Between Two Stages: Rita Pavone and i giovani on Studio Uno (1961–1966)

Abstract

This article analyses how Italian young people were represented in the Saturday night television programme Studio Uno (1961-1966). It defines i giovani as a performative identity: i giovani are not described as a specific age group, but rather as a normative identity constructed in popular media through the reiteration of bodily practices defined in opposition to 'adult' practices. Firstly, the article connects the emergence of discourses around i giovani with the educative function of RAI. Secondly, it outlines to what extent 1965 can be considered a turning point for representations of i giovani in Italian media. Thirdly, it compares the two young Studio Uno 1966 co-hosts Mina and Rita Pavone, to highlight the practices through which the latter was constructed as giovane. Lastly, the article suggests how the giovane identity was presented to an audience of adults and youths respectively through a different spatialisation of giovani performers on the show.

Shorncapelloni: hair and young masculinities in the Italian media, 1965–1967

“…This development had cultural, social and economic causes, and it was influenced by a global process of definition of a collective ‘youth’ identity based on age (Mitterauer 1993, 225–238). The social construction of a generational identity for Italian youths benefited from popular media representations: in film, television and magazines youth was performatively constructed through the reiteration of specific jargon and practices (Brioni 2017, 415). One of these practices was the adoption of youth-oriented fashions, which were usually the result of the commercial incorporation of subcultural styles (Hebdige 2002, 94–96).…”

“…She has worked on representations of Italian young people's national, generational and gender identity from 1958 to 1975 in youth-oriented RAI television programmes, Musicarelli films and Italian teen magazines. She published the articles ‘Between Two Stages: Rita Pavone and i giovani on Studio Uno (1961–1966)’ (2017) and ‘Transnational “Italian” Stardom: Lara Saint Paul and the Performativity of Race’ (with Simone Brioni, 2018) in the journal Italian Studies .…”