Topics in Italian Culture and Literature (250-0-20)

Topic

'Medieval Cinema,' Italian Style

Instructors

Paola Nasti

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-425: Tues, Thurs 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

Since its inception, cinema has been a great factory of medieval imagination. Starting from the silent film ‘L'Inferno' (1911), a transposition of Dante's ‘Hell', the Italian film tradition has shown an original way of ‘remaking' the medieval past. Italian directors have drawn from their 'national' medieval literary tradition avoiding the fantasy genre typical of Hollywood. The Italian medieval film plays with realism, spiritualism, pauperism, comedy, sexual irreverence and political commentary. This course explores films by world-famous directors such as Roberto Rossellini, Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Liliana Cavani inspired by the Italian medieval literature, history and visual arts to consider, among other things, how the projection of the past served as a reflection on the difficult present of the nation.

Class Materials (Required)

Films on NU reserves.

Class Attributes

Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area