La Dolce Vita is an interesting tale of stardom through the eyes of a journalist, Marcello. The film
follows him as he goes through his antics of his everyday life in Rome. He has various love interests
throughout the film. One is his girlfriend who, herself, questions their relationship and goes through
her own struggles with drugs. Marcello also spends evenings with Maddalena and a Swedish American
actress named Sylvia. He is looking for love and true intellectual life, conflicted with his aspiration
in literature while reporting on the high life of the dominant class. His life is full of excesses,
the "sweet life." At the end of the film, he decides to neither be a journalist nor a writer for an
easier work as a publicity agent. The film offers a glimpse in the fast lane life for the upper
classes in the After War Italian Economic "miracle".
Rock-and-Roll
The scene selected for this film is when Sylvia comes to visit Rome and there is a small party. Sylvia
is enchanted by the music and dance and thoroughly enjoys it. In fact, during the 1950s, Rock and Roll
enchanted the entire world. Often this style of dance mostly had to do with the music but often
included the dance style as well, like the Jitterbug (Watson). Italy was no exception to this
mentality. Though these dances were controversial because of the sexually charged movement, however,
youth loved it and became extremely popular. Elvis Presley, among other iconic musicians, had huge
influence on the world not just in United States. After the war, many of his singers influenced the
Italian singers. Many famous Rock and Roll stars even emerged in Italy (Bensalhia). Overall, the
influence of the United States made its way to Italy.
Il Sorpasso is an interesting film that follows the tale of two men as they go on a short trip together
just for fun. Bruno happens to come across a law student, Roberto, and the two men start their journey.
The film itself it appears at first light hearted while introduces various dramatic story lines and it
is considered either “Pink Neorealism” or Comedy Italian Style.
The Twist
The Twist itself is a dance that many are very familiar with. It became a worldwide phenomenon in the
1960s. The dance itself gained popularity with the Chubby Checker's song "The Twist" that was featured
on the Dick Clark Show in 1960. Due to the simplicity of the dance, many people were able to pick up
the dance. The scene above in the film clip shows this fairly well. The farmers are dancing it, and
later in the film, a "high class" party shows them also doing the twist just emphasizing its popularity
with everyone (Rosenberg 2017). In a way, the popularity of this style of dance showed another facet
of the United States influence on Italian culture.
In this comedic film, Mimì is a man from Sicily that has to migrate to the North in order to get a job
and escape the stronghold of the mafia. While in the North, he falls in love with an independent woman,
Fiore. The two start a family, however Mimi’ has to return home in the south where the mafia awaits
to control him worse than before. Italy was under major cultural socio-political changes with the
feminist and workers movements and this film discusses them in this grotesque comedy Italian style.
Historical Context
This film has many elements involved in it from the mafia to the way communism had swept through and took a strong hold of Italy. Italy itself was under
major cultural changes as well with the feminist and workers movements. This can be seen with various aspects of the film from the worker who died at
Mimì's work and the various interactions with Fiorella. Of course this film had a very comical approach to what was happening.
Tango
Tango is a dance that has influences from African, Native American and European culture.
Dances from the candombe ceremonies of former slave peoples helped shape the modern day tango.
The dance originated in lower-class districts of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. The music derived
from the fusion of various forms of music from Europe. The words "tango" and "tambo" around the
River Plate basin were initially used to refer to musical gatherings of slaves, with written records
of colonial authorities attempting to ban such gatherings as early as 1789.
The tango, which comes Argentina and Uruguay and retains African, Native American, and European
influences, seems to have captivated Italians for years. Many Italians migrated to Argentina in
the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many of the most important Argentinian composers of the tango declare
that they, themselves, are Italian. ("Italian-Style Tango.") In Serra's paper he states,
"The sentimentality that flows from tango melody derives from the feeling of nostalgia and longing
for broken families and distant homes." This in itself is quite a beautiful statement, and goes well
with how this dance captivates both Mimi and Amalia and shows their longing for love.
