With the turn of the 20th century, Italian people came in waves to the North-American shores, carrying along their families, goods and language. Cinema lent itself to representing and questioning this encounter. As Italian food and gestures landed onscreen, they became part of a common, sometimes stereotypical, imagery. In this course, we will explore thoroughly the origins and images of the Italian-American encounter beyond its overused definitions. Throughout this chronological exploration, we will start by exploring the cinematic portrait of migration and cultural exchanges across the Atlantic Ocean, which remains a privileged site to understand cultural and geo-political dynamics still informing our historical time. We will go back to one hundred years ago with Charlie Chaplin’s The Immigrant and move up to more recent Emanuele Crialese’s Nuovomondo (2006).

In the second part of our course, we will study how the phenomenon of “Americanization” historically intersects with questions of cultural influence – as witnessed in fascist and post-WWII filmic production, as in Roberto Rossellini’s Paisan (1946), as well as in the time of the Italian “economic miracle”, starting in the 1950’s, when Americanization was viewed as “contamination” and “imperialism” and gave way to the use of genre, as in the sci-fi dystopic fantasy of Elion Petri’s The Tenth Victim (1965). What kind of influence has been more strongly expressed -- that of Americans in Italy, or of Italian-Americans in the US? Where does one end and the other begin? How is Hollywood influencing the Italian film industry? In turning to filmmakers who, originally Italian, found themselves “becoming” Americans, as in the mafia serial Sopranos and Mario Puzo's Godfather filmic transposition by F. F. Coppola (1972), we will delve into the study of visual representation, narrative devices, cinematography and style.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills