It is not time for high prices

PROM O SPAC E

by Michela Carboni

According to the sociologist Sergio Brancato, the impact on the relaunch of public entertainment places will also depend on the pricing policy applied by the owners

PROM O SPAC E

C

LA PUNTAT A LE DRITTE DE L M AESTRO

LE DRITTE DEL M AESTRO

ovid-19 emergency has drastically changed people’s way of life. And the way we keep entertained in the near future could also change. How? Sergio Brancato, professor of Sociology of cultural and communicative processes of the

ENGLISH P AGES

SERGIO BRANCATO University of Naples Federico II, explains this. “Like any traumatic event, the pandemic will also produce short and long-term effects. In the short term, I would say the first effect will be the economic one, with the historical entertainment system being put into crisis, the one still based on strategies and infrastructures - mostly public - of mass communications: cinemas, theaters, bookshops (especially the smaller ones), etc. Here I see the very heavy effects of the crisis, especially if these realities are not supported by institutional interventions. On the basis of what we are experiencing in this period of reclusion, I would say the consumption of ‘network’ of cultural products will develop more and more, even if we can foresee a widespread reaction to recover open spaces, outside the house, and the practices involving the body, so far penalized by the lockdown. In short, this crisis has made us experience the potential of the web but also, literally, its limits”. To what extent will entertainment and leisure venues have to enhance themselves? “Much will depend on the end of the pandemic, on how we will be able to deal with it in terms of scienti

fic strategies and social behavior. I believe that for a period of time fear will guide loisir (free time) practices enough, and perhaps it will develop new cultures of social interaction, based on the concept of blended (mixing)”. Tourism could also undergo drastic changes. In 2020 - according to a study by Demoskopika - 18 billion of expenditure could go up in smoke: 9.2 billion for the reduction of the incoming and 8.8 billion for the renunciation of the holidays of the Italians in Italy. 70 percent, equal to €12.6 billion, would be concentrated in six regional systems: Veneto, Lombardia, Tuscany, Lazio, Emilia-Romagna and Trentino-Alto Adige. But it is also true that Italians will almost certainly spend their summer holidays in Italy, not being able to afford to go abroad. In your opinion, could this be a reason for relaunching entertainment venues, such as arcades by the sea, theme parks, racecourses or casinos? “Probably many will choose Italy for the holidays, especially for the predictable operational problems related to travel abroad, as well as for the widespread feeling of precariousness, pushing towards what is familiar. But the impact on the relaunch of public places of entertainment will also depend on the pricing policy applied by the owners. The potential user base after the pandemic has narrowed, the economic crisis will affect the desire to return to consumption which defines the most rewarding experience of life. If holiday and gaming entrepreneurs don’t understand this, making even radical choices on consumer costs, they may not obtain good results. In short, it is not time for high prices. At least, not everywhere.” How will socialization change? “Socialization has already changed, through the forced acceleration of the changes taking place since the network reformulated the traditional idea of social territory. But that’s a pretty big leap from thinking that we will all fall into a desperate solipsism. The body has its own needs and still contains a large part of our empathic exercise: apart from borderline cases, we can’t do without the presence and the tactility deriving from it”. In your opinion, home entertainment (video games, streaming movies and more) will prevail, or will we prefer different forms of entertainment in the summer, albeit with the necessary distances? “Summer 2020 will be in balance between the need to be careful and the desire for freedom. I believe that above all young people will push to reopen the places of collective entertainment, as they have done since the beginning of the pandemic. But doing so without rules and cautions would be toughtless: decision-makers will have to take into account all the factors involved,

finding viable mediations that don’t put at risk everyone’s safety. In any case, many - perhaps in a softer way - will prefer to stay still safe in their home, equipping with air conditioners and digital devices to spend time in the most pleasant way. Furthermore, I wouldn’t underestimate the use of those community forms, also on the side of online games, which are having a significant increase in users in this period”. Do you believe that after Covid-19 there will also be boundaries for entertainment? “The Italian word “divertimento” (fun) comes from the verb ‘to diverge’. When we say that we want fun, we mean that we want to diverge, to move away from the time of work and responsibilities. That is, by a time controlled by others. For this reason, I believe that the logic of entertainment will take this vaguely subversive instance, pushing us to mediate between the need to transgress and that of staying safe. As always happens, in the end we will all develop together behavior protocols that are more or less acceptable to everyone, paying attention to what we do, but without losing the desire to be freely in connection with others in the very serious levity of gaming”.

WHO IS HE?!?

Sergio Brancato teaches at the University of Naples Federico II. For over twenty years he has been dealing with media, society and mass culture, devoting particular attention to comics. He was a journalist for Paese Sera, Il manifesto and La Repubblica. He has written for comic magazines such as Corto Maltese and Cyborg and has cooperated with editors skilled in the field of comics, such as Rizzoli, Magic Press and Comma 22, for which he directed the Micheluzzi series. He has been speaker for radio and tv, director and author of programs, as well as scientific consultant and author of research on new communication technologies and forms of seriality for both Rai and Mediaset. He was one of the most appreciated writers of the soap operas Un posto al sole and Vivere, for which he wrote about 100 episodes.

Studying original mixes of presence and distance

Mauro Palumbo, professor of general sociology of the University of Genoa, believes that in the post-Covid-19 emergency there will be a greater polarization between presence and distance entertainment

According to Mauro Palumbo, professor of general sociology of the University of Genoa “obviously, the emergency has changed everything, consequently also the way of entertain, favoring relationships mediated by the web. Probably, in the post-emergency there will be both a recovery of entertainment on spot, which everyone has missed, and a continuation of remote entertainment, that has proved more satisfactory. So, a greater polarization between the two. In general, sudden changes help polarizations, for example between those who take advantage of them and those who suffer damage, between subjects in advantageous and privilege conditions and subjects in difficulty and precariousness. This happens at all levels for all changes, even if the lines along which the inequalities diminish or widen are changed.” As for entertainment places, “they will have to study original mixes of presence and distance, while before in presence and at distance seemed to define two different types of users, with different needs and slightly overlapping, now it is clear that the two types are much more overlapping and therefore the problem will arise of giving continuity to the online with the offline and vice versa. Everyone will have to rethink themselves, the problem will be to distinguish short-term trends from long-term ones and this, at the moment, doesn’t seem easy”. On the tourism front “holidays in Italy will obviously increase, although many people will give up their holidays for (many) economic and (few) security reasons and this may further weaken the border between tourism (which involves physical movement, overnight accommodation at a some distance from home, therefore time-space spacing from everyday life) and loisir/free time, i.e. the way in which this free time is ‘filled’ and ‘acted’ (I use the word ‘acted’ to emphasize that over the years there has been a more active attitude both in terms of holidays and free time, compared to a mainly passive use. The relaunch of these entertainment places will depend on how they will be able to connect with other forms of tourist and leisure use, how they will be able to open or close towards specific niches of users”. How will socialization change? “Crystal ball question. I would say that the attendance of people considered close, friends, relatives and acquaintances will increase, because the emergency has made ‘suspicious’ towards strangers, considered potentially dangerous. Privileging ‘trustworthy’ people won’t actually mean being ‘safer’ (infections occur among physically close people), but it is common experience that uncertainty is fought by exorcising it through practices that provide security (in the US the epidemic has increased the purchase of weapons...). Will we spend more time at home? “I think everyone is missing outdoor and collective activities, but I also believe that the period spent at home has increased the propensity to stay there. Not only because we discovered that many activities can be more easily carried out indoor (we think about smartworking that has developed in recent months), but also because the emergency has spread a sense of uncertainty that will last for a long time and will lead to prefer all that can be done at home, for some time”.

WHO IS HE?!?

Mauro Palumbo is professor of Sociology at the University of Genoa and delegate of the dean for lifelong learning. President of the Accademia di formazione Manageriale in Sanità (Amas) since 2018. Coordinator of the doctoral course in Social Sciences (from cycle XXIX to cycle XXXIII) and previously of other doctoral courses since 2006. Director of the Department of Anthropological Sciences (2006 -2009) and vice director from 2009 to 2011. President of the Perform Center (2009-2011), president of the three-year degree course expert in Educational processes of the University of Genoa (2003-2006) and 2015 president of the Commissione paritetica di Facoltà (2000-2003 ).