Giorno Giovanna: The Agentic Protagonist
What is your opinion of Giorno Giovanna? Some say that he is a boring protagonist, others say he’s an inspiration, and his perfection was Araki depicting him as Christ-like figure. Others think he’s cold and ruthless, and then there are the multiple fanon personalities.
I perceive Giorno as a multi-faceted character that is often mis-interpreted by the fandom due to his Agentic nature. The idea of Agentic and Affiliative is explored in the book, Molecule of More, by Daniel Z. Lieberman and Michael E. Long. Within the book they talk how Dopamine affects dominance within social settings and shaping our relationships with others. For the sake of this essay, I will only be speaking of simplified terms of Agentic and Affiliative cognition.
But first, we need to go over....
What is Agentic and Affiliative Relationships?
Agentic relationships are formed for the “sole purpose of accomplishing a goal…typically resulting in mutual gain” (p 75).
What relationship within Part 5 is an Agentic relationship? The main one is Giorno and Bucciarati’s. As much as the fandom likes to write them as friends or with a family dynamic, they are more like business partners, mutually gaining something within the relationship: Giorno wanted to become the Boss of Passione and Bucciarati wanted to end the drug trade. Giorno and Bucciarati's relationship is purely Agentic, and most dynamics that Giorno has in the story is Agentic because he has no pre-established relationship with the other characters.
In a character exploratory stand-point, this works as a dis-advantage for Giorno because we rarely seem him in an Affiliative relationship, which is a relationship based for the “sole purpose of enjoying social interactions” (p 76).
In Part 5, we see characters that have mix of Affiliative and Agentic relationships. For example, there is Mista and Narancia’s relationship; the two of them are close friends and are also teammates. "Most relationships [IRL] have both agentic and affiliative elements." Because Giorno is a newbie and needs to gain each member's trust there is a restriction of him represented in an Affiliative relationship, taking away any relatability points. Giorno also shows a preference for agentic relationships because of his goal-oriented, calculating nature. So as much as a Affiliative relationship would have elevated Giorno's character writing, it wouldn't have made sense. Araki probably realized that this is a disadvantage, so when he wrote Jojolands he made sure Jodio was already in a team with pre-established relationships.
What are the personality types of these relationship preferences?
Every person is different and people have preferences in the way they want to operate, be it agentic, affiliative, both, or neither. According to the book, "Agentic people tend to be cool and distant," while Affiliative people are "affectionate and warm...social, and turn to others for support." People that have both agentic and affiliative traits are amazing leaders, while people with neither are viewed as "aloof and isolated." If you lack agentic traits you are viewed as an "friendly, accessible follower," but if you lack affiliative traits you are seen as "cold and uncaring" and dominant (pg 76). Remember when Giorno drank piss to assert dominance? Very agentic.
You can categorize a number of characters in Part Five within the spectrum:
Affiliative: Mista, Narancia, Formaggio, Pesci, Doppio
Agentic: Giorno, Abbacchio, Risotto, Prosciutto, Diavolo, Cioccolatta
Both: Bucciarati, Polnareff
Neither: Carne, Ghiaccio (lowkey), Secco (Affiliative w/ Ciocco)
This is a rough idea on how these characters could be categorized.
Observing Giorno, he is definitely Agentic; goal-oriented, ambitious, self-directed, etc. He possesses slight affiliative elements which comes in the form of his charm, but mostly shows preference to agentic throughout the story.
You can see how Giorno's agentic nature shapes his relationships. For example, Mista's Affiliative traits are why Giorno and him have such great chemistry. They are able to affectively balance each other out, one able to manifest communication and support, while the other is intuitive, proactive, and self-reflective, serving as an anchor and motivator for the former. I think that's why Mista and Giorno is perceived as a more iconic duo than Bruno and Giorno, even though Bruno is the canonical JoBro of Golden Wind (still love him tho)
How does Giorno's Agentic traits influence our perception of him?
There are some who perceive Giorno as cruel because his motivations were the reason why half of the team were killed. Even in the light novel, Purple Haze Feedback, there are moments where Mista expresses resentment towards Giorno. It leaves audiences wondering that if Giorno didn't put his dream above the lives of others, than maybe they would've survived...
This idea of an Agentic person of being associated with "cruelty" is common. In reality, agentic relationships can "easily become exploitative" because it's purpose is to "dominate one's environment" and "extract as much resources as possible." For example, a scientist enrolling participants in an experiment without telling them the risk, or a manager exploiting an employee for their hard work, *cough cough* Cioccolata and Diavolo *cough cough* (p 76).
What sets Giorno apart from Cioccolata and Diavolo is that his agentic nature is also what "humanizes" him.
I said previously that Giorno operates in mostly Agentic relationships throughout the story and how a lack of affiliative relationships is a disadvantage for his character exploration. However, the Agentic relationships themselves isn't the problem.
In these agentic relationships, Giorno learns from the other members, like how he valued Abbacchio's self sacrifice in the Man in the Mirror fight. He says to Fugo, "If it wasn't for Abbachio risking his life and carrying the key, then [they] wouldn't have been able to defeat the enemy." In the White Album fight, Giorno learns from Mista's optimism, scrapping his previous self-sacrificial ideas, and was able to find the meaning of "true resolve."
We get physical proof that Giorno valued them when we see a tribute for Abacchio, Bucciarati, and Narancia.
A quote from the book that perfectly captures Giorno, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the poet:
"Shall I tell you the secret of the true scholar? It is this: Every man I meet is my master in some point, and in that I learn of him"
So yes, Giorno’s action did get half of Team Bucci killed, but I wouldn’t say he’s evil and that he was using them as tool for his goals. He saw value and cared for the team and was actively against self-centered people like Diavolo and Cioccolata. Those two couldn’t give two shits about the people they’ve fucked over, be it Diavolo and how his drug trade ruined many lives or Cioccolata and torturing his patients. Saying Giorno as cold and calculating is saying he’s the same as those two and we all KNOW HE ISNT THAT.
In Jojo's where there are several entertaining characters, Giorno may come off as too passive and even feel like a background character in his own story. However, Giorno is simply a character with predominantly agentic traits, his social interactions unable to be fully explored due to the fast-paced, action-packed nature of Part Five.
If you read this far, congratulations. Here is the third slice of strawberry short cake 🍰.
