Netflix's Ripley

This book traces the intertextual genealogy behind Netflix s new series Ripley, directed by Steve Zaillian, and offers a critical examination of Tom Ripley s enduring appeal across different media. As the series quickly climbs Netflix s international charts, this volume provides a timely and insightful contribution to the Ripleyverse, exploring the character s complex moral and sexual dimensions in today s cultural context. McEntee investigates Ripley s role within the televisual antihero genre, engaging with theories from Jason Mittell s Complex TV and Margrethe Bruun Vaage s The Antihero in American Television. While Andrew Scott s portrayal of Ripley aims to generate empathy, this book contends that traditional frameworks for understanding antiheroes are insufficient. Instead, it introduces Eric Leake s notion of difficult empathy as a more appropriate model for analyzing Scott s Ripley, offering a fresh perspective on the character s moral ambiguity. This contrasts sharply with Anthony Minghella s 1999 adaptation, where Matt Damon s Ripley elicited a more straightforward emotional response. Readers will discover a nuanced discussion of how Ripley both adheres to and subverts the conventions of the antihero genre and comments self-reflexively on the process of adaptation. The book invites scholars and students of television studies, film, and literature to engage with these themes, providing a rich resource for understanding the evolving landscape of media narratives. Whether you are a scholar of media studies or a curious reader intrigued by the complexities of modern narratives, this book promises to deepen your understanding of the cultural significance of Tom Ripley s latest iteration.

Chapter 1 - Introduction. - Chapter 2 - The Empathy Game in Ripley. - Chapter 3 - Where' s the Sex? . - Chapter 4 - The Vile Marge Sherwood. - Chapter 5 - Unfunny Fun: Ripley and Comedy. - Chapter 6 - The Vile Marge Sherwood. - Chapter 7 - Italy. - Chapter 8 - Conclusion.