"This world won't make me bad", the "committed" return of Zerocalcare

The second series created by Zerocalcare entitled "This world will not make me bad" is available on Netflix from today, June 9th. A more personal story than the previous series, which touches on social and political themes dear to the Roman cartoonist and which, with his usual language that mixes irony, depth and sharpness, places urgent questions for our present at the center, giving them a clear and oriented reading. The background of the story is - as for the previous series "Tear along the edges" - the Roman district of Rebibbia. In the six half-hour episodes that make up the series we find the key characters of the world of Zerocalcare or Sarah, Secco, the Armadillo and Zero together with some new entries, the most relevant of which is represented by Cesare, a former boy from the neighborhood who he returns to Rebibbia after having been in a recovery community for several years and having approached extreme right-wing groups. The neighborhood is in turmoil because a group of refugees from Libya have arrived at a reception center and there are those who seem more inclined to welcome them and those who instead, complete with insulting signs posted on the walls, would like the refugees away from there. The series opens with Zero being interrogated in a police station (where an image of Don Matteo with the words "To my friends" dominates on a bulletin board) following some beatings and tensions due precisely to the refugee issue.

These events disturb a world that always seems crystallized and equal to itself, with Secco who - true to his nature - repeats like a constant mantra to go get ice cream while Sarah finally seems to have, after years of apprenticeship and study, the possibility of crowning his professional dream or going to teach. The Armadillo (who always has the voice of Valerio Mastrandrea) acts as a counterpoint to Zero's conscience, giving touches of sarcasm and irony (long the sequences in which the two focus on Zerocalcare's bad diction and the Roman inflection as well as the passages in which the Armadillo gives voice to the protagonist's sense of guilt). Everything is seasoned with carefully chosen music, fast and dense dialogues (as quick as the author's thought), in a more "committed" story and therefore on the divisive paper, in which Zerocalcare brings out more of his authorial timbre and for this reason takes risks (as in any self-respecting second work).

What are the themes of “This World Won't Make Me Bad”?

As Zerocalcare has accustomed us, the series is more than ever peppered with social themes and a clear and personal vision of the world. Alongside the social issues linked to the reception of refugees, the emergence of neo-fascist groups, the growing tensions and hatred towards the different (which is therefore dehumanized), the Roman cartoonist always accurately recounts the disorientation of a generation ( the one to which he belongs), devoid of points of reference and whose possibilities for action are increasingly reduced. Those who have a clear trajectory in life seem to be hindered in every way, those who don't have it are adrift but with a hole in their heart that grows more and more. Existential confusion is rampant and with it a profound loneliness. That fame and success are not enough to silence.

What are the musical and serial references of "This world won't make me bad"?

Zerocalcare's story is full of serial quotations and musical pieces that embellish the series. Lou Reed, Oasis, the Cure and Cigarettes after Sex are just a few of the artists whose song snippets are featured. And there are even serial references, from Bridgerton to Stranger Things passing through the excellent Lady Violet of Downton Abbey. To complete the picture, an almost omnipresent poster of Don Matteo.

What is the tone of the three-bar series?

“You turn around but you can't enjoy shit because you have rubble all around. And what fucking jackal does well in rubble?”.

“Look, you're not doing Novecento de Bertolucci”.

"But do you think I speak strange?". “But nooo, but at the limit you have a little inflection. But you could very well be someone from Trieste who looks at the Cesaroni a lot".