CIEE Global Institute Rome Course name: The Great Beauty: Pride and Politics in the Italian Film Industry Course number: CINE 3002 ROIT Programs offering course: Rome Open Campus (Communications, Journalism and New Media Track) Language of instruction: English U.S. semester credits: 3 Contact hours: 45 Term: Fall 2017 Course Description This course will analyze the history, political environments, thematic concentrations, and economic trends of the Italian film industry, from the early 20 th century to the present. Analyses will be conducted through the readings and by looking at a selection of paradigmatic, influential, or particularly successful works that were brought forth by the big players on the Italian film market. Among these films of major cultural relevance that reflect and have in turn shaped the discourse on Italian national identity, are the Oscar-winning movie The Great Beauty (2013), shot in and dedicated to Rome; Rome, Open City (1945), by Roberto Rossellini, a classic work of Italian Neorealism; and several examples of Italian Comedies and Spaghetti Westerns. We will learn about the production history and critical reception of these works, as well as about the political and historical context in which they were produced. A visit to the Cinecittà Studios and debates with local film students / experts will complement knowledge acquired in class. Learning Objectives By the end of the course, students will be able to: Appraise the history of Italian cinema from the end of Fascism to the present; Understand social implications of Italian cinema; Analyze the representations of Italian society shown in the movies screened; Analyze the relationship between cinema and culture; Demonstrate a clear knowledge of specific vocabulary relevant to film production; Develop consistent interpretations and evaluations of movies; Demonstrate the ability to research, critically analyze and interpret film reviews published in Italian and international media Course Prerequisites
No specific prerequisites are needed for this course, besides a general interest in cinema as a cultural product. Methods of Instruction This course will combine lectures, class debates, walking tours, film screenings, press reviews and conversations with guest speakers. Assessment and Final Grade Weekly Film Reviews: 25% Oral Presentation: 25% Final Exam: 35% Class Participation 15% Course Requirements Weekly Film Reviews Students will be asked to write a weekly film review (five in total) by analyzing, interpreting and commenting on specific movies with clear references to the directors poetics, the historical and cultural contexts, and the technical specifications, as discussed in class. Professor will provide extensive and precise guidelines. Oral Presentation Presentations will be delivered during the last week of classes. Each student will present on one Italian movie chosen from among the ones that have not been the subject of weekly film reviews. Presentations will advance an interpretation of the movie chosen, based on an analysis of form and content, as well as the film s critical reception. Final Exam Students will take a final exam at the end of the course. The exam (multiple choice test and short essays) will include all topics analyzed in class. Class Attendance Regular class attendance is required throughout the program. Students must notify their instructor via Canvas, beforehand, if possible, if they will miss class for any reason. Students
are responsible for any materials covered in class in their absence. Students who miss class for medical reasons must inform the instructor and the Academic Director (or a designated staff member) and provide appropriate documentation as noted below. A make-up opportunity will be provided to the extent this is feasible. Due to the intensive nature of the block schedule, all unexcused absences will result in a lower final grade for the course. Each unexcused absence will cause 3 percentage points to be dropped from the final grade. For example, a student with an 88% final grade (B+) and 1 unexcused absence will see it reduced to 85% (B). Students who transfer from one class to another during the add/drop period will not be considered absent from the first session(s) of their new class, provided they were marked present for the first session(s) of their original class. Otherwise, the absence(s) from the original class carry over to the new class and count against the grade in that class. CIEE program minimum class attendance standards are as outlined below. Center-specific attendance policies may be more stringent than the policies stated below. The Center / Resident Director sets the specific attendance policy for each location, including how absences impact final grades. Such policies are communicated to students during orientation and via Study Center documents. In the event that the attendance policy for host institution courses differs from CIEE s policy, the more stringent policy will apply. Excessively tardy (over 15 minutes late) students will be marked absent. Students who miss class for personal travel will be marked as absent and unexcused. No make-up opportunity will be provided. An absence will only be considered excused if: a doctor s note is provided. a CIEE staff member verifies that the student was too ill to attend class. evidence is provided of a family emergency. Attendance policies also apply to any required co-curricular class excursion or event. Persistent absenteeism (students approaching 20% or more of total course hours missed, or violations of the attendance policies in more than one class) may lead to a written warning from the Academic Director or Resident Director, notification to the student s home school, and/or dismissal from the program in addition to a reduction in class grade(s).
Weekly Schedule Week 1 Italy seen through its films Readings from Bondanella, Peter. A History of Italian Cinema, Chapter 16, The Third Wave. A New Generations of Auteurs. Session 1 The syllabus will be presented and reviewed, with emphasis on assessment methods and course requirements. This class will introduce and discuss the idea of a national cinema in Italy and give an overview of different theoretical approaches in contemporary film studies. By analyzing La Vita è Bella (Life is beautiful), Roberto Benigni s 1997 Oscar-winning movie, students will explore how this major work, through its treatment of Italian fascism and the Holocaust, has contributed to the shaping of Italian national identity by advancing a certain interpretation of the past. Screenings: scenes from several classic and contemporary films and from Martin Scorsese s documentary My Voyage to Italy (2001). Assignment: Film Review 1. La Vita è Bella (1997) Week 2 From Silent Cinema to the Fascist Era Readings from Bondanella (2009). A History of Italian Cinema, Chapters 1 and 2: The Silent Era and The Coming of Sound and the Fascist Era. Media resources: clips from the Scorsese documentary (2001). Session 1 History, futurism and divas: the beginning of Italian cinema The Futurist aesthetics, the adaptation of certain books and plays, and key figures of the silent cinema will be analyzed with the intention of exploring the political and social implications of Italian cinema before World War II. Session 2 Fascism and cinema: the control of the Italian film
industry and the regime s propaganda Mussolini s authoritarian, corporatist approach at stimulating and controlling Italian cinema will be discussed in detail: the constitution of the Unione Cinematografica Educativa Luce (1924, film production company), the creation of the Direzione Generale per la Cinematografia (1934, general directorate for cinema), and the foundation of the Cinecittà Studios (1937) will be analyzed as elements of the Fascist media policy. By analyzing scenes from Camicia Nera (1933), Vecchia Guardia (1934), and Condottieri (1937), topics and characteristics of Fascist propaganda films will be discussed. The contemporaneous production of light comedies known as Telefoni Bianchi films (White Telephones) will also be explored and placed in perspective. Session 3 On-site class at the Cinecittà Studios: built in 1937 during the Fascist era. Historical and political aspects will be discussed during this session. Assignment: Film Review 2. Cabiria (1914) or Scipio Africanus (1937) Week 3 Italian Neorealism Readings from Bondanella (2009), Part Two: Chapter 3: Masters of Neorealism: Rossellini, De Sica, and Visconti ; Marcus (1986), Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism, Chapter 2: De Sica s Bicycle Thieves: Casting shadows on the visionary city Media resources: clips from the Scorsese documentary (2001) Session 1 The Postwar Era: Neorealism After World War II and the end of Mussolini s regime, cinema stimulated social, political and cultural change. A movement with distinct aesthetics and thematic interests, soon called Neorealism, emerged, leading to a watershed in the evolution of worldwide cinema. Topics, techniques, main directors and emblematic examples of Neorealism will be analyzed and interpreted, examining in particular historical context and cultural value. Introduction to Rome, Open City (1945) by Roberto Rossellini, the film that marks the beginning of the Neorealist era. Session 2 Neorealist films as art films. Bicycle Thieves
(1948) directed by Vittorio de Sica. The film s critical reception will be analyzed through reviews published in Italian and international newspapers and magazines. Session 3 Walking tour: students will participate in an interactive tour of the locations used as setting for De Sica s masterpiece, such as Piazza Vittorio, Trastevere, Porta Portese and the Tiber banks. Assignment: Film Review 3. Roma Open City (1945) or Bicycle Thieves (1948). Week 4 Beyond Neorealism: the economic revival of the Italian Film Industry popular genre films Readings from Bondanella (2009), Part Three, Chapter 7: Commedia all Italiana Comedy and Social Criticism ; Chapter 11 A Fistful of Pasta Session 1 Italian-style comedy: Commedia all Italiana By the end of the Neorealist movement, Italian filmmakers were experimenting with a new poetics in order to interpret the optimist post-war period and its so-called economic miracle. Key works and their cultural context and aesthetic codes will be studied. We will also look at some of the main actors, such as Anna Magnani, Sofia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni and Vittorio Gassman, and their role within the Neorealist movement and the star system produced by the film industry. Session 2 Spaghetti Western This session deals with the Italian variation on a classic American genre. Filmed in Italy on limited budgets, Spaghetti Western movies inaugurated a new aesthetics. We will discuss formal characteristics as well as political and social implications of Sergio Leone s A fistful of Dollars (1964) and Sergio Corbucci s Django (1966). Session 3 On-site class at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia the Italian National Film School, founded in 1935. Discussion on Italian classic and contemporary films with professors and film students.
Assignment: Film Review 4. Divorce Italian Style (1961) or A Fistful of Dollars (1964) Week 5 Combining great art with maximum profit: the film industry s dream comes true Readings from Bondanella (2009), Part Three, Chapter 9: The Mature Auteurs. Fellini, the Director as a Super Star: La Dolce Vita ; Kezich T., Federico Fellini. His life and work. New York: Faber and Faber, 2006: Sorrentino P. La Grande Bellezza. Diario del Film. Milano: Feltrinelli, 2013. Session 1 La Dolce Vita. We will look at how changes in the Italian society of the 1960s are represented in this international blockbuster by Federico Fellini, the dominant director of the golden age of Italian cinema. The film s critical reception will be analyzed through reviews published in Italian and international newspapers and magazines. Session 2 The Great Beauty. The Italian film directed by Paolo Sorrentino won in the foreign language category at the Oscars 2013. La Grande Bellezza, described as La Dolce Vita 2.0, explores the relationships between culture, politics and aesthetics in Italy in the 21 st century. The film s critical reception will be analyzed through reviews published in Italian and international newspapers and magazines. Session 3 Walking tour: students will participate in an interactive tour of the locations used as setting for Fellini s and Sorrentino s movies, such as St. Peter s Square, the Trevi fountain, Piazza Navona, Piazza del Popolo, and Via Veneto. Assignment: Film Review 5. La Dolce Vita (1960) or The Great Beauty (2013) Week 6 Italian Cinema and the discourse on national identity Reading: A selection of national and international essays and press reviews. Session 1 Made in Italy By analyzing a variety of scenes from influential and critically
acclaimed Italian films, this class will discuss how Italian cinema has both questioned and shaped the discourse on Italian national identity from the end of WWII to the present. Works by Nanni Moretti, the Taviani brothers, Gianni Amelio, Matteo Garrone, as well as more recent films will be also discussed. Session 2 Oral Presentations and Debate Session 3 Final Exam Readings Bondanella P. A History of Italian Cinema. London and New York: Continuum, 2009. Print. Kezich T. Federico Fellini. His life and work. New York: Faber and Faber, 2006. Print. Marcus M. Italian film in the light of Neorealism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986. Print. Forgacs D. and Lumley L. Italian Cultural Studies. An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. Print. Sorrentino P. La Grande Bellezza. Diario del Film. Milano: Feltrinelli, 2013. Print. Further reading materials will be assigned on a week-by-week basis. Professor will provide a complete list of complementary readings, media sources and articles published in national and international media in order to stimulate class debates and activities. Online Resources Cinecittà Studios La Fabbrica dei Sogni. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2015. CSC Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. (2008). Retrieved September 29, 2015. Media Resources Benigni, R. (Director). (1997). La Vita è Bella Blasetti, A. (Director). (1934). Vecchia guardia Corbucci, S. (Director). (1966). Django De Sica, V. (Director). (1948). Bicycle thieves Fellini, F. (Director). (1960). La dolce vita Forzano, G. (Director). (1933). Camicia nera Gallone, C. (Director) (1937). Scipio Africanus
Germi, P. (Director). (1962). Divorce Italian Style Leone, S. (Director). (1964). A Fistful of Dollars Maggi, E. (Director). (1937). Condottieri Pastrone, G. (Director). (1914). Cabiria Rossellini, R. (Director). (1945). Roma, città aperta Scorsese, Martin (Director) (2001) My Voyage to Italy (documentary) Sorrentino, P. (Director). (2013). The Great Beauty.