Shifting italian masculinities: insights from three male perfomances in the italian song festival of Sanremo 2022

Sanremo Festival is one of the biggest events of Italian television for audience and prestige. It is located within complex socio-cultural dynamics that can be understood through an ecological perspective. In recent years it has presented singers whose performances always challenge traditional gender expressions, with a mixed, polarized reception. Amadeus' choices reflect the trend of assimilation into the mainstream of queer signifiers that challenge gender in pop audiovisual productions (Ferrante, 2019). Therefore, we place our attention on the performances of masculinities (Butler, 1990 & 2004; Connell, 1995; Feasey, 2008; Reeser, 2011) in the context of the 2022 edition of Sanremo. We will operate a visual analysis (Aubrey & Frisby, 2011; Mattioli, 2007; Russmann & Svensson, 2016; Tiindenberg & Baym, 2017) of the opening performances of three male artists, identifying three different ways of representing masculinity on stage: Rkomi, Achille Lauro, Michele Bravi.