Queering Italy: A Queer Vision of Today's Italy in the Streaming Platforms' Serial Landscape

This article outlines a joint Ph.D. research project investigating the representation of gender identity and youth sexuality within contemporary Italian TV series available on major streaming platforms (Netflix, Prime Video, RaiPlay). Situated at the convergence of television studies, queer theories, and production studies, the research examines the distribution and marketing dynamics of digital platforms, highlighting the structural tension between inclusive visibility and commercial normalization (the "paradox of queer television"). Utilizing the series Prisma (Prime Video, 2022-2024) as its primary case study—due to its unique collision between youth freedom of expression and a traditionalist socio-cultural setting—the project employs a mixed-methodological approach. By combining qualitative textual analysis, quantitative data tracking, and semi-structured interviews with industry practitioners, the study explores if and how contemporary Italian seriality contributes to a global queer imaginary, challenging domestic conservative dynamics and remapping the cultural representation of a "queer Italy."