Il personaggio di Dr Jekyll nella serie tv Penny Dreadful: un’analisi transmediale e postcoloniale

Abstract

In this article I will analyse, from a transmedia and postcolonial point of view, the character of Dr Jekyll in the TV series Penny Dreadful. The correspondences between Dr Jekyll in Penny Dreadful and the mad scientist protagonist of Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde underline how the director John Logan captures the colonial elements present in the novel and adapts them to a postcolonial perspective, attributing Indian origins to Jekyll. The relationship that Jekyll establishes with Victor Frankenstein conveys the evolution of an archetypal figure, the so-called seeker of forbidden knowledge, in transmedia storytelling. Finally, Lord Hyde’s transformation is relevant for the understanding of psychological and socio-identity issues, which are connected to the emergence of evil in Victorian English society and in contemporary U.S.A. society.

Keywords

• transmedia
• jekyll
• penny dreadful
• postcolonial
• stevenson