden uğradıkları son, gerçekten düşündürücüdür:

Medyen (Halkına da) kardeşleri Şuayb'ı (gönderdik). Dedi ki: 'Ey kavmim, Allah'a ibadet edin, O'ndan başka ilahınız yoktur. Ölçüyü ve tartıyı eksik tutmayın; gerçekten sizi bir 'bolluk ve refah (hayır)' içinde görüyorum. Doğrusu sizi çepeçevre kuşatacak olan bir günün azabından korkuyorum.

Taking as a starting point John Champagne’s recent argument about the queer
representations of Italian masculinity contained in Garrone’s Gomorra, this paper aims to connect the
queer masculinity of the film’s characters with the negative judgement on their lives and actions
suggested by the film. In particular, it will be argued that queerness is used alongside the Neapolitanness
of the characters to portray them as Others, in order to alienate the audience from them. In
other words, it will be suggested that the film does not celebrate the queerness of the characters, but
uses it as a means to portray them as deviant to a non-Neapolitan, heterosexual audience

Eccentric Narration and Testimony in Roberto Saviano’s Gomorra

If post-modern literature is often assumed to be characterized by the aporetic fusion of fictional and non-fictional contents, forms and structures, post-modern literary criticism seems to still struggle to avoid analyzing contemporary literature without leading itself back to the two static, dichotomous categories of fiction and non-fiction. This article attempts to penetrate the narrative structure of one of the most controversial Italian contemporary novels, Gomorra. It interprets this structure with the help of these two categories which are not considered stable and generative with respect to the narration itself, but are rather seen as derivative refractions of the hybridity of Saviano’s novel. In order to achieve this goal a comparison is made between three different, yet complementary texts. Firstly, it analyzes the continuity in narrative structure between Truman Capote’s non-fiction novel In Cold Blood and Gomorra. Moreover, it identifies the points of divergence that turn Saviano’s novel into an independent phenomenon of post-modern Italian literature. This divergence will be compared to the definition of Unidentified Narrative Objects (U.N.O.) proposed by Wu Ming in their programmatic essay New Italian Epic. Finally, it examines the connection between narration and testimony in Saviano’s Gomorra through Jacques Derrida’s theoretical conception in Demeure: Fiction and Testimony.

Questo articolo è stato pubblicato sul primo numero della rivista "Etnografia e ricerca qualitativa", nella rubrica "Dibattiti", in un dibattito sul tema "Generi e retoriche: il caso di Gomorra". Oggetto del saggio è un confronto tra "Cristo si è fermato a Eboli" di Carlo Levi e "Gomorra" di Roberto Saviano.

The following investigation analyses the way in which Gomorrah – The Series has been adapted for an international audience. In particular, some of the processes that have brought a local reality into a glocal context will be analysed, focusing on how culture-bound elements are rendered in (re)translation. More specifically, the following study uses Corpus Linguistics methodologies in order to look at the specific linguistic patterns that can be highlighted in the construction through subtitling of a given representation of the reality in which the TV series is set and the characters are immersed. The following contribution, therefore, wants to investigate to what extent (in the subtitles) the translation into Italian of the Neapolitan script of Gomorrah – The Series and its (re)translation into English contribute to the transcultural remediation of the reality-construction process enacted in the translation of this AVT product. This will confirm some of the observations made in previous studies on other forms of the transmediation of the original exposé by Roberto Saviano (2006).

This project outlines recent tendencies in Italian transmedia storytelling. The thesis begins by defining transmedia storytelling. It then offers a brief historical timeline of transmedia practices in Italian cinema. The courses of three recent transmedia phenomena (Romanzo criminale, Gomorrah, and Suburra) are used to identify patterns and illustrate the current state of transmedia storytelling in Italy. Theoretical approaches are also considered. In particular, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s concept of the rhizome is used to characterize the current state of transmedia storytelling as a rhizomatic, i.e. fractal-like, process. The thesis examines how our contemporary world is marked by convergence culture, as it is proposed by Henry Jenkins. Various aspects (from online blog posts and literary excerpts to TikToks and YouTube paratexts) of the transmedia products Romanzo criminale, Gomorrah, and Suburra are analyzed. The study of these associated texts offers useful insight into understanding how the spectator’s role has evolved in relation to visual storytelling. The research concludes by hypothesizing about the future state of Italian transmedia storytelling.

The mafia has always fascinated filmmakers and television producers. Al Capone, Salvatore Giuliano, Lucky Luciano, Ciro Di Marzio, Roberto Saviano, Don Vito and Michael Corleone, and Tony Soprano are some of the historical and fictional figures that contribute to the myth of the Italian and Italian-American mafias perpetuated onscreen. This collection looks at mafia movies and television over time and across cultures, from the early classics to the Godfather trilogy and contemporary Italian films and television series. The only comprehensive collection of its type, Mafia Movies treats over fifty films and TV shows created since 1906, while introducing Italian and Italian-American mafia history and culture.


The second edition includes new original essays on essential films and TV shows that have emerged since the publication of the first edition, such as Boardwalk Empire and Mob Wives, as well as a new roundtable section on Italy’s “other” mafias in film and television, written as a collaborative essay by more than ten scholars. The edition also introduces a new section called “Double Takes” that elaborates on some of the most popular mafia films and TV shows (e.g. The Godfather and The Sopranos) organized around themes such as adaptation, gender and politics, urban spaces, and performance and stardom.

Gomorra è la serie tv che ha cambiato la fiction italiana, imponendosi nel panorama internazionale con un racconto spietato della camorra e dei suoi protagonisti. Famiglia, potere, crimine, droga e uno sfrenato realismo: Gomorra-La serie offende lo sguardo dello spettatore costruendo un universo claustrofobico e senza via d’uscita. Analizzando i temi, l’estetica e lo stile della serie, il volume svela il livello più profondo del racconto, mostrandone la complessità e l’attualità e mettendo in questione la responsabilità dello spettatore. Si può fare il tifo per i cattivi?

http://edest.it/prodotto/gomorra-la-serie-maiello/

"The image of Italian Mafia in Italian Cinematography"
This paper shows the image of Mafia in Italian Cinematography. The author begins by presenting the origins of Mafia, who became a really powerful organization in the 19th century. In the second part, the author describes different forms of organized crime such as: Gomorra, Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndranghetta, taking into consideration their particular
characteristics. In the last part, the focus is on various aspects of Mafia’s functioning as presented in Italian Cinematography, in selected films, which include: In nome della legge (1948, Pietro Germi), Cento Passi (2004, Marco TullioGiordana), Il giorno della civetta (1968, Damiano Damiani), Gomorra (2008, Matteo Garrone).

[PL] "Wizerunek mafii we Włoszech na wybranych przykładach filmowych"
Artykuł prezentuje sposoby obrazowania mafii w kinie włoskim. W pierwszej części skupia się na przedstawieniu korzeni włoskich organizacji przestępczych, zaczynając od Cosa Nostry na Sycylii pod koniec XIX wieku. Następnie autor krótko opisuje cechy charakterystyczne pozostałych organizacji w Italii: Gomorry działającej w Kampanii, ‘Ndranghety aktywnej na obszarze najbiedniejszego regionu w kraju - Kalabrii. Druga część artykułu przedstawia wybrane obrazy mafii w kinie włoskim, zaczynając od analizy jednego z pierwszych filmów o mafii, a mianowicie Pod niebem Sycylii (1948, reż. Pietro Germi). Kolejne analizowane dzieła to: Sto kroków (2004, reż. Marco Tullio Giordana), opisujący męczeńską śmierć Peppino Impastaty; twórczość Damiano Damianiego, który jest przedstawicielem kina mafijnego, oraz Gomorra (2008, reż. Matteo Garrone), w tym wypadku zarówno film, jak i telewizyjny serial, jako przykład kina realistycznego, zrywającego z takim sposobem obrazowania i taką perspektywą narracyjną, która w recepcji dzieła skutkuje „sprzyjaniu” gangsterom jako bohaterom fabuł.

L’immagine biblica della torre di Babele è uno degli archetipi che più
hanno segnato la forma della città nella letteratura, in particolare in alcune significative
opere che, a partire da Dostoevskij, hanno fatto dell’ambiente urbano
un dispositivo capace di generare senso e valore, e non un semplice
sfondo. Dal progetto della torre babelica e dalla condanna che ne segue derivano
alcuni dei tratti più significativi dell’immaginario urbano moderno.
L’intervento ricostruisce questa storia per quadri significativi e individua alcune
opere che meglio di altre fanno emergere i tratti ‘babelici’ della città, come
quelle di autori come Dostoevskij, Auster, DeLillo, Eisner, Saviano.

The archetypical image of the biblical tower of Babel lies under many literary
representations of urban life throughout centuries. From Dostoevskij to
Paul Auster, from Don DeLillo to Roberto Saviano, urban structures havenot only been backgrounds but main characters of tales and novels. õe
Tower of Babel represents the dream of humanity living together in harmony
and communion. However, Babel might imply a dangerous risk: the utopian
project of a self-sufficient humanity perhaps freed from god’s will. This babelic
function can be seen in some works (Dostoevskij, Auster, Will Eisner and
Saviano) which will be debated here.

Over the last 11,700 years, during a geological epoch called the Holocene, the exceptional adaptive capacities of homo sapiens have made it, together with beetles, ants, and cyanobacteria, one of the most evolutionary successful terrestrial species on this planet. So successful, in fact, that its capacity to transform the environment has made it a global geological force on a scale that rivals that of volcanic activity of the Triassic period and the asteroid impact of the Cretaceous period. Different from the archaic humans it evolved from, the species homo sapiens does not adapt to the changes of the environment; instead, homo sapiens adapts the environment to its own needs.
Geologists have a tentative name for this new epoch: the Anthropocene. While scientists have not reached agreement regarding the specific time boundaries of this new geological epoch, what is clear is the success the term has enjoyed in academia, most notably in the humanities, in politics, and in popular culture. In particular, Anthropocene has become a key term used to describe the negative impact of human activity on the earth system: mass animal extinction, global warming, ocean acidification, drought and famine, environmental migration, and refugee crises.
This video essay analyzes how the Anthropocene, and the humans responsible for it, are represented in three recent Italian films: "Il Capo" by Yuri Ancarani, "Gomorrah" by Matteo Garrone, and "The Great Beauty" by Paolo Sorrentino. I argue that these Italian directors are particularly effective in showing the central role humans play in environmental degradation, in emphasizing how humans are not immune to the transformations they are producing, and in exposing how humans are entangled with an environment they do not control or even comprehend.
By putting these three films in dialogue with some of the most compelling theories of the Anthropocene (Latour's re-evaluation of modernism, Braidotti's posthumanism, Alaimo's material feminism, and Purdy's environmental political theories), I explore a more complete definition of the position of the anthropos inside the Anthropocene, while also probing the role that Italian cinema can assume in understanding such a crucial moment in human history.

Submitted to “[in]Transition”, a peer-reviewed digital academic journal of videographic film and moving image.

Link 1: https://vimeo.com/246042240

Link 2: https://duke.box.com/s/1cldgppfp9z156navlu23oekoc5u06mx

“Scampia criminale”, “Sails of Scampia/ Failed Architecture”, “Un giorno a Scampia: viaggio
all’inferno”. Da utopia architettonica a palcoscenico dei protagonisti della serie prodotta da Sky
Gomorra, questo insediamento urbano ha subito negli anni dei radicali cambiamenti. Si è venuto
così a creare un vero e proprio deterioramento identitario, laddove i principi basilari della
dislocazione e dell’immaginario collettivo hanno coinvolto negli anni, non soltanto la struttura
architettonica dal primo momento fatiscente, ma anche tutta la sua popolazione. Svariate, dunque,
sono le cause che negli ultimi hanno mitizzato Scampia e i suoi abitanti fino a creare delle
pericolose interconnessioni fra la realtà di una comunità alle strette e la finzione del clan Savastano.