Transcript - Interaxiongroup

Modelli adolescenziali nelle
serie televisive
Armando Fumagalli
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore - Milano
Roma, October 20, 2016
1- Changes in mainstream culture
In the last 40 years, big
cultural changes.
Some positive aspects:
• Less poverty (although more
inequality: rich people that are
more and more rich)
• Less racism
• More equality in dignity between
man and woman
• Atheistic communism and its
regimes almost disappeared.
• A more complex and
controversial view of abortion by
“radicals” (less ideology on this).
Roma, 2016
1- Changes in mainstream culture
Some negative aspects:
• Euthanasia has become an issue in
some countries.
• A development of finance that goes
against social justice, and against the
real economy.
• Individualism against solidarity
• A secularism (laicité) that in some
countries has become very
aggressive, almost tyrannical.
Roma, 2016
1- Changes in mainstream culture
In the last 30 years, we
have been also facing
a big change in perception
of love, marriage, family
and its nature, in many
countries in the world.
Some negative aspects:
• Less people want to commit
themselves in a marriage as an
institution.
• Yes to pre-marital sex and living
together in a marital way without
marriage.
(in some countries: )
• Yes to civil «light partnership»
• Yes to homosexual «marriage» and
the adoption of children by
homosexual couples
• Gender ideology
Roma, 2016
The agents of change
How could these changes happen?
Big changes in media culture:
television and cinema have become
heavily «liberal» in some issues.
Especially American and English
media, which have a huge impact all
over the world
Roma, 2016
Mainstream cinema
We could trace a history of the
acceptance and promotion of “free”
relations and of homosexual
lifestyle:
Out of Africa (7 Oscars)
1985
Love is pure if it is lived without
bonds.
Philadelphia (2 Oscars)
1993
In favor of homosexual relations
Roma, 2016
More explicit movies
Brokeback Mountain (3 Oscars)
2005: gay romance.
The Danish Girl (1 Oscar and many
other nominations and awards)
2015: story of a transsexual.
Roma, 2016
Some movies with a positive image of family
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
The Incredibles (2004)
Marley & Me (2008)
The Blind Side (2009)
Up (2009)
The King’s Speech (2010)
Inside Out (2015)
…
mercato
Roma, 2016
The power of stories
At the heart of stories there is an
exploration of human life.
Stories are like condensed and
extremely powerful experiments of
morality.
The moral theme is the nucleus of the
development of a good and
successful story.
Personal relation with stories
Literature, cinema and
television are mass media that
can reach an extremely large
audience, but the spectators
do not feel anonymous
viewers. They feel deeply and
intimately connected with the
characters.
All this products offer an
intimate, personal relation to
the viewers, although it is a
mass product.
A story well told can change
one’s life.
Roma, 2016
The Power of stories
The fact that popular stories:
-Create a personal connection, as they appeal to
emotions and reason…
-Reach a big number of people (especially in TV and
cinema)…
…Makes their impact on culture and on key human
attitudes and decisions huge.
Roma, 2016
Television
TV series make familiar what is
sometimes unique, new and
exceptional in cinema
Stories can change the perceptions
of values: for these reason they can
change also societies.
From the 90’s: Beverly Hills 90210,
Friends, Dawson’s Creek, Glee, etc.
Roma, 2016
Hollywood
Which is the source of the stories that go all over the world?
HOLLYWOOD
A community of less than 10.000 people
(probably people who matter are less
than 500) who tell to billions of people
what is worth living for, to fight for, to
suffer for.
Roma, 2016
Other than Hollywood
Some countries have developed a
particular market for entertainment
products. Most of them are national or
regional.
No one, at the moment, has a global
reach, as Hollywood has.
Korea
tv drama for Asia and a very
strong national cinema
Japan
comics (manga) and
animation (anime)
India
Bollywood (huge but mainly
national)
China
national cinema that they want
to be international (strategy to
develop soft power).
Roma, 2016
Hollywood
Hollywood is very liberal, but the
necessity of appealing to audiences
all over the world has made its
products necessarily connected with
the common experience and values
of millions of people in the world.
The top box office titles of last season
are Star Wars, Jurassic World, The
Avengers.
Contents and values that are good,
although not very significant for
culture in general.
Roma, 2016
Differences with television
Television: Cable and pay channels: no
more necessity to reach a high
number of viewers.
Freedom to become edgy, extreme,
transgressive and to go against common
values, changing perceptions and views.
Made by a cultural minority, they have a
strong cultural agenda.
Roma, 2016
Differences with television
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
In Treatment
Modern Family
Girls
Orange is the New Black
The New Normal
Transparent
… many others…
Roma, 2016
Primetime propaganda
19
Few exceptions
20
A world big success that is morally good
In UK and from there in all the world:
Downton Abbey
9 to 11 million viewers in UK.
Broadcasted in dozens of countries
Critical acclaim.
Many Emmies won, dozens of
nominations to Emmy award (a record
for a non U.S. tv series).
The creator, Julian Fellowes, is Catholic.
American Television
Have the “liberal” writers an
agenda? Yes, many of them have
an agenda.
Cfr Ben Shapiro, PrimeTime
Propaganda.
A minority that has been
extremely effective and
aggressive in using the media
and in spinning concepts like
respect, equality, discrimination,
freedom.
Roma, 2016
“The Tv is written by liberal, produced
by liberal, and financed by liberal”.
Ben Shapiro, Primetime Propaganda, p. XIX
Fifties
The liberal authors of
the first years of Tv
series
(Neil Simon, Mel
Brooks, Woody Allen,
Carl Reiner e Larry
Gelbart)
Sixties and Seventies
The executives who
have dictated their
ideological views
(Leonard Goldberg,
Fred Silverman)
Eighties
Eighites and Nineties
The jiggle turn of The executive
Silverman and the producers of the so
teen drama of Aaroncalled Quality Tv
(Bochco, Wells,,
Spelling
Kauffman, Berlanti,
Sorkin)
23
The binge-viewing
Today teen agers tend to view Tv series on their
computers. Download from the internet.
No more limits by channel standards etc.
A fruition that is lonely and can be
compulsory.
And there is no guarantee on the values and
safety of the content.
Roma, 2016
The capacity of seduction
Tv series, far from being “empty” and “trivial”
entertainment, are the result of a creative investment
that is huge.
For example, 15 top screenwriters for
every season of The Simpsons.
The average, for everyone of them, is
30-35 minutes per year of finished
product.
Roma, 2016
The centrality of media
Which can be the answer?
Roma, 2016
The answer of the education
Answers on different levels
(the education is a complex an multilevel
art and activity)
But, for what regards media, at lest two areas
Roma, 2016
The answer of the education
1. Education of taste, intelligence and feeling:
finding and proposing good content.
2. (For the future, but not so distant): training
professionals of the entertainment.
Roma, 2016
1. Find good content
There is good cinema (hundreds and hundreds
of films!!!) and there are good Tv series.
And they can have a positive educational impact.
An educator must find instruments and time
to know them and to find them.
Roma, 2016
Some good International Tv series
And… The Newsroom, Band of Brothers,
Sherlock, The Pretender, NCIS,
Person of Interest, Falling Skies…
Roma, 2016
Some good Italian Tv series
And ….Che Dio ci aiuti, Non dirlo al mio capo, Alex & Co.,
Ginnaste, vite parallele….
* Braccialetti rossi better than Pulseras rojas and Red Band society
Roma, 2016
Content for teen agers
There is very good content available for
children.
Also some content for teen agers, but for sure
there is a problem with content for this age.
It is much more difficult: try and try again… and
explore…
Very different for males and females…
Roma, 2016
Content for teen agers
Information about good cinema and good Tv
content should circulate.
Develop instruments that can help on this area.
Networks of people that share informations.
For example, in Italian:
www.istantv.it
www. Familycinematv.it
Roma, 2016
2- Preparing the future
The media narrative has been more and
more central in our lives, especially for
the new generations
BUT
The presence of people with a correct
anthropological view have been a very
small minority.
Roma, 2016
2 – Preparing the future
A serious reflection about
our way of communicating
and promoting our values:
•The importance of the use of
stories.
•They communicate to the
mind and to the heart.
•You cannot reach people
deeply if you do not connect
with their emotions.
Roma, 2016
Numbers and Impact
The power of cinema and
television is mainly in the
number of the audience, that
is non comparable to any other
medium.
We are happy when:
•we have 100 people to a
meeting,
•We have 3.000 people to a
great conference that takes
a couple of years to be
organized;
•a book sells 10 or 20.000
copies.
•An internet page is seen by
100.000 people.
Roma, 2016
Numbers and Impact
In Italy every night the tv
series that is on the main
channel (RaiUno) can easily
have 6.000.000 viewers.
6 Millions is like having 100
football/soccer stadiums
full of people, every night,
on a normal day.
One stadium full of people
in every small province of
Italy, like Lucca or Trapani or
Viterbo.
This is normal, every night
in most countries in the
world.
Roma, 2016
Numbers and impact
If the products are international,
they reach 100 millions up to
more than 1.000 millions or
more in few weeks.
A film like 007 Skyfall or Spectre
can easily reach hundreds of
millions, and when re-released in
dvd o in tv probably more than a
billion people in one year.
Roma, 2016
Preparing the future
We cannot have a real impact on culture if we do not reach the
world of stories (Literature, Film, TV series) and especially the
audiovisual media.
It is a way to show how our way of life, our values, become
flesh, become life.
Otherwise people can think that the Christian view of man is
abstract, does not meet the more profound wishes of the
person.
The moral law becomes an arbitrary and abstract imposition,
without connection with real life.
Roma, 2016
What can we do?
The professional standards today are very high:
NEED TO STUDY AND TO BE TRAINED PROFESSIONALLY and really
well in this field.
FREQUENT PROBLEMS OF the so called “Christian movies”:
•The very frequent mistake of talking only to people who are
already on our side.
•They do not go deep into a theme, they just repeat. They
“illustrate” but they do not “illuminate”.
•They do not explore deeply a subject, they do not connect with
the average viewer.
Roma, 2016
What can we do?
We need today to develop very well skills in two different fields:
•Humanities: philosophy, anthropology, theology, sociology,
psychology, literature.
•Communication, that means a modern version of rhetoric and/or
what today is called storytelling
Both things are necessary:
•to be deep and answer the “big” questions.
•but also to be able to connect with a high number of people and to
wrap the ideas in convincing and subtle and audacious explorations
of themes.
Roma, 2016
Preparing the future
My experience:
- From 1999: collaboration as a script consultant for
Lux vide
- From 2000: training young people to work in the
entertainment industry: Master program in
Screenwriting and Production (MISP)
Connection between the two experiences:
-learning by doing;
-alumni that work as writers/producers in Lux vide products.
Roma, 2016
Preparing the future
LUX VIDE, from 1992:
A company that has a clear
approach that is consistent with a
Christian view of man and his
destiny, but has accepted the
challenge to go in the “big arena”
of primetime Italian and
International television.
Roma, 2016
Lux Vide
Around 600 hours produced of
prime time television, with some
miniseries sold to dozens of
countries in the world (John Paul
II, War and Peace, Anna Karenina,
Romeo and Juliet. etc.)
Roma, 2016
Lux Vide
Many achievements in film,
animation and live action TV
movies and Tv series.
Roma, 2016
Lux Vide’s productions
Don Matteo (inspired to Fr. Brown of
Chesterton) – 10 seasons of around 26
episodes each. The average of season 9 has
been 7.922.000 viewers with a share of
29,3%. The first episode of season 10 has
increased again the numbers of viewers,
almost touching the impressive level of 10
million viewers.
Also, the series has been sold to around 15
territories, in Europe and Asia (including
Japan and South Korea), to MHZ in Usa and
to HBO Latin America, and has had two local
remakes, one in Poland and one in Russia.
Roma, 2016
Lux Vide’s productions
Other TV series:
• Un passo dal cielo
• Ho sposato uno sbirro
• Che Dio ci aiuti
• The Lady with the Black Veil
• Coming: Non ditelo al mio capo
(Undercover Mum)
Roma, 2016
Training young professionals
http://almed.unicatt.it/misp
Roma, 2016
Training young professionals
MISP
http://almed.unicatt.it/misp
A one year program in Milan –Università Cattolica del Sacro
Cuore- , to train writers and producers to work at the top level of
the industry, in Italy and abroad.
From September 2016: completely international; all classes
taught in English.
Roma, 2016
Alumni of MISP: dozens of films, cartoons, TV series
Roma, 2016
Alumni of MISP: Bianca come il latte, rossa come il sangue
Alessandro D’Avenia, from
the MISP:
Bianca come il latte, rossa
come il sangue.
Around 1 million copies in
Italy, published in 20 countries,
and a feature film released in
2013.
Two other highly successful
novels
Roma, 2016
Alumni of MISP: many other novels
Many Other Novels:
Leila Blue (Miriam
Dubini), Mondadori
Scritto sulla mia
pelle (Pietro Vaghi),
Salani
Roma, 2016
Final remarks: Some practical suggestions
• Every group, association, institution, etc., who wants to
promote and defend good content for young people
(and for the general audience) should invest in
communication (but much more in “thinking” the
communication, not so much in producing).
• It is crucial to promote vocations to the professions of
communication.
Roma, 2016
Some practical suggestions
Sometimes videos or other forms of communications
are very expensive in producing, but very weak in
concept, story, argumentation, development of
theme…
It is difficult to connect, to be easy, clear, strong, to
have an impact.
But this long and patient work is needed.
Roma, 2016
Some practical suggestions
Spend MONEY and TIME
in THINKING and WRITING and
TRAINING people,
not so much in producing.
Roma, 2016
Some practical suggestions
You can think that this is a too big task, that there are
difficulties, but the every big revolution was small at
the beginning.
Begin the change, now.
Roma, 2016
The Family Impact
[email protected]
Roma, 2016
Essential references
Storytelling:
-Robert McKee, Story (many translations)
-John Truby, The Anatomy of Story
Entertainment industry and cultural issues:
-Armando Fumagalli, Creatività al potere, Lindau,
Torino 2013 (spanish Creatividad al poder, Rialp)
- Armando Fumagalli, La comunicazione di una Chiesa
in uscita, Vita e pensiero, Milano 2015.
-Armando Fumagalli, Essay in Romana, n.56, 2013
(English, Spanish and Italian)
Roma, 2016