More times than not, movies not only tell a story, but they provide a two or so hour long screenshot into a time period that the viewer did not live in. Films have been so cherished in society for so long due to their historical and emotional importance. Character types over time have obviously changed as society has, but female imagery in cinema is arguably the most differentiated over time. Following this assertion, the representation of female characters in Post- Neorealist films (1945-1970) demeaned women’s image and position in society more than Neorealist films as Americanization and anti-Fascism spread throughout Italy after World War II.This devolution will be analyzed through four films, Roma Citta’ Aperta, Ladri di Biciclette, La Dolce Vita, and Il Gattopardo. In particular, the focus will be on how the role of women shifted stylistically from film to film as time progressed forward.
Women’s Place in Fascist Italy
Women in Fascist Italy were very important, for their roles as mothers and wives, and really nothing more. Fascism was the main political ideology in Italy from 1922 until 1943. The type of Fascism carried out by the Italian government during these years served as the model for other countries trying to imitate what was happening in Italy. Scholars today sat that Italian Fascism, was Fascism in its most “perfect” form. Fascist movements changed from location to location but,
The Fascist State lays claim to rule in the economic field no less than in others; it makes its action felt throughout the length and breadth of the country by means of its corporate, social, and educational institutions, and all the political, economic, and spiritual forces of the nation, organized in their respective associations, circulate within the State.
The basis of support came from people that were afraid of losing their place in society and Fascism promised them a place this included: small business owners, middle class, people in rural areas, and the extremely impoverished.
Women’s place in Fascism was vital for the succession of the movement, but not vital in a feminist sense. One principle foundation of a strong Fascist government is a large national army. It was the responsibility of women to “breed” the strong warriors of Fascist Italy, sons that would go on to better progress Mussolini’s mission. Daughters were also important, as they were the mothers of the next generation, those that could go on to further breed these fascist “warriors.” Mussolini himself saw women as the foundation of a strong Fascist state, the start and means of keeping the perfect Italian race progressing. Being a strong mother and housewife was an extremely important role for women in Mussolini’s eyes. Samuel Cousins states, “For Mussolini, the ideal woman would be a peasant, living in the countryside, happy to raise her large family according to traditional values – much like his own wife, Rachele.”
The Catholic Church is a very important and long standing member of Italian politics. Due to the high percentage of people practicing Catholicism in Italy, it would be unlikely that a political regime could take control during this time without the support of the Church. With the Catholic Church’s strong anti abortion and birth control stance in combination with Mussolini’s regime focus on procreation, this heavily narrowed down the options for women to be anything other than wives and mothers.
In regard to the labor force, women had a very small role, but one of also much importance. If work outside of the home was needed financial reasons, many women worked in education. Women were able to teach most subjects to students at basic levels, but not upper level subjects, as this was left to men. At one point in history, Mussolini made a quota for women in the public workforce. This can be seen as a good and bad things for a multitude of reasons. Primarily, this was a way for Mussolini to limit women’s involvement in the workforce, but at the same time encourage people to hire women to meet this quota.
Essentially, prior to the take over of Mussolini’s regime, Italian women were on the path to receive the right to vote, a huge step toward a more equal society. But, once the Fascist regime began to do their work, women were left to the confines of their homes to raise strong Fascist warriors out of their sons and good Fascist mothers out of their daughters. Though this was very important in Mussolini’s eyes, this further kept women in the domestic domain and propagated the idea that women could not join the workforce and be equal with men. All and all, women in Fascist Italy were not seen as the sexualized and fetishized beings that they became during the late 50’s and 60’s. Women were to serve a purpose under the Fascist regime, and nothing more.
American Influence in Italy Following Fascism
American aide after World War II, changed how women were viewed in society. Chronologically, there was a strong presence of Americans prior to the war which planted the seeds for Americanization in Italy and hence, the change of the female representation. American influence had been present in Europe prior to the outbreak of World War II. It is even said that Hitler, arguably one of the largest oppositionists of America, occasionally enjoyed Hollywood films. But, there was not great strength and notoriety in pre-war influence.
During the war, as many important Italian films like Paisan, The Night of the Shooting Stars, and Life is Beautiful visualize, American Troops were placed throughout Italy. These GI’s used to listen to American radio stations while at camp in areas of Italy. This exposed Italian citizens to American Jazz music, news casting, and even the premises of new Hollywood cinema. American films were not a subject of great interest in Europe and Italy during the war, as all effort humanly possible was placed into the War effort, there simply was not substantial time or resources for Italian citizens to devote hours to watching film.
In post war Europe, including Italy, American culture came to pervade the daily lives of normal citizens. The Marshall plan, formally known as the European Recovery Plan, was an American initiative to send various forms of aid to countries in Western Europe that had been destroyed by the war. Though the Marshall plan was successful in its original idea of preventing the spread of Communism, in doing this, it seemed to promote the spread of American culture. Most of the funds donated to Europe for economic prosperity was used to buy American goods. Also, America sponsored educated European technicians such as engineers and industrialists to come to America and learn the capitalist and technologically advanced systems. But in exchange for this, American experts would come and help European factories get their ground back after the war.
The strength of American influence in Europe stems from the geographical location of the United States during World War II. As Europe was being completely decimated by German forces and those attempting to combat them, due to sheer geographical distance, the United States remained relatively unscathed. So, it can be postulated American influence in Europe boils down to countries being completely devastated after World War II, and countries not having the means to suffice innovation, like the United States.
Logically, when people move their culture moves with them. This movement in combination with an unspoken loyalty to America due to the funds provided along with a decimated culture and economy makes for a perfect incubator of American culture in Italy.
Scholars today and in the past argue that the Marshall Plan had a “cultural arm” that
consisted of Hollywood and the morals it promoted. Hollywood during this time was very much focused on the “American Dream” and the consumerist culture that this included. Before the Fascist government took over in Italy, Italian citizens enjoyed the film productions of America. This affinity was to the extent that the Italian government and the United States had to come into an accord in 1951 on how many US films could enter the Italian market. Around 1,662 Hollywood films were circulated in Italy between 1946 and 1950 and 1,149 between 1951 and 1955, following the accord. These statistics alone show how much American culture was present in the Italian market.
The Marshall Plan’s intent was to restore European economies and provide the citizens that had suffered so horribly with a higher standard of living. The influence on consumerism in Hollywood films changed the norms of daily life, “much of Western Europe was indeed transformed in the 1950s into an increasingly prosperous society, which, consumed cultural products as avidly as motor cars and washing machines.”
As Nalven postulates, after the economic miracle that came after the war in Italy, this consumerist culture got even worse. Female representation in the workforce was not substantial and being a housewife was seen as a status symbol. Women during the war had to work or do something for their family in order to remain afloat, but as the economic miracle ensued, families had the capability to have women remain at home as housewifes.
Neorealist Italian Films
Prior to the Economic Miracle and after the end of Fascism, the film industry in Italy was at a crossroads. Directors now had the ability to produce films that they wanted to without state censorship but a very sensitive group of viewers to project their films to. These people had just endured the hardest trial of the 20th century, and filmmakers had to be cognisant of that. With this in mind, a couple years after the fall of Fascism, arguably the most famous genre of Italian film came into fruition, Italian Neorealism. In an attempt to put Neorealist cinema into words, Bondanella states
“…one critics list of the general characteristics associated with neorealist films shows the degree to which the traditional view of Italian neorealism, which arose during the immediate postwar period, reflects this emphasis on social realism: social content, historical actuality, political commitment, realist tradition, and popular settings”
Neorealism cinema has come to be known as the cinema of “fact” and scripted films with a documentary style. These films were not a large part of the Italian film industry and market, out of the 822 films produced in the years from 1945 to 1953, only around ninety could easily be considered under the umbrella of the neorealist genre. On top of the minute number of productions, the strength of Neorealist films in the box office also left much to be desired, as the majority of them did not gain much recognition in the Italian market, but did better internationally.
Though the directors, settings, and stories change from film to film in this genre, there are major themes that run throughout most Neorealist films. Religion, the importance of the family unit, and the promise of children all appear as the strings that bring neorealist films together aside from their similar cinematic style. Along with these themes, “One can discern a major theme of dislocation and perseverance in times of trouble, pursued by numerous directos with a multitude of artistic visions and intents.”
When anyone with familiarity with Italian film thinks of the Italian Neorealist genre, more often than not, Open City (Roma Città Aperta) will come to mind. Directed by Roberto Rossellini and released in 1945, this film follows the story of Italian partisans during the occupation of Rome. The representation of women in this film is very profound, as there are four memorable female characters. The women in this film can be placed on a moral scale, with good and bad on each respective end and indifference placed somewhere in the middle. The character conjured up by Rossellini to represent “good” is Pina, played by Anna Magnani.
Pina is a woman of moral complexity and strong fortitude. She is a mother of one son from a prior marriage and is currently pregnant with the child of her fiance who she is not yet married to. Both of these things would have been considered extremely taboo during this time period in Italy, due to Fascism and the Catholic Church. But, from the first scene that we as viewers meet her, we can easily see she has not let the status of her condition inhibit her from taking part in the resistance movement during this time. But as Marga Cottino Jones states, Pina is a character with many layers. She in one right is the perfect embodiment of “womanhood” during this time, but in another way she can be seen as totally opposing the system.
Throughout her time in the film, she is shown on an equal playing field to the men she is aiding in the Resistance movement. She is just as dedicated to aiding their cause as any man in the film. She is far from the submissive mother of a singular family unit that Mussolini idolized in Fascist Italy. But, at the same time, she is a doting mother and fiancee to Francesco. She cares about the wellbeing of her son and looks longingly into the eyes of her love Francesco in more than one scene in the film, making her more relatable to other women during the time. Her pristine image throughout the film can only be furthered in her death, she dies a victim of Nazi violence, forever equating her with the anti-fascist struggle and image of a strong woman.
If Pina is so clearly placed in this film as the “good” character, than Ingrid is most definitely her antithesis. She is corrupt politically, as she is an active member of the Nazi’s stationed in Italy. To complete her goals of squashing and demolishing the Italian Partisan movement, she used deceitful and smart tactics to get her way. In her headquarter’s she is seen as the most active, if not strong character. She is a woman who though she may be morally wrong, she has been successful in her career and made a place for herself within the ranks of a male dominated military regime. Even though she is most clearly a bad person, in terms of female representation, her presentation is not overly sexualized and she is not portrayed as a woman dependent on a man’s attention and gratification.
On the same side of the evil spectrum as Ingrid is Marina. Marina is the exact opposite of what being a woman meant during this time. Her whole being in this film is based on avoiding all traditional roles a woman should act in. She is a wife nor a mother and she works as a dancer to make a living and support her superfluous material needs. Marina is so afraid of committing to anything and returning back to her life of poverty that she grew up in that she is loyal to nothing except things that better her own material desires. Marina thinks her lack of loyalty will allow her to prevail in the end, but it is in fact what is her demise.
The independence and sense of free will that Rossellini gives Marina and Ingrid is purposeful. Through the general public distaste with Fascism at the time of the film’s release and the strong sense of tradition in Italy, these two women can be conjured up to show how dangerous and disastrous it can be for a woman to live a life of selfish desires such as success or material wealth.
Somewhere between the good of Pina and the evil of Ingrid and Marina lies the not too memorable character, Lauretta. Rossellini places the character of Lauretta in this film as a model of what happens when you deviate from the right path. Lauretta is engulfed with becoming a woman like Marina with independence and no one to answer to. She currently resides in a crowded apartment with Pina, her sister, and appears miserable with every moment she lives there. Lauretta can be seen as a reflection of Marina prior to becoming self sufficient, and living a non committal life. She is a flimsy, not all too memorable character, because she is neither inherently bad or inherently good. It can be postulated that Rossellini used Lauretta to show how easy it was to not stand up for anything to just survive and enjoy a modest living in Fascist Italy.
Though female characters in Open City can be seen as morally corrupt, they are strong, memorable, and independent women that do not look for a man to further their goals. Their negative actions can be explained by being “victims of dire social and political circumstances.” Another character in Italian Neorealist Cinema mirrors the “good” found in Pina, Maria in Bicycle Thief (Ladri di Biciclette).
Bicycle Thief and Open City are seen by most scholars as the two most distinctly Neorealist films during this era. Bicycle Thief directed by Vittorio de Sica was released in 1948, 3 years after the release of Open City. Where Rosselini, told a story of partisan fighters in the Resistance, de Sica tells the story of one man's attempt to keep his family afloat in the economically tumultuous years in Italy following World War 2. The main male protagonist's name is Antonio and his wife, and the only other active female character, Maria’s story is one of strife and challenge.
In regards to how Maria is presented in the film, her strength and no nonsense personality can easily mirror or cause viewers to call her a “Pina” like character. She is a dedicated wife and mother, her main duties lying in the confines of her home. Her role is one very similar to the ideals that Mussolini tried to purvey, “De Sica’s view of women in Ladri di biciclette is, thus, quite traditional and seems to be in line with the ideological legacy that had inspired cinema in fascist times.” But, Maria, even though she may represent a typical housewife during this time, she is the one that keeps Antonio going. Everytime that is about to give up and wallow in the fact that things are not going his way, she is resourceful. Her personality and dedication can really be summed up in one scene from the film. After Antonio comes from the labor office with his job assignment as a poster hanger around Rome, he is distraught and close to giving up because he pawned his bike he now needs for his new job. When he comes home in a state of depression about not having a bike, Maria, without saying anything, rips the sheets from their bed and starts cleaning them to be pawned back for the bike.
This resourcefulness and dedication to family can really be seen in both of the “good” women in these two neorealist films, Maria and Pina. In respect to physical representation, both of them are presented in a simple, earthy, and at the same time, beautiful. Both dress conservatively, are mothers, and dedicated wives or fiances. These are the women that Rossellini and de Sica wanted to show as “good” because even though their place in society was limited at the time, both women dedicated themselves to betterment, whether it be politically or financially.
Little did these characters know, political and financial betterment was on the horizon for all of Italy. Though Neorealist tradition rings strong in a lot of Italian films and director styles today, most scholars believe the actual Neorealist production period ended in 1952. Italian people were experiencing relative economic prosperity due to the “economic miracle” beginning to bring life to the Italian economy. The neorealist films of the years prior began to not resonate with the population as they had before, the Italian people were not struggling economically or politically anymore and due to American influence, consumerist culture was running rampant. Italian citizens were on to bigger and brighter things, “Enjoying the new freedom from money problems, it rebelled against the system of the previous era, and it concentrated on searching for immediate gratification of the senses.” This sensory gratification that Cottino-Jones mentions can be easily equated to more sexual promiscuity and female sex symbols in Italian films.
Post-Neorealist Italian Film
Women in 1960’s Italian cinema were liberated on one hand and then further objectified on the other. In many films, women were given sexual roles, such as having extramarital affairs or participating in prostitution. These roles objectified women as entities that were only present for sex, yet at the same time, showed to the public that women too had sexual desires. Most female characters in film during this time can be placed in one of four categories, “E’ possibile tuttavia individuare quattro modalità specifiche di elaborazione dell’immagine della donna: l’ossessione, l’evocazione, la problematizzazione, la rimozione.” In regards to physical appearance, most Italian film stars during this time were women with full figures, dark thick hair, and a vibrant film presence. Such women like Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale, and Silvana Mangano had a certain earthiness and natural beauty in their essence that would come to differentiate them from American actresses and beauty standards. During the 1960’s, female beauty was displayed on the silver screens in a much different way than in Neorealism. Femininity in being a mother and loyal member of the family was equated to beauty in Neorealism, and during the 1960’s women’s beauty became much more visually sensual than before.
One film that exemplified that shift in females as mothers and wives to sexual beings is La Dolce Vita, directed by Federico Fellini and released in 1960. There are female characters placed throughout the film but each one is very different in physical appearance and in personality. The premise of the film is simple, viewers follow Marcello, an Italian reporter, through a normal week in his life. But as the film unfolds this simple premise becomes overly complicated as his life is far from simple. His relationships are in shambles and he is not happy and is constantly seeking to find what will make his state better.
The first woman we are introduced to in this film is Maddalena. Upon the first shot of her, her stateliness and class are apparent. She holds herself with grace and confidence as she interacts with Marcello in the nightclub. They then leave and she gets in the driver’s seat of the car and Marcello in the passenger side. Throughout their interactions in the entirety of the film, Maddalena drives the car, she is always in control. But her control does not appear to be overly convincing, as small hints of her own knowledge of how her behavior is looked down upon in society are sprinkled throughout the film. She calls herself a “whore” as she, a woman, proposes marriage to Marcello. She is going against the patriarchy in one sense yet following its path of degradation in another regard. But, in comparison to the overly sexualized and flimsy images of other women in the film, Maddalena is a woman with her own agenda not afraid to be herself and question the norm.
The second woman we meet in Marcello's Life is his fiance, Emma. She is the embodiment of the “l’ossessione” that Riviello describes Emma to a tee. She is a woman afraid of being alone is a totally dependent on Marcello’s attention. She is the embodiment of the patriarchy. She stays at home day after day not working waiting for Marcello to come home and spend time with her. She dotes on him like a mother on a child, worrying about where he is and if he is eaten or not. She is not logical and takes drastic actions to regain Marcello’s affection such as attempted suicide and by praying to the Virgin Mary to perform a miracle. Her happiness and well being is so overly dependent on Marcello it is sickening and Fellini displays her character as an annoyance throughout the film. Emma is a poor representation of women in general, as she is exactly what the patriarchal woman should be, emotionally doting and overly concerned with her lover or husband. She fits the mold society has given her and really has no significance in the film other than being in a relationship with Marcello, which she seems to understand and grasp happily.
Enter the most iconic character of the entire film, Sylvia, played by Anita Ekberg, a Swedish sex icon during this time. In contrast to the other women in the film who represented traditional Italian beauty with dark hair and eyes, Sylvia is bodacious, blond, and fair skinned. Her persona is vivacious and clever, as she knows and understands how attractive she is and how enamoured people are with her, and she uses this to her advantage. Marcello fawns over her in a predatory way, he follows her places and tries to start an affair with her without her really understanding his motives. Sylvia’s image in the film is one that can be interpreted as representing American starlets as a whole. She is unapologetically sexual and enjoys the attention that this brings her, she not ashamed at being provocative.
But Sylvia's relationship with men is where Fellini really represents her poorly. Her untalented boyfriend controls her and at one point in the movies becomes physically aggressive. This can be interpreted as no matter how strong, wealthy, or famous a woman became it was still a man that she answered to and bowed down to at the end of the day. But even digging this idea deeper is the fact that in the film Sylvia appears to have rose to fame from her looks and vivacity, not her actual talent. Directors just wanted her to work in their films so that more people would come to watch and get the instant sensory gratification that came to be a thing of Italy after the economic miracle.
The four women in La Dolce Vita can be seen as the foils of each other, if Emma is seen as dependence and Maddalena as independence, Sylvia can be seen as sexuality, and Paola as purity. The middle teenage girl name Paola came to become equated with purity and prisintity in this film. She has such a small part in the film, but the method in which Fellini shoots her is like an angel. She is always shown uncorrupted and beautiful. She is not desired by any man, and no man desires her. In Christian and Fascist terms, she is the only good woman in this film, and the final scene being a close up shot on her face can signal hope for the future even in a world as wildly corrupt as Marcello’s.
Corruption and historical crossroads come together in a period piece drama, Il Gattopardo, directed by Luchino Visconti. Though this film is set in the late eighteen hundreds, viewers can not help but see the presentation of women still being different that in Neorealist films. The first woman viewer’s see is Princess Maria Stella of Stalina wife to Don Fabrizio. Upon receiving the news of Garibaldi arriving, she breaks down into uncontrollable tears, and further relies on her husband to sooth her fears. As opposed to Ladri di Biciclette, where Maria was the pacifier of the home, the head of the household, Don Fabrizio, is in charge of shaping the family’s reaction to this life changing event. She is presented by Visconti as a literal princess unable to do anything for herself, even really decide how to respond rationally to situations.
Concetta is very similar to Maris Stella of Stalina with regards to male validation. Concetta only appears to be happy when she is in the company of Tancredi and hangs on every ounce of his attention she can get. Concetta is presented as weak in the film, as Tancredi talks about war, Concetta gets visibly upset by him talking about these things in front of her. She puts herself in a box of being too weak and womanly to talk of such things. This also shows that she has never been able to partake in talk about male topics such as war and death, as she is so visibly upset by these things. Concetta is quite frail and dependent on male attention to make her happy.
The final image of femininity seen in Il Gattopardo in Angelica. Played by the infamous Italian sex symbol Claudia Cardinale, Angelica is presented in this film as every man’s desire. She is so externally beautiful and due to her improper upbringing, she is unaware of a woman’s place in royal society and is comfortable talking about things that may have made other women uncomfortable. Upon the first time she is on the screen, even the camera is engrossed with her. In the ballroom scene especially, the camera follows Angelica around and shows everyone’s reactions in the room as she is paraded around by Don Fabrizio. But all in all, Visconti does not make a case for women at all, it only furthers a patriarchal system that controls women and the typical female presentation.
Conclusion
The women characters in neorealism italian films and the films of the 60’s provide a small insight into what and how female imagery shifted and contorted in the years after the war and economic miracle as anti-fascist thought and American influence in Europe increased. Even though “good” women in films following Neorealism had positions of value outside of the home, their image in film became overtly more sexualized and patriarchal. Though women such as Maria and Pina were beautiful, their beauty seemed to come in part from their selfless actions and dedication before their physical appearance which was also beautiful. As the economic miracle of the late 1950’s became tangible and more and more Italians did not have the economic and political worries of the past, there became a growing affinity towards the consumerist and light hearted American culture than before.
After the fall of Fascism in Italy and the happiness with this political win, directors became intensely focused on how woman in cinema could divert from the ideal role or mother and wife. Though Pina and Maria are different mother’s and wife's as they are not overly submissive and male dependent, they are seen primarily as wives and mother’s in their roles. But in these Neorealist films there starts to be small deviations in how women can behave. Though Rosselini intended them as “bad” characters, Ingrid and Marina show the audience women can live without men, though the result may be destruction.
As time goes on, in La Dolce Vita all of the women shown are unmarried and without children. Compared to how important the family unit was in the Fascist period films and those of Neorealism, this is a considerable shift. It can be postulated that women in Italy were sick of being placed in the box of mothers and wives, and wanted to show that their existence was more than that. This most likely came from American media flooding the Italian market with images of sex icons and instant gratification. The combination consumer culture being exhibited strongly in American media and the economic miracle occuring in Italy progressed an image of immediate sensory gratification that came to be women being shown more sexually on the silver screen.