Transcript Introduction to European Studies

Introduction to
European Studies
History, society and cinema
in post-war Italy
Republic of Italy: Facts
• Official Name
Republica Italiana
• Form of government
Republic with two
houses: Senate (upper
house 322), Chamber of
Deputies (lower house
630)
• Electoral system
Proportional
representation
• Chief of state
President
• Capital
Rome (Roma)
• Official language
Italian
• Official religion
None
• Monetary unit
Euro
• Population
59,051,000
Republic of Italy: Facts
• Area sq. kilometers
1. Russia 3,960,000
2. Ukraine 603,700
3. France 547,030
4. Spain 505,992
5. Sweden 449,964
6. Norway 385,155
7. Germany 357,050
8. Finland 338,145
9. Poland 312,685
10. Italy 301,318
• Population (EU)
1. Germany 82,210,000
2. France 63,753,140
3. UK 60,587,300
4. Italy 59,337,888
5. Spain 45,116,894
6. Poland 38,115,967
7. Romania 21,565,119
8. Netherlands
16,372,715
9. Greece 11,125,179
10. Portugal 10,599,095
Republic of Italy: Facts
• GDP 2010 (US Dollars)
1 USA: 14,657,80
2 China: 5,878,28
3 Japan: 5,458,87
4 Germany: 3,315,64
5 France: 2,582,53
6 UK : 2,247,46
7 Brazil: 2,090,31
8 Italy: 2,055,11
9 Canada: 1,574,05
10 India: 1,572,84
• GDP 1950 (US Dollars)
1 USA: 1,455,916
2 USSR: 550,756
3 UK: 347,850
4 W. Germany 265,354
5 China 244,985
6 India 222,222
7 France 220,492
8 Italy 164,957
9 Japan 160,966
10 Mexico 67,368
Post-war Italian Economy
• From one of the weakest in Europe
to one of the strongest
• Metallurgical, manufacturing,
Chemical and textile industries
• Tourism
• Lack of raw materials and energy
sources
• More than 4/5 of energy
requirements imported
• Mixture of liberal trade policies and
entrepreneur spirits with
cumbersome bureaucracies and
inefficient planning
Italian Cultural Economy
• Motorcars
• Mass market cars
FIAT; Alfa Romeo;
Lancia
• Sports car
manufacturers
• Ferrari; Maserati;
Lamborghini
• Motorcycles
Vespa; Piaggio
Ducati
Italian Cultural Economy
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Milan as a fashion centre
From craftsmen to celebrity designers
From tailors to fashion houses
Valentino - founded by Valentino
Garavani at Via Condotti, Rome in 1965
• Armani - founded by Giorgio Armani
and Sergio Galeotti in Milan,1975
• Versace - founded by Gianni Versace in
Milan,1978
• Dolce & Gabbana - founded by
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana
in Milan 1985
Italian Cultural Economy
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Tourism in Italy
Geographical advantage
The Alps to the north
Surrounded by the Mediterranean,
the Tyrrhenian, the Ionian and the
Adriatic seas
• From arctic to semi-tropical weather
• Historical advantage
• From the Roman Empire, through
the Renaissance and the Baroque to
the modern
• UNESCO World Heritage
Sites in Europe
1. Italy 46
2. Spain 43
3. France 37
4. Germany 35
5. UK 28
6. Russia 24
7. Greece 17
8. Sweden 14
9. Poland 13
9. Portugal 13
Italian Cultural Economy
• Ancient and archaeological sites
• A group of Greek temples in Val di Tempi in
Agrigento, Sicily
• Etruscan remains in Central Italy: Etruscan
towns such as Cervetelli and Tarquinia
Italian Cultural Economy
• Heritage of the Roman Empire
• Roma as Imperial city
• Roman resorts such as Pompeii, Islands of Ischia
and Capri, and Paestum
• Civil engineer heritage: towns, Via Appia, aquaduct,
theatres and public buildings
Italian Cultural Economy
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Early Christian and Mediaeval Heritage
Churches and monasteries
Mosaics in Ravenna
Mediaeval towns in Central Italy such as Firenze,
Pisa, Siena, Assisi, and Padova
Italian Cultural Economy
• Renaissance art, architecture and monuments
• Leonardo’s Last Supper at Santa Maria delle
Grazie in Milan
• Basilica of San Pietro in Rome
• Renaissance cities and towns throughout Italy such
as Ferarra and Pienza
Italian Cultural Economy
• Baroque art, architecture and monuments
• Many representative palaces and churches in
Venice are Baroque build in the 17th century
• Baroque towns of Noto in Sicily and Lecce, Puglia
Italian Cultural Economy
• The 18th-century royal palaces and residences
• The Royal Palace in Torino built for the Savoy
Kings
• The Royal Palace at Caserta built for the Bourbon
kings of Naples
Italian Cultural Economy
• Alpine resorts in the north
• The Dolomite valley in the north-east and the
Aosta valley in the north-west
• Numerous sea-side resorts on the mainland
and islands
Modern Italian Culture
• Modern Italian Art
• Amadeo Modigliani (1884-1920) - a painter
and sculptor inspired by primitive art
• Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978) - presurrealist, known for metaphysical painting
Modern Italian Culture
• Musicians - pianists, violinists, conductors,
composers of classical music
• Opera singers
• Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)
• Luciano Pavarotti (1935-2007)
Alberto Moravia (1907-90), Primo Levi (19191987), Italo Calvino (1923-85), Umberto Eco
(1932- )
Modern Italian Culture
• One of the greatest sporting nations in the
world
• Football - World champion four times (1934,
1938, 1982, 2006) Germany (3), England (1),
France (1), Brazil (5)
• Cycling - National Sports: Giro d’Italia
Modern Italian Culture
• Motor Sports
Formula 1: Team Ferrari
Motorcycle races
• Winter sports - alpine skiing
Modern Italian Culture
• Design houses: furniture, interior and
kitchenware
• Traditional design and craft: leather, paper,
woodwork, stonework, porcelain
The War
• Domination of the fascists in Benito Mussolini’s
regime
• Long, bloody conflicts between fascists (fascista) and
resistant (partegiano)
The End of the War
Europe in Ruins: Over 35,000,000 dead
Country
Military Deaths
Civilian Deaths
Italy
Germany
301,400
5,553,000
145,100
1,000 to
3,228,000
USSR
8,800 to
10,700,000
12,254 to
14,154,000
UK
France
USA
383,600
217,600
416,800
67,100
267,000
1,700
Total Deaths
% to Population
457,000
1.03%
6,716 to
8 to 10.6 %
9,000,000
23,954,000 14.21 %
450,700
567,600
418,500
0.94 %
1.35 %
0.32 %
The End of the War
• Severe material restrictions / dire economic
situation / desperate financial situation
• Social Problems
• Unemployment, poverty, high inflation, political
instability, social conflicts
The End of the War
• Italy’s indigenous and traditional problems
• Economic exploitation and social injustice: land
owning ruling classes and industrialists vs
peasants and working classes
• Geographical divide - industrial north and
agricultural south (mezzogiorno)
• Political corruption
Cinema
Two Vital Times for Italian Cinema
Cultural freedom and new burst of creativity
TWO GOLDEN PERIODS
• Immediately after the war till the beginning of the 50s:
films reflecting the realities of contemporary Italy
• From the end of the fifties to around 1964: films
looking at the past and present of Italy
Filmmaking in the Wake of the War
The First Golden Age
• Three interlocking groups of filmmakers
1. Those associated with the Communist
Resistance - Luchino Visconti, Michelangelo
Antonioni, Puccini brothers, Giuseppe di
Santis
2. Roberto Rossellini and Federico Fellini
3. Vittorio de Sica and Cesare Zavattini
• They all started making movies just before or just after the
end of the war.
Filmmaking in the Wake of the War
• All the works of these filmmakers were response to the
terrible moments of Italy’s modern history
• Fascism and the Resistance
• The scar of the war
• Poverty and unemployment after the war
• Economic exploitation and social injustice
• Political corruption
• South and north divide
• Something still found in prosperous and affluent
contemporary Italy
Roberto Rossellini
• Roma, Citta Aperta (1945)
• A documentary-like fiction
film about the struggle of
resistance fighters and
their families against the
occupying German forces.
Roberto Rossellini
• Paisa (1946)
• The film consists of six episodes, which traces the
liberation of Italy by the Allies from the landing of the
Allied in Sicily through victories in central Italy to the
final fall down of the Nazi occupation.
Luchino Visconti
• La Terra Trema (1948)
• In rural Sicily, the fishermen live at the mercy of the
greedy wholesalers. One family risks everything to buy
their own boat and operate independently. However,
they lose everything in a storm and have to get their
house repossed by a bank.
Luchino Visconti
• Rocco e suoi fratelli (1960)
- it tells a story of a family
which comes to industrial
Milan to escape the
poverty stricken South but
gradually disintegrate in
the large, modern city.
• Ladri di Biciclette
Vittori De Sica
(Bicycle Thieves,
1948)
• A drama about a
father and a son who
are searching their
bicycle, which is
stolen on the first day
of work after being
out of work for two
years.
Vittorio De Sica
• Umberto D (1952)
• About a retired civil
servant desperately
trying to maintain the
decent standard of living
on dwindling state
pension in the midst of
crazy post-war inflation.
• 16% in 1949
Giuseppe di Santis
• Rise Amaro (Bitter rice,
1949) - two criminals take
refuge in a rice farm in
the north which employs
a large number of
immigrant workers from
the south. Adulterous
love, robbery and murder
take place in the farm.
Pietro Germi
• Il Ferroviere (The Railroad
Man, 1956) - a
hardworking engine driver
who loves his family
involves railway accident
and is suspended from
driving engine. His life is
in near ruin but he tries to
prove his innocence.
Federico Fellini • I Vitelloni (1953)
• About five young friends
from a local seafront town,
Rimini, desperately trying
to find the aim of living.
Some are desperately
trying to leave the sleepy
provincial town for large
cities.
Federico Fellini
• La Strada (1954)
• Story about a carnival
strongman Zanpano and
his simple minded
assistant Gelsomina,
who are travelling
around poverty stricken
areas of Italy.
The Vital Time for Italy and Italian Cinema
• Generally labeled and known as Neo-realism.
• NEOREALISTS COMMUNICATED TO THE WORLD
EVERYTHING THE COUNTRY HAD TO GO THROUGH
• In the process they changed the entire rule of movie making
• Subject matter - contemporary social problems
• Film Style - location shooting, non-professional actors, simple
technique
Essay Title
• Watch one Italian film or one film about Italy and
describe what aspects of the post-war Italian society
is reflected in it.