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.
The city of Rome has always represented a narrative context rich in symbols and meanings that can be traced back to specific imaginaries (Ilardi 2017). They belong to different times: from the legacy of Ancient Rome to the Dolce Vita of the "Hollywood sul Tevere" (Sansonna 2016), not to mention the incarnation, in both positive and negative terms, of Capital and Power, as well as the centre of Catholicism (Canova 2017). Rome is still one of the most famous, most visited, most quoted and most archetypical cities in the world and seems to have kept intact its centrality and its symbolic and imaginary load.
The city has acquired very different identities, moving from icon of innovation, home of law, artistic and cultural fulcrum, to a place of power, epicentre of crime, problematic metropolis, collecting over time different adjectives like "eternal", "papalina" (papal), "corrupt", "parasite", "palazzinara" (property speculator), "ladrona" (big robber) and so on (Fotia 2006).
From this constant oscillation between a conception of "Urbs" (city) and one of "Suburra" (underworld), a dual overall picture emerges blending sacred and profane, antiquity and modernity, horror and beauty (Pezzini 2016).
Through a transmedia approach, our objective of reconstructing the imaginary of Rome over the last twenty years, deriving from the representations conveyed on the communicative level and the processes of perception developed on the social level, is also functional to a possible re-qualification of the city, not only on a national level. Consistently, the research aims:
- to develop an innovative methodology, involving a transmedia logic (Wiklund-Engblom et al. 2012), able to combine different approaches (standard and non-standard) to investigate a complex narrative universe (Evans, 2018) of a city as great as Rome;
- to highlight the most peculiar elements of the imaginary of Rome, analysing how and to what extent they appear to be related to media contents and/or to social and political specific issues (such as, for example, neglect, public spaces maintenance, organised crime, migration etc.), and how and to what extent they are attributable to the "historical" imaginaries related to Rome or, on the contrary, features of a "new" imaginary of the Rome of the 21th Century;
- to analyse the imaginary of Rome emerging from the political debate at municipal level, also and not only in the light of the forthcoming mayoral election, as Rome in the last 15 years has experimented different political administrations that correspond to the evolution of the Italian political-institutional framework and, in particular, to the rise and development of populism (Prospero 2019);
- to identify a transmedia model to analyse the imaginary of the cities (exportable from Rome to other iconic cities, such as Venice, Florence, Milan in Italy; Paris, London, New York);
- to affirm and renew the profound, secular bond between our university and the city of Rome. "La Sapienza" represents the place of choice to start and then divulge a reflection on what Rome is and what it can become for society, for culture and knowledge, also considering the strategic objectives of the third mission.
References
Canova, G. (2017). L'immaginario del potere nel cinema italiano, da Rossellini a The Young Pope. Milano: Bietti.
Evans, E. (2018). Transmedia Distribution: From Vertical Integration to Digital Natives, in Freeman, M., Gambarato R. R. (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Transmedia Studies. London: Routledge, 243-250.
Fotia, C. (2006). Roma città futura. Come si è trasformata la capitale d'Italia. San Cesario di Lecce: Manni Editori.
Ilardi, E. (2017). La capitale delle storie. Roma come contesto narrativo. Tracce Urbane. Rivista Italiana Transdisciplinare di Studi Urbani, 1(2), 48-64.
Pezzini, I. (Eds.) (2016). Roma in divenire tra identità e conflitti. Roma: Edizioni Nuova Cultura.
Sansonna, G. (2016). Hollywood sul Tevere: storie scellerate. Roma: Minimum fax.
Prospero, M. (2019). La ribellione conservatrice. Il populismo italiano tra movimento e regime. Roma: EDUP.
Wiklund-Engblom, A., Leminen, S., Westerlund, M., Staffans, S., Esch, M., Rajala, R. (2012). Towards transmedia innovation. An empirical analysis of a multiplatform format, in Ibrus, I., Scolari C.A. (eds), Crossmedia innovations: Texts, markets, institution. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 179-198.