A ‘Bottom-Up’ Approach to Transcultural Identities: Petra and Women Detectives in Italian TV Crime Drama

In her “The TV Crime Drama”, Turnbull (2014) argues that “the portrayal of women in the crime drama series has served as an index of women’s changing role in society while providing a catalyst for debate, both in the popular press and in the field of feminist media studies”. Moving from these premises, the chapter examines the representation of female detectives in contemporary Italian crime television, with a particular focus on the series “Petra” (Sky, 2020-) within the larger context of contemporary European TV crime productions. By adopting a bottom-up approach to transcultural identities, the authors explore how Italian crime narratives engage in a dialogue with other European traditions, particularly Nordic Noir, to construct complex female protagonists. The study conceptualizes “Petra” as a site of “mediated cultural encounters,” where transnational influences intersect with local storytelling traditions, contributing to broader discussions on the inter-related issues of gender, multiculturalism, and European identities. Ultimately, the chapter argues that “Petra” exemplifies a transcultural adaptation process that not only redefines gender representations within the crime genre but also contributes to the broader European discourse on identity, diversity, and representation in popular culture.