The Folklore of Consensus: Theatricality in the Italian Cinema, 1930-1943SUNY Press, 1998 M05 28 - 352 pages Marcia Landy s The Folklore of Consensus examines the theatricality in the Italian popular cinema of the 1930s and early 1940s, arguing that theatricality was a form of politics a politics of style. While film critics no longer regard the commercial films of the era as mere propaganda, they continue to regard the cinema under fascism as escapist, diverting audiences from the harsh realities of life under fascism. The Folklore of Consensus problematizes the notion of escapism, examining the complexity that redeems the films from frivolity and evasion. It shifts the focus from a preoccupation with cinema as the public and spectacular purveyor of fascinating fascism to a more immediate and intimate terrain that bears on formulations about the role of mass culture then and now. |
Contents
Film Folklore and Affect | 1 |
CINEMA AND CONSENSUS | 18 |
Comedy Melodrama and Theatricality | 45 |
FOLKLORE OPERA AND PUTTING ON A SHOW | 51 |
LIFE AS FILM | 55 |
THE EVERYDAY AND DOMESTIC DIPLOMACY OF FICTION | 58 |
FORMULAS FOR SUCCESS | 62 |
AMERICANISM AND FORDISM | 66 |
THE PRODIGAL SON | 178 |
THE ORPHANS RETURN | 181 |
MACHINES AND MODERNITY | 185 |
MARTYRDOM MOURNING AND COMMUNITY CONVERSION | 189 |
THE PRODIGAL FATHER | 192 |
SURROGATE FATHERS AND PRODIGAL SONS | 194 |
THE NEW MAN CONVERSION AND COLONIALISM | 197 |
THE FAMILY HISTORY AND THE NATION | 200 |
TYPISTS AND HAPPINESS | 70 |
SCREWBALL COMEDY ITALIAN STYLE | 76 |
COMEDY FOLKLORE AND THE LAW | 80 |
FAMILY AS THEATER | 83 |
DOMESTIC COMEDY AND ORDINARY PEOPLE | 85 |
HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS | 90 |
ESCAPISM AND CARNIVAL | 94 |
REGARDING FRIENDLY FASCISM | 100 |
The Uses of Folklore History and Theatricality | 107 |
MONUMENTAL HISTORY | 116 |
MELODRAMA AND LEGEND | 121 |
AESTHETICS AND FOLKLORE | 125 |
ROMANTIC NATIONALISM | 130 |
THE BIOPIC MACHIAVELLI AND REALPOLITIK | 134 |
THE ARTIST AS DOPPELGANGER | 137 |
THE MUSICIAN AS NATIONAL SAVIOR | 141 |
THE OPERATIC IN FILM | 144 |
THE MELODRAMA OF NATIONAL UNITY | 150 |
MELODRAMA AND HISTORY AS ELEGY | 151 |
ITALIAN HISTORY AND THE WESTERN | 155 |
THE NARRATIVE OF CONVERSION AND WAR | 157 |
THE PRESENTNESS OF THE PAST | 161 |
From Conversion to Calligraphism | 169 |
A PARADIGMATIC TEXT | 175 |
THE TENUOUSNESS OF CONVERSION | 203 |
CALLIGRAPHISM | 207 |
FRACTURED MASCULINITY | 210 |
THE FICTIONS OF HOMOSOCIAL CONFLICT | 214 |
DECADENCE AND VIOLENCE UNREDEEMED | 221 |
DEATH IN LIFE | 224 |
A PORTRAIT OF ABJECTION | 229 |
The Affective Value of Femininity and Maternity | 237 |
THE MATERNAL MACHINE | 242 |
WORKINGCLASS DIVAS | 246 |
THE FAMILY MELODRAMA AND BECOMING MOTHER | 251 |
PHALLIC FEMININITY | 255 |
VISUAL PLEASURE AS UNPLEASURE | 259 |
RETURN TO THE MOTHER | 265 |
CALLIGRAPHISM AND FEMININITY | 269 |
BLURRING BOUNDARIES | 275 |
WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN | 281 |
SEXUAL POLITICS POWER AND FEMININITY | 285 |
Conclusion | 295 |
NOTES | 303 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 321 |
333 | |
Other editions - View all
The Folklore of Consensus: Theatricality in the Italian Cinema, 1930-1943 Marcia Landy Limited preview - 1998 |
The Folklore of Consensus: Theatricality in the Italian Cinema, 1930-1943 Marcia Landy Limited preview - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
Adriana affect Andrea Anna Antonio Antonio Centa Assia Noris audience becomes behavior biopic Blasetti's calligraphic Camerini's character CinecittĂ comedies common sense conception conflict consensus contrast Corrado Cristina critical death Deleuze desire drama of conversion Elsa emphasis entertainment escapism femininity fiction figure Film Stills Archive film's focus folklore forms gender genre Gianni Gilles Deleuze Giovanni Gramsci highlighting historical films Hollywood homosocial Ibid identified identity ideology images impersonation involving Isa Miranda Italian cinema Italian Fascism Italy Maria Mario Mario Camerini masculine maternal melo melodrama Modern Art mother motif Museum of Modern narrative nature opera Otello past performance play political popular culture portrait production protagonist regime relation Remo representation reveals Risorgimento role romantic scenario scene Scipione l'Africano seeks Sergio sexual shots sisters social spectacle strategies style tells theatricality tion University Press upper-class Vittorio De Sica wife woman women York Museum ZazĂ Zosi