The aim of this research project is to analyse, through a transmedia approach, the ways in which the city of Rome, always part of the collective imaginary, continues to be the object and elective subject for the production and fruition of imaginaries, made of identities, narratives and spaces, social, cultural and media related.
The notion of imaginary, previously considered as a marginal dimension close to dreams and rêverie, has increased its social and cultural centrality over the years, also due to the multiplication of representations and narratives elaborated and conveyed by different media.
The purpose of the research is therefore to identify, analyse and reconstruct the modes of production, re-production and representation of the current symbolic and material universe of the city of Rome, through the use of transmedia logic. Based on the concept of both technological and cultural convergence, this approach is capable of activating interpretative connections between different spheres of associated life, creative industries and the collective imaginaries.
Specifically, we will refer to the production of the imaginary of the city of Rome over the last twenty years, namely the worldbuilding process that has affected it more recently, based on some prevailing dichotomies such as sacred and profane, ancient and modern, lights and shadows.
In addition to the collection of the countless media and mediated representations of Rome, we will also aim to implement a comparison resulting from the analysis of the dynamics of perception of common people and key informants and of different types of audience, and the possible motivations behind them.
In this sense, the final goal of the research is to re-read and redefine the imaginary and the role of Rome in our contemporaneity.
