Description

The production and release of the critically acclaimed TV drama series Gomorrah (2014-ongoing) and My Brilliant Friend (2018) has been characterized by extensive debates about the impact of the two shows on national and international perceptions of the city of Naples. While some local authorities openly criticised Gomorrah and denied shooting permits to the producers, the TV adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s best seller, My Brilliant Friend, has garnered unanimously positive responses from local stakeholders. This paper aims to analyse the representation of place and space in both Gomorrah and My Brilliant Friend. More specifically, it will analyse the stylistic and narrative strategies deployed by the series’ producers to construct a tourist gaze over an urban space which plays a crucial role within the narrative economy of both shows. It will argue that Gomorrah and My Brilliant Friend articulate a consistent aesthetic treatment of Naples which in the two shows is simultaneously depicted as a site of poverty, violence and abuse and a potentially appealing and exotic urban destination.