As they possibly enjoy a significant amount of artistic freedom, certain popular international OTT platforms are usually braver than television channels in terms of the contents they choose to showcase. When Netflix placed the not-so-successful Spanish TV series ‘La Casa de Papel’, aka ‘Money Heist’, in their basic catalogue, they did not even think that via their platform, the show would end up becoming one of the most popular shows ever made. The concept is not very mainstream, and the original language too is not English, but the heist crime drama cooked with the critical themes of resistance, communism, and queer politics, where the robbers, in fact, “Defy the System” proved to be a delicacy that was tasted and adored tremendously by the population living even under far-right, neo-liberal, or imperial regimes. It has become more than a TV series; it has become a statement and an emotion to its audience. This paper will pick out and analyse the factors that have made this success possible and what the outcomes of the bonanza are. A section of the paper specially focusses on the song “Bella Ciao,” which has its history rooted in the late 19th century North Italy and is rejuvenated with intensive care in the show. The paper frequently refers to notable literary texts and leftist theories to test if the series qualifies as a resistance narrative. The cultural impact of the texts will be discussed as well.
Suchandra Dutta (Tue,) studied this question.