The essay compares the strategies employed by Babylon Berlin (2017-ongoing) and M – Son of the Century (2025) to actualize dramatic turning points in interwar European history. Based on successful literary works and characterized by a convergence of industrial resources and authorial vision, the two TV series rely on complex processes of world-building that, through practices of intermedial and cross-media expansion, relate the historical past to the tensions of contemporary democracies. Babylon Berlin employs the Weimar Republic as an audiovisual laboratory: genres such as crime drama and musical intersect with cinema and the artistic imagination of the period, recreating the experience of a society suspended between cultural vitality and political collapse. M reworks Mussolini’s rise through logics of hypermediation: appropriations and insertions of archival footage, direct address to the camera, and a frenetic montage highlight the spectacular and violent nature of fascist power, placing it in tension with contemporary media rhetorics. The comparison shows how, through different modes, the two tv series elaborate the past as both symptom and allegory of our time: Babylon Berlin diagnoses democratic fragility through a historically situated immersion, while M performs a preventive function, grounded on strategies of hypermediation and techniques of estrangement. These are two emblematic cases of European seriality as a transnational space of cultural memory, where the twentieth century is reactivated to interrogate the roots of today’s crises.
Il saggio mette a confronto le modalità con cui Babylon Berlin (2017–in corso) e M – Il figlio del secolo (2025) attualizzano snodi drammatici della storia europea tra le due guerre mondiali. Tratte da opere letterarie di successo e accomunate da un forte investimento industriale e autoriale, le due serie costruiscono universi narrativi complessi che, attraverso pratiche di espansione inter e crossmediale, pongono il passato storico in relazione con le tensioni delle democrazie contemporanee. Babylon Berlin utilizza la Repubblica di Weimar come laboratorio audiovisivo: generi come il crime e il musical si contaminano con il cinema e l’immaginario dell’epoca, restituendo l’esperienza di una società sospesa tra vitalismo culturale e collasso politico. M rielabora l’ascesa di Mussolini in chiave ipermediale: inserti e prelievi dall’archivio audiovisivo, sguardi in macchina e un montaggio frenetico esaltano la natura spettacolare e violenta del potere fascista e la mettono in tensione con le attuali retoriche mediatiche. La comparazione mostra come, seppur attraverso modalità differenti, le due serie elaborino il passato come sintomo e allegoria del nostro tempo: Babylon Berlin diagnostica la vulnerabilità della democrazia attraverso un’immersione storicamente situata, mentre M svolge una funzione preventiva, affidata a strategie di ipermediazione e a tecniche di straniamento. Due casi emblematici di una serialità europea che si configura come spazio transnazionale per la memoria culturale, in cui la storia del Novecento viene riattivata per interrogare le radici delle crisi attuali.
Sintomatologie d’Europa. Un’analisi comparata di Babylon Berlin e M - Il figlio del secolo
Massimiliano coviello
2026-01-01
Abstract
The essay compares the strategies employed by Babylon Berlin (2017-ongoing) and M – Son of the Century (2025) to actualize dramatic turning points in interwar European history. Based on successful literary works and characterized by a convergence of industrial resources and authorial vision, the two TV series rely on complex processes of world-building that, through practices of intermedial and cross-media expansion, relate the historical past to the tensions of contemporary democracies. Babylon Berlin employs the Weimar Republic as an audiovisual laboratory: genres such as crime drama and musical intersect with cinema and the artistic imagination of the period, recreating the experience of a society suspended between cultural vitality and political collapse. M reworks Mussolini’s rise through logics of hypermediation: appropriations and insertions of archival footage, direct address to the camera, and a frenetic montage highlight the spectacular and violent nature of fascist power, placing it in tension with contemporary media rhetorics. The comparison shows how, through different modes, the two tv series elaborate the past as both symptom and allegory of our time: Babylon Berlin diagnoses democratic fragility through a historically situated immersion, while M performs a preventive function, grounded on strategies of hypermediation and techniques of estrangement. These are two emblematic cases of European seriality as a transnational space of cultural memory, where the twentieth century is reactivated to interrogate the roots of today’s crises.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
