Tous les garçons et les filles de mon âge? Comics as a nexus to Italian youth media cultures and generational imaginaries

Authors

  • Giorgio Busi Rizzi University of Ghent
  • Lorenzo Di Paola Università di Salerno

Keywords:

Comics, Generations, Digital media, Imaginary, We-sense

Abstract

It is difficult to clearly frame the relationships between a medium such as comics and (old and new) generations. Still, the role of comics in defining a generational condition cannot be underestimated. Not only because comics have helped give voice to and show generational similarities and belongings, but also because the imaginary of different generations has manifested itself in the various media practices of consumption and production that have characterized the history of comics. Comics is thus a fertile ground for analysis to investigate the dynamics that contribute to creating that “conception of the world” (Mannheim 1928) capable of orienting young people’s experiences and emotional lives. Thanks to its hybrid nature, its flexibility, and its extraordinary ability to feed on and intertwine with other media, comics thus give us an overview of the fundamental role that media play in shaping the identity of new generations. Through a genealogical reconstruction of the relationships between Italian comics and generational imaginary, we will therefore try to understand how repertoires of memory, symbolic contents, and narratives combine to create, over time, cohorts united by a common sense, an encyclopaedia and a value system that allow mutual recognition among members of the same generation.

Author Biographies

Giorgio Busi Rizzi, University of Ghent

Giorgio Busi Rizzi is post-doctoral fellow at Ghent University, where he is also adjunct professor of English Literature and co-teaches the Comics and Graphic Novel courses. He holds a PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies with joint supervision from the Universities of Bologna and Leuven. His PhD thesis, analysing nostalgic aesthetics and practices in contemporary comics, is currently being submitted for publication. His first post-doctoral project (Ghent University, 2019-2022) investigated experimental digital comics. He is a founding member of the international research group on Italian comics SNIF – Studying ’n’ Investigating Fumetti, and a member of several international research groups on comics (CSS, ComFor, La Brèche, ACME).

Lorenzo Di Paola, Università di Salerno

Lorenzo Di Paola is adjunct professor of Media Sociology at the University of Salerno. He works on the mediology of comics and literature and the sociology of digital cultures. He is a coeditor (with Luigi Frezza and Mario Tirino) of the scientific book series L’Eternauta. Collana di studi su comics e media (Polidoro Editore). He is also the author of L’inafferrabile medium. Una cartografia delle teorie del fumetto dagli anni venti a oggi (Polidoro 2019), and a founding member of the international research group on Italian comics SNIF – Studying ’n’ Investigating Fumetti.

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Published

15-11-2023

How to Cite

Busi Rizzi, G., & Di Paola, L. (2023). Tous les garçons et les filles de mon âge? Comics as a nexus to Italian youth media cultures and generational imaginaries. Elephant & Castle, (30), 148–160. Retrieved from https://elephantandcastle.unibg.it/index.php/eac/article/view/456