Girl to Girl: Italian Girls and Girlhood Models in Serial Narratives

In the age of platformisation, digital distribution, and multiplication of audiovisual products, several TV series are distinguished by a new effort towards a diverse and nuanced representation of marginalised groups, one that includes a richer representation of girls. Given the global and disseminated nature of contemporary audiovisual industry, fictional girls and their storylines seem designed to project onto young female viewers precise imaginaries to inhabit, troubled characters to identify with, or role models to follow. Building on the evidence that these televisual trends has also affected Italian TV series, we designed a research project aimed at exploring the relationship between girls as narrative subjects in Italian serial products, and Italian girls as audiovisual media consumers. This paper aims to investigate the reception of teen dramas and girlhood representation in young female audiences, as well as the effect of such representation on their imaginary. With this purpose, we conducted five focus groups with a sample of fifty-two high school students in a mediumsized town, representative of the Italian urban landscape. We therefore examined the relationship between local and global productions with regard to girls’ representation, how it is perceived by our interviewees and what is their level of awareness as the target audience for these productions.