Abstract

This article aims to explore the peculiarities of some of the new male characters that characterize Italian comedy in the 1980s, seeking to highlight their elements of innovation both on a historical level and on a theoretical one. Specifically, it attempts to propose two main arguments. Firstly, these characters represent and re-present forms of masculinity that largely differ from those implemented by their counterparts within the comedy of previous decades, so as to overcome some analytic categories (starting from the concept of the inetto). Secondly, the new male figures that characterize this comedy articulate and re-enact some of the deep dynamics that inform male sexuality in the Italy of the 1980s.