Funny but True: Self-representations of creative labour in Italian screen entertainment media

Because of the long-standing economic crisis, in Italy the government has only recently started to implement a comprehensive policy strategy to support the macro-sector known as the Creative Industries. Thus, compared to the UK, the Italian public discourse surrounding the Creative Industries, and related rhetoric, is relatively underdeveloped, despite the sector employing growing 1.03 million people, 4.5% of Italy’s total jobs (1.86 million / 5.8% in the UK). This paper investigates how a number of contemporary screen entertainment media function as self-reflecting, self-theorising spaces for workers in the Italian creative industries. The paper argues that these - mostly ironic - representations aim to: (1) develop a shared identity within a highly individualised, competitive job market; (2) voice the structural and cultural issues affecting the non-unionised Italian creative labour; (3) reach out to the broader Italian generation aged 20 to 40 that experience precarious, unpaid working conditions in all economic sectors.