IT313 ITALIAN CINEMA: ENVISIONING THE NATION
ESSAY TOPICS, 2015-16
You are required to write an essay of EITHER 2,000-2,500 words, worth 50% of your overall mark for the module (plus
a one-hour written exam in summer 2016, also worth 50%)
OR 4,000-4,500 words, worth 100% of your overall mark for the module.
One word-processed copy of your essay must be uploaded via Tabula, and an identical hard
copy handed in to the School office, by
Monday 25th April 2016 (term 3, week 1).
Details of procedures for submission of assessed work, for requesting an extension to the
deadline, and of penalties for late submission are provided in the School handbook for
returning students: see
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/currentstudents/smlc_undergrad
_handbook_oct_2015.pdf (pp. 32-34).
Please also note that plagiarism will be penalized. For guidance, see the relevant section of
the handbook (pp. 27-28).
See the Italian department’s essay-writing guide (via
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/currentstudents/undergraduate/i
talian/resources/) for advice on how to produce and submit an assessed essay.
Questions for 2,000-2,500-word essays:
You may wish to devise your own essay question; if so, please meet with me before the end
of term to agree the question.
1. ‘Pasolini […] adopts the trappings of neorealism in order to push past what he
believed were its sentimental progressive politics and into a realm in which the
ideas of social mobility and personal or collective betterment are negated’ (Rhodes).
Discuss, with close reference to Accattone AND, if you wish, to ONE other film
studied for this module.
2. ‘Humour is the most important tool that Moretti uses in his films to criticise and
comment on society, on politics, on life in contemporary Italy and in the Western
world in general, as well as on his own persona’ (Mazierska & Rascaroli). Discuss,
with close reference to Aprile AND, if you wish, to ONE other film studied for this
module.
3. The character Peppino, in I cento passi, referring to Rosi’s film, Le mani sulla città,
claims that ‘un’opera d’arte […] reinventa la realtà, la trasfigura e la carica di senso’.
Discuss the extent to which this is an accurate description of the interaction
between film and reality in I cento passi AND/OR ANY other film studied for this
module.
P.T.O.
Jennifer Burns
H4.11
j.e.burns@warwick.ac.uk
4. ‘Bertolucci shares with his generation a preoccupation with coming to terms with
Italian history, particularly with its fascist past’ (Wood). Discuss attempts to engage
with and/or re-assess Italian history in Il conformista AND/OR ANY other film
studied for this module.
5. Outline and discuss the use of episodes of dream or fantasy, and their interaction
with the political and/or historical commentary offered, with close reference to ONE
OR MORE of the films studied for this module.
6. Commenting on a long tracking shot of Accattone and Ascensa in Pasolini’s
Accattone, J.D. Rhodes states that: ‘Their lives are defined less by what they do and
more by the distances they have to travel, the type of spaces they have to travel
through’. In light of this comment, discuss the visual representation and impact of
urban and/or rural space in TWO OR MORE of the films which you have studied.
7. Outline and discuss the relationship between documentary and fictional filmmaking
modes and techniques in ONE OR MORE films studied for this module.
8. With close reference to ONE film studied for this module, analyse ONE of the
following aspects of film form and style:
 mise-en-scène – EITHER settings OR costumes and props OR actors and acting
 cinematography – EITHER lighting and colour OR shot construction and camerawork
 sound
 editing.
Topics for 4,000-4,500 word essays:
For the longer essay, you are expected to devise an essay title of your own, which you
should develop with the advice and approval of the module tutor. The following offer some
suggestions of areas you may wish to consider, but are by no means exhaustive. Please
identify a topic of interest (either one of those below or one of your own making) and then
arrange an appointment with me to discuss it.
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impegno
realisms
gender and sexualities
nationhood and national consciousness
language
intertextuality and intermedia citation
death
the interaction between subjectivity or individual consciousness and objective
historical/political analysis
narrative form; editing; point of view; cinematography; sound; mise-en-scène
detailed sequence analysis of a number of sequences from one or more films
Jennifer Burns
H4.11
j.e.burns@warwick.ac.uk