Machiavelli in Contemporary Media

“Machiavelli in Contemporary Media explains how one of the world’s best-known political philosophers has been used, and abused, in various contemporary forms. The reader learns the enduring influence of the writer of The Prince through analyses of relevant music, films, television series, video games, visual art, and graphic novels. The authors apply their expertise of Machiavelli to these cultural forms to make him and his thinking come alive to new generations of students.”
– Eric T. Kasper, Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, USA, and co-author of Machiavelli Goes to the Movies: Understanding The Prince through Television and Film (2015)
There is an undeniable and persisting fascination with Niccolò Machiavelli and his infamous political theories in contemporary pop culture. Many comic books, video games, TV series, movies, and graphic novels make explicit or implicit references to the most infamous political thinker of all-time. By offering the reader an idea of how Machiavelli is present and represented in contemporary media (in particular, in Assassin’s Creed, House of Cards, Homeland, pop art, American and Italian politics, Italian cinema, and Trump’s rise to power), Machiavelli in Contemporary Media gives new life to Machiavellian thought and shows how his theories—but also the several different interpretations of them (Machiavellianism)—are still influential today.

Andrea Polegato is Assistant Professor in Italian Studies at California State University, Fresno, USA. He works on the political language of Niccolò Machiavelli and Florence between the Quattrocento and Cinquecento. His publications include articles on Machiavelli, Pietro Aretino, and the Italian filmmaker Ermanno Olmi. He is also working on a comparison between Renaissance Italy and Ancient China.

Fabio Benincasa is Adjunct Professor for Duquesne University – Rome Campus and Università Nicola Cusano, Italy. As well as several essays on cinema, he co-edited Come rovesciare il mondo ad arte (2015) with Giorgio de Finis and Andrea Facchi, and with de Finis Nome plurale di città (2016) and Il mondo degli umani si è fermato (2020). He is editor of Frontiere della Psicoanalisi and has collaborated with the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome.