Armando Fumagalli Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore - Milano

2. Modelli adolescenziali nelle serie televisive Armando Fumagalli Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore - Milano Roma, October 20, 2016

3. 1- Changes in mainstream culture • 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). • In the last 40 years, big cultural changes. • Some positive aspects: Roma, 2016

4. 1- Changes in mainstream culture • 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. • Some negative aspects: Roma, 2016

5. 1- Changes in mainstream culture Some negative aspects: • 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. • 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. Primetime propaganda

20. Few exceptions

21. 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.

22. 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

23. “The Tv is written by liberal, produced by liberal, and financed by liberal”. Ben Shapiro, Primetime Propaganda, p. XIX Fifties Sixties and Seventies Eighties Eighites and Nineties The liberal authors of the first years of Tv series (Neil Simon, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Carl Reiner e Larry Gelbart) The executive producers of the so called Quality Tv (Bochco, Wells,, Kauffman, Berlanti, Sorkin) The executives who have dictated their ideological views (Leonard Goldberg, Fred Silverman) The jiggle turn of Silverman and the teen drama of Aaron Spelling

24. 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

25. 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

26. The centrality of media Which can be the answer? Roma, 2016

27. 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

28. The answer of the education • Education of taste, intelligence and feeling: • finding and proposinggoodcontent. • 2. (For the future, butnot so distant): training • professionals of the entertainment. Roma, 2016

29. 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

30. Some good International Tv series And… The Newsroom, Band of Brothers, Sherlock, The Pretender, NCIS, Person of Interest, Falling Skies… Roma, 2016

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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

36. Numbers and Impact • 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. • The power of cinema and television is mainly in the number of the audience, that is non comparable to any other medium. Roma, 2016

37. 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

38. 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

39. 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

40. 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

41. 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

42. 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

43. 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

44. 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

45. Lux Vide Many achievements in film, animation and live action TV movies and Tv series. Roma, 2016

46. 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

47. 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

48. Training young professionals http://almed.unicatt.it/misp Roma, 2016

49. 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

50. Alumni of MISP: dozens of films, cartoons, TV series Roma, 2016