ITL 382 Fall 2012
T-TH 12:30-2:00 p.m.
Prof. Paola Bonifazio
Office: Rainey Hall 3.112AA
Phone: 512-471-1561
E-mail: pbonifazio@austin.utexas.edu
Office Hours: W 12:00-2:00 and by appointment
The Cinema of Modernization:
Italian Films from the Reconstruction to the Economic Miracle
From the late 1940s to the early 1960s, Italy went through several processes that radically changed
its landscape and cultures, and constitutively affected social and gender relations: the development
of mass production and consumerist culture, urbanization of rural areas and modernization of
agriculture, the establishment of a (Christian) Democratic government and the development of
programs of social welfare, the event of the European Recovery Program and the creation of
military and economic alliances between Italy and Western Capitalist Democracies. This course will
explore Italian cinema in the context of these processes of “modernization” and investigate the
ways in which films may participate in the production of social discourses. Considering both
theatrical features and documentaries, we will examine the intertwining of fiction and non-fiction,
and critically study the politics of realist aesthetics.
By close text analysis and theoretical readings, we will discuss topics such as the changes and
continuities from so-called “neorealism” to “modernism;” cinematic treatments of urban and rural
spaces; the culture of work and welfare in post-war Italy and the concept of “bio-politics;” national
identity formation, in the aftermath of War World II, and the transition from Fascism to Democracy;
revolution and restoration in gender relations, especially in the family, and the relationship
between the politics of welfare and the politics of sexes.
Required Texts
Landy, Marcia. Italian Film. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Restivo, Angelo. The Cinema of Economic Miracles: Visuality and Modernization in the Italian Art
Film. Durham: Duke University Press, 2002.
Requirements
Preparation and participation to class discussions 20%
Mid-Term Short paper (10 pages) 25%
Oral presentation on final research project 15%
Final research paper (20 pages) 40%
University of Texas Honor Code
The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership,
individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold
these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community.
Documented Disability Statement
ITL 382
Fall 2012
Any student with a documented disability who requires academic accommodations should contact
Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) at (512) 471-6259 (voice) or 1-866-329-3986 (video
phone). Faculty are not required to provide accommodations without an official accommodation
letter from SSD.
Behavior Concerns Advice Line (BCAL)
If you are worried about someone who is acting differently, you may use the Behavior Concerns
Advice Line to discuss by phone your concerns about another individual’s behavior. This service is
provided through a partnership among the Office of the Dean of Students, the Counseling and
Mental Health Center (CMHC), the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), and The University of
Texas Police Department (UTPD).
Call 512-232-5050 or visit http://www.utexas.edu/safety/bcal.
Q drop Policy
The State of Texas has enacted a law that limits the number of course drops for academic reasons to
six (6). As stated in Senate Bill 1231:
“Beginning with the fall 2007 academic term, an institution of higher education may not
permit an undergraduate student a total of more than six dropped courses, including any course a
transfer student has dropped at another institution of higher education, unless the student shows
good cause for dropping more than that number.”
Emergency Evacuation Policy
Occupants of buildings on the UT Austin campus are required to evacuate and assemble outside
when a fire alarm is activated or an announcement is made. Please be aware of the following
policies regarding evacuation:
 Familiarize yourself with all exit doors of the classroom and the building. Remember
that the nearest exit door may not be the one you used when you entered the building.
 If you require assistance to evacuate, inform me in writing during the first week of class.
 In the event of an evacuation, follow my instructions or those of class instructors.
Do not re-enter a building unless you’re given instructions by the Austin Fire Department, the UT
Austin Police Department, or the Fire Prevention Services office.
Tentative Course Schedule
WEEK 1
Readings
08/30 Restivo, “Writing the National Cinema,” 3-21
WEEK 2
Film: Roberto Rossellini, Paisà (1947)
Readings
09/04 Landy, 121-148; Bazin, “An Aesthetic of Reality,” What is Cinema? [EBL-EBook]
09/06 Restivo, “Neorealism and the Stain,” 22-32; Sorlin, “How to Look at an Historical Film” [PDF]
WEEK 3
Film: Vittorio De Sica, Umberto D. (1952)
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Fall 2012
Readings
09/11 Deleuze, Cinema 1: The Movement Image, Chapter 12, pp. 205-215; Cinema 2, Chapter 1, pp.
1-9 [EBL E-Book]
09/13 Bazin, “De Sica: Metteur en Scene,” What is Cinema? [PDF]; Zavattini, “A Thesis on
Neorealism,” Springtime in Italy [PDF];
WEEK 4
Film: Luchino Visconti, La terra trema (1948)
Readings
09/18 Antonio Gramsci, excerpts from Quaderni del carcere [PDF]; Landy, 149-180
09/20 Restivo, 32-36; Luchino Visconti, “Cinema antropomorfico” and “Appunti per un film
documentario sulla Sicilia” [PDF]
WEEK 5
Film: Giuseppe De Santis, Riso amaro (1949)
Readings
09/25 Landy, 261-308; Grignaffini, “Female Identity and Italian Cinema of the 1950s”
09/27 Caldwell, “What About Women?” [PDF]; Wood, “From Bust to Boom” [PDF]
WEEK 6
Screening (in class): Tiriamo le somme; Aquila; Puglia il lavoro; Oggi la donna
Readings
10/02 Michel Foucault, “Omnes et singulatim” [PDF]
10/04 Bonifazio, “Work, Welfare, Biopolitics” [PDF]
WEEK 7 (Short paper is due this week)
Film: Luchino Visconti, Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960)
Readings
10/09 Landy, 205-333; Restivo, 61-76
10/11 Rohdie, Rocco and his Brothers [PDF]; Danielle Hipkins, "I don't want to die" [PDF]
WEEK 8
Film: PierPaolo Pasolini, Accattone
Readings
10/16 Rhodes, Stupendous, Miraculous City, Chapter 1 [PDF]; Pasolini, selections from Storie della
città di Dio [PDF]
10/18 Rhodes, Stupendous, Miraculous City, Chapter 3 [PDF]
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ITL 382
Fall 2012
WEEK 9
Film: PierPaolo Pasolini, Comizi d’amore
Readings
10/23 Pasolini, “La scomparsa delle lucciole”
[http://www.pasolini.net/saggistica_scritticorsari_lucciole.htm]
and selections from Empirismo Eretico [PDF]
10/25 Restivo, 77-94
WEEK 10
Film: Federico Fellini, La Dolce Vita (1960)
Readings
10/30 Landy, 309-343; Restivo, 36-42
11/1 Reich, “Undressing the Latin Lover,” 24-48 [PDF]
WEEK 11
Film: Ermanno Olmi, Il posto (1961)
Readings
11/07 Essays from Cinema e industria [PDF]; Olmi, “Dal film ‘privato’ al film per l’uomo” [PDF]
11/08 Clodagh, “Beyond dialogue: Speech-silence, the monologue, and power in the films of
Ermanno Olmi” [PDF]
WEEK 12
Film: Dino Risi, Una vita difficile (1961)
Readings
11/13 Fourier Lanzoni, “Italian Comedy in the 1960s” [PDF]
11/15 Dogliani, “Constructing Memory and Anti-Memory;” Ben-Ghiat, “Liberation: Italian Cinema
and the Fascist Past”
WEEK 13
Film: Liliana Cavani, La donna nella Resistenza (1965)
Readings
11/20 Nichols, Introduction to Documentary, Chapter 1 and 2 [EBL-EBook]
11/22 Thanksgiving
WEEK 14
Film: Antonioni, L’Eclisse (1960)
Readings
11/27 Restivo, 95-123; Antonioni, “My Experience” AND “Making Film is My Way of Life”
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Fall 2012
11/29 Brunette, L’eclisse, pp.73-90 in The films of Michelangelo Antonioni [EBL-EBook]
WEEK 15
12/04 Presentations
12/06 Presentations
Final paper is due by Monday, December 10 at 2 p.m.
Please email your paper to: pbonifazio@austin.utexas.edu
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