Dimensioni culturali e ideologiche delle serie poliziesche in Europa e in America. Le tensioni socio-spaziali del territorio tra finzione e realtà

This contribution analyzes the crime series and especially their tendency to tell about landscapes and to witness the socio-political tensions which, by sure, appear in different urban and rural areas and can shape territories and social contexts. Being difficult to approach all possible aspects, we have chosen to focus on the main lines of cultural variations related to European and American traditions (class struggle, problems of equilibrium between tradition and modernity, etc.). In a geographical perspective, we selected series which refer to a «real» territory. Territory in which stories take place, narrative is developed and characters’ identity and social status is built. Two series. For the North American context, it’s The Wire, series taking place in Baltimore, a city that with a wide range of characters (not only policemen and criminals) plays the role of symbol of the contradictions of American urban context of the new millennium. The second, Midsomer Murders, contrast for the difference of continent but also for his immersion in English countryside, so rich in small towns, and emphasizes the performative dimension of some (TV) films.