This week I watched and analyzed the cultural aspects of an episode of a foreign TV show, that streams on HBO, called My Brilliant Friend. This show is entirely in Italian and I watched it with English subtitles. The show takes place in Naples, Italy in the 1950s, post World War II. It follows the two main characters, Elena and Lila, who grew up in poverty. The neighborhood they live in is bleak, outside of the city and far from the sea.The kind of place people get stuck in. It can be related to a small town that one can see on an American drama, but worse. There is a lot of crime and many characters (like the Solara brothers) end up being in the mafia because it is the only way they can make money and survive. The show is predominantly southern italian culturally where they speak in dialect, they eat a lot of pastries and drink a lot of coffee.
When it comes to what was similar to my culture and what was different, there are many aspects. To begin, the weather is basically always nice because its Naples, a beautiful city. For fun the kids would just play around. The first episode is about Elena and Lila’s dolls and its significance because they were poor they didn’t have much to go by. As they got older they would go into the city center of Naples and do activities around that area, like go to coffee shops or bars. They traveled by car, since their neighborhood is poor and outside of the city, no trains passed through. Staple foods include pastries, coffee, panini, etc. One of the main characters, Stefano, even owns a little italian market. The characters valued their families and their education because they felt getting an education was the only way out of where they are from. They were also expected to provide for their families, so for Lila that meant leaving school so she could work.
This show had political aspects due to the poverty they grew up in and a lot of the story is about the growth of facsism and the mafia in their neighborhood. The buildings in their neighborhood are high and there’s a bridge that blocks their exit, a metaphor for how the poverty these families are in blocks them from leaving. Their economic situation is terrible, especially in the beginning episodes. As the story goes on many characters get money for being terrible, this is where the mafia comes in. Two groups form by the end of the show, one good group trying to get the neighborhood out of the mess it’s in, and another group that is just trying to make money, even if that means getting it illegally.
Overall, the show is based on a book series that is highly influenced by the author’s real life growing up in post World War II Naples and watching the growth of the mafia and crime.