Abstract
“WokeIt. Investigating Representation, Inclusivity and Social Responsibility in Rai’s Fictional Audiovisual Productions (2015-2022)” aims to investigate critically the strategies of inclusiveness and representation of minorities in fictional audiovisual content produced by Rai Fiction and Rai Cinema, the production companies owned by Italian public service broadcaster Rai. Through the interdisciplinary analysis of policies, industrial practices, on-screen representations, and the modes of circulation and reception of Rai-produced (or co-produced) TV series and movies since 2015, the project is designed to develop a systemic framework that can critically read and analyze the level of social responsibility and actual relevance of the public service broadcaster’s industrial and narrative strategies of representation and inclusion. In other words, we ask: does Rai’s strategy constitute a meaningful and effective model of corporate social responsibility or is it another case of “-washing”? In order to develop an innovative systemic framework to analyze Rai’s diversity and inclusion strategies in fictional representation, both in films and television fiction, the project implements interdisciplinary tools, methodologies and frameworks that use necessarily diverse and all-encompassing approaches – moreover reflected by the teams’ composition and expertise. The three RUs’ work will be based on a constant dialogue among film and television studies, economics and political economy, media studies, production and industry studies, and cultural studies. The project analyses three main interconnected levels: - Production: Rai’s business strategies and policies driving its choices on diversity representation, as well as its diversity communication rhetorics. - Representation: Rai’s representation strategies, visual rhetorics and stereotypes. - Circulation and reception: the circulation patterns of Rai Fiction and Rai Cinema content from the perspective of inclusive representation agendas, as well as the common critic and audience responses to the texts. This approach seeks to interconnect the otherwise segmented research in film and television studies, moreover shedding new light on Rai’s production companies – that have otherwise been little considered in the literature. It also aims at the integration of representation practices within the economic, industrial, political and social-cultural system of Italian media, reflecting on the concrete relevance of inclusive representation strategies, thus leading to the re-examination of the role of Rai as public broadcasting service in the complex contemporary scenario.
Project details
Unibo Team Leader: Paola Brembilla
Unibo involved Department/s:
Dipartimento delle Arti
Coordinator:
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - Università di Bologna(Italy)
Total Eu Contribution: Euro (EUR) 221.877,00
Total Unibo Contribution: Euro (EUR) 104.237,00
Project Duration in months: 27
Start Date:
30/11/2023
End Date:
28/02/2026
