La série Netflix Lupin. Un exemple d’afropolitanisme populaire ?

Abstract

When Lupin, the series inspired by Maurice Leblanc’s novels and his gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, launched on Netflix in 2021, it became an immediate success. The series uses the adventures of the eponymous French literary hero - a white character - to inspire the escapades of Assane Diop, played by Omar Sy. To highlight the connection between the series and the notion of Afropolitanism, this article analyses its production and the reactions to the show as well as the protagonist Assane Diop. We will demonstrate that the choice of Omar Sy to play the main character was mostly perceived as a smart marketing move and we will present the series in more detail to consider its position within the debates about Afropolitanism, which include the commercial and elitist aspect of the concept. To that end, we will examine the movements of Assane Diop within the society represented in Lupin through the notions of the trickster and Afropolitanism.