CLASS NOTES

ITALIAN NEO-REALISM

How is culture expressed? through mise en scene? through character? through style? How does the filmmaker express their vision of the world? Film movements Related films Same country Specific period of time Things to think about You may wish to review the Sedgwick questions? How do characters perform their culture Look at  gestures actions attire hair make-up How are people portrayed? stereotypes continuums across a spectrum Communist  Fascist What are their roles in the film? How do they interact with opposite sex? How do they interact with same sex? Look for sub-text, coding Factors in the development of Neo-Realism Post WWII Effects of Fascist regime of Mussolini Economy, physical structure in ruins Cinecitta -- state controllled film Commercial cinema linked to evils of Fascism Many linked to Hollywood "white telephone" movies Filmmakers seek to overthrow Establish new genre focus on poor people everyday lives naturalistic setting peasants in countryside workers in the streets Cesare Zavattini Theoretical founder Marxist screenwriter Wanted to abolish contrived plots, eliminate professional actors, go to streets for material establish direct contact with contemporary social reality Influences Soviet expressive realism (Eisenstein) French poetic realism (Renoir, Clair) Shared features Filmed on location on streets, in traffic real people, semi-professional performers images of life as it is Style not documentary used fictional form to structure an ordered narrative narrative & mise en scene grow out of circumstances of history and place immediacy/texture roughness/directness Themes poverty & desperation social life of the poor difficulties of finding supportive communities Mise en scene world around the characters has equal space with characters themselves interplay of city/countryside, people and central characters character's emotional state tied to class/economy where he/she lives SCREENED FILMS BICYCLE THIEF All Movie Guide Internet Movie Database Director  Vittorio De Sica Stars  Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, and Lianella Carell Writers  Luigi Bartolini, Cesare Zavattini, Oreste Biancoli, Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Vittorio De Sica, Adolfo Franci, Gherardo Gerardi and Gerardo Guerrieri Star was a factory worker OPEN CITY (a.k.a. Rome Open City) All Movie Guide Internet Movie Database Director Roberto Rosselini Stars  Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi Writers  Sergio Amidei, Alberto Consiglio, Sergio Amidei, Federico Fellini and Roberto Rossellini Based upon true events in the winter of 1933-34 UMBERTO D All Movie Guide Internet Movie Database Director  Vittorio De Sica Star  Carlo Battisti Writer  Cesare Zavattini, Vittorio De Sica The star was a  college professor (Notes derived from Kolker, Robert. Film, Form and Culture.  Cook, David.  Narrative History of Film. )  RELATED RESOURCES--CULTURAL STUDIES Articles/Papers:  Nationalism, Ethnicities, Cultural Theory Sarah Zupko    Popcultures.com http://www.popcultures.com/articles/national.htm Cultural Studies and Critical Theory Geoffrey Sauer Carnegie Mellon http://eserver.org/theory/ Mick Underwood's Cultural Studies Mick Underwood http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/  SWIRL: Cultural Studies Warren Hedges English Department Southern Oregon University http://www.sou.edu/English/IDTC/Issues/CultStud/cultstud.htm  RELATED RESOURCES--ITALIAN NEO-REALISM The Altering Eye of Cinema: Chapter 1 Robert Phillip Kolker http://otal.umd.edu/~rkolker/AlteringEye/Chapter1.html Italian Neo-Realism David Meek http://www.inblackandwhite.com/ItalianNeorealismv2.0/index.html Neo-Web Erik Voigt http://www.carleton.edu/curricular/MEDA/classes/media110/Voigt/index.html Post War Italian Cinema Michael Abbott Wabash College Theater http://www.wabash.edu/depart/theater/THAR4/981116/

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