(from correspondent Cinzia Conti)
"I am evidently a troubled person, I always have been, and the stories I tell are about exactly these troubles. And what resonates with the kids I meet is precisely this: the sense of inadequacy, of insecurity, of fragility, and so on. And so in reality I often find myself not knowing what to answer, in the sense that some people think that since I talk about these things, I have in hand, I don't know, either more knowledge or the answers. But I have no idea, I have no advice to give, because if I had advice I would be in a much better place than where I am right now..." Zerocalcare, with his usual Roman frankness, tries to wriggle out of it, but there is nothing to be done: his is one of the most packed events at Giffoni.
And the young people ask him a great many questions. Because in his work and in his creativity there is truly everything, or nearly everything, that someone needs when stepping into life and wants to straighten out this rather crooked world with both strength and determination: insecurity, yes, but also civic engagement and the telling of a politics that does not turn away from history. And then there is the memory to be cultivated (see the G8 in Genoa), the conflicts burning in the corners of the world.
The creator of Due Spicci, the animated series on Netflix that closes the trilogy begun with Strappare lungo i bordi and Questo mondo non mi renderà cattivo, talks about the sparks that brought him to where he is now. Zerocalcare points to Les Lascars, a series of short films set in the French banlieues that literally struck him like lightning. "I have always paid attention to the stories of the last and the least," he said. "I use my language to push people to take an interest in subjects that are distant from them. We live in a time with no horizons to look toward. The Seventies were different, but perhaps even then there were too many lenses of fascination. What is certain is that everything has collapsed now."
One of the questions is about the influence of punk culture: "It influenced me enormously," he stresses. "The basic rule is do it yourself, meaning you do things on your own and they don't even need to be perfect." Then there is the risk of being misunderstood: "I think I am very didactic. And frankly the idea of being misunderstood terrifies me, which is why I think carefully about every syllable and try to define the boundaries of my message. This is damaging from an artistic point of view, because there should always be room left for the reader's own interpretation. But in my case it is also difficult to separate the work from the persona."
Zerocalcare reiterates: "I live with a great sense of frustration. I was raised and grew up inspired by lofty values and an urge toward action. This shows in part of my work. Is being happy impossible? I have no idea. I have always given myself an alibi to justify why I was not happy. I chased the elsewhere, the unresolved, the anxiety. You can survive the void, but I urge you to understand the reasons for it as soon as possible."
Then there are the Kurdish question, Palestine, antifascist conscience, the power of reading as a tool for gaining awareness. And plans for the future? "For now I'm catching my breath after Due Spicci."
Finally, his advice to all the shy ones: "When I was a kid, if my mother or a friend came in, I would always cover the page and not let them see what I was drawing. My advice to a shy young person who cannot bring themselves to share
ahead with a project, an aspiration, I would tell him to
surround himself with enterprising people. In the sense that for me
that is what made the difference. I didn't have the
courage to send my stuff out and a friend of mine sent it
on my behalf to a publisher. But this applies to everything in life: I
am not someone who makes things happen."
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