Capitano, Rossana (2022) Politics and aesthetics in the cinema of Luchino Visconti 1943-1963. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Politics and aesthetics in the cinema of Luchino Visconti 1943-1963

This thesis provides an innovative approach to the cinematic work of Luchino Visconti, from Ossessione in 1943 to Il gattopardo 1963. Visconti is known as a canonical figure in Italian cinema but it has been difficult to see the relevance of his work to current concerns in the field of film studies. The conventional view has been that Visconti's work should be understood through the frame of either neorealism or auteur cinema. Most scholars have focused on his themes of major political significance, or have argued that his visual language is best understood as an expression of high-culture references. But this thesis argues that these films from the earlier period in Visconti’s career can be successfully used as a site for discussing contemporary issues: questions on the relationship between cinema, politics and national identity, on taste and gender, on the popular aspects of cinema, and on methods that focus more on cinema as an industry. A consistent focus of this research project is to scrutinise and disentangle the complex relationship between Visconti’s attention to the aesthetics and politics of his films. The first two chapters of this thesis explore the details of the political and critical context in which Visconti worked and in which his work was received. In chapters three, four and five, I apply contemporary theories – theories of modernity and consumer culture, of decorative aesthetics and of actor performances – to challenge some of the most historically entrenched views on Visconti. Using archive material, interviews, and biographies, the first chapter explores how Visconti’s relationship with the Italian Communist Party was based on a network of personal connections with Communist collaborators and senior party officials and shows how Visconti’s films played an active role in the development of the cultural policies of the PCI. In chapter two I examine the debates that the films provoked, placing them within the Italian culture and society of the time, focusing primarily on their reception by the PCI and Marxist film critics. In chapter three I tackle the anti-decorative bias that has tended to categorise Visconti’s aesthetics as regressive, and offer a new reading of Visconti’s use of decoration and mise-en-scene. In chapter four I examine several examples in which Visconti’s films engage with consumer culture and modernity, and show how these introduce complexities into the political messages of the films. In chapter five, I bring together a range of sources to draw conclusions about how Visconti chose and worked with actors – an area that has been almost entirely left out of the literature on Visconti.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion Pictures
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Visconti, Luchino, 1906-1976 -- Criticism and interpretation, Visconti, Luchino, 1906-1976 -- Aesthetics, Motion picture producers and directors -- Italy, Motion pictures -- Aesthetics, Politics in motion pictures
Official Date:	May 2022
Dates:	Date Event May 2022 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Film and Television Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Schoonover, Karl ; Gundle, Stephen, 1956-
Sponsors:	University of Warwick. Chancellor's International Scholarship
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	253 pages
Language:	eng

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