Abstract
The introduction considers the influx of sympathetic perpetrators—criminals, mobsters, corrupt politicians—who have flooded Italian television screens over the last ten years or so. It looks at the representation and appeal of criminals when they are the subject of popular fictionalized accounts, focusing on a selection of recent, well-known Italian television series that create sympathy for perpetrators and that premiered on Rai, Mediaset, Sky Italian, and Netflix. In particular, the introduction outlines serial television’s several viewing pleasures; discusses the “sympathetic perpetrator identikit” that positions viewers to root for and align with antiheroes; considers complex masculinities; and addresses the particularities of the Italian case (i.e., sympathetic perpetrators on Italian television are conventionally attractive, and narratives are based upon historical figures and events, in particular Italy’s mafias: the Camorra, Cosa Nostra, Banda della Magliana, and ’ndrangheta).
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