Un racconto allo specchio. la costruzione del mito mafioso attraverso le sue immagini

Using now the cultural models, now those of organizational and structural theories, the Cosa Nostra studies risk sometimes to achieve results spoiled by approximation and partiality. If we want to deepen the research on the impact that the media representation of the mafia produces within the criminal context or in the social construction of the phenomenon, it is essential to use tools able to frame the issue in its complexity. With this background, the paper reviews some relevant cases which clearly show how information, literature, cinematography help to give shape and strength to criminal organization: from the journalistic investigations on the "Provenzano case”, to the television serial on Riina, up to the discussion’s groups in Facebook. The result is that in a world conditioned by the media, where the construction processes of opinion and areas of meaning are complex and lengthy, must be adopted more complicated and elaborate communication strategies to talk about mafia crime, without creating mere indignation or shameless forms of identification. It is necessary to experiment a new language, able to dismantle the common sense and to lead us to think.