Italian Neo Realism and the Movie Rome Open City Review

Italian Neo Realism and the Rome Open City - Movie Review Example 45-87). This paper discusses Italian neo realism and its portrayal in the movie Rome Open City in a concise and comprehensive way using the sources mentioned in the list of Works Cited. Adair (pp. 45-87) discusses that the liberalization of the economy and the relaxation of political controls coincided with the Italian entry into the Second World War in June 1940 on the side of Germany. The situation in Italy, by 1940, was one of ideological and political uncertainties, and in part, for these reasons, of artistic possibilities. Armstrong (pp. 78-99) discusses that De Sica's I bambini ci guardano/The Children Are Watching Us (1942) and Visconti's Ossessione/Obsession (1943), variously regarded as the 'first' neo-realist films, and perhaps, the 'first' anti-fascist ones, were produced by private companies with State subsidies and State approval. And, Rossellini's 'Fascist' war trilogy, made as war propaganda between 1941-1943, was described by him as 'neo-realist', as much neo-realist as his antifascist Roma citta aperta/Rome Open City (1945). If the issue was ideology or economy, the Fascist Party or the interests of industry, it was the latter not the former that prevailed (Armstrong, pp. 78-99). By 1943, Fascism was no longer supported by Italian capitalism. On the contrary, it was pushed aside. Fascism had become a danger. It was no longer a protection against social disorder, but the cause of disorder, no longer an instrument for economic development, but a hindrance to development. The class that had helped brings Fascism into being, now acted to eliminate it. Mussolini was overthrown by a coup within the Fascist leadership encouraged by conditions created by the Allied military advance, and not by the 'people' (Armstrong, pp. 78-99). He was replaced by an officer in the Fascist High Command, Marshal Badoglio. The dates of Italian neo-realist cinema roughly correspond to the fall of Fascism in 1943 up until the consolidation of the first postwar Italian government under the Christian Democrats (Dc) around 1951 [the Dc came to power in 1948]. But the features of Italian neo-realism are not at all clear (Armstrong, pp. 78-99). Neo-realism was a tendency more than it was a definite aesthetic. Some films were more neo-realist than others. None were ever purely neo-realist. Neo-realism was an ideal toward which certain films approached in varying degrees of closeness. What is most important is to indicate the conditions that made neorealist cinema possible, then impossible, rather than to attempt to define it. The dominant cinema in Italy in the 1930s--the cinema associated with Fascism--was a commercial genre cinema. Most films screened in Italy came from America, nearly 80 per cent; most Italian films were modeled on American ones. It was logical that Italian films took American ones as their model. The Italian industry, with help from the Fascist State, sought to reconstruct itself and prosper (Munsterberg, pp. 673-76).

LOLITA in Conversation with Other Sources.create a well-developed Research Paper

LOLITA in Conversation with Other Sources.create a well-developed argument that challenges our assumptions and deepens our under - Research Paper Example At one point in life Humbert suffers a mental breakdown and upon recovery he moves to a town where he where he get married to Charlotte haze, Dolores’ mother. This is in order to remain close to Dolores or Lolita who is a madly in love or obsessed with. According to Lee and Lee (76), the novel is acclaimed to be an erotic novel that can be interpreted to be a representation of the author’s native country social and political problems. The novel is rich source of various themes that can be explored to create an argument. For the purposes of this paper, the theme or aspect that comes out to the reader of this book is pedophilia, hebephilia or ephebophilia. This can be explained by conflicting thoughts that go through a readers mind when he learns the point of Humber’s attraction and sexual desires. It raises questions of the legality of his actions, and the moral or ethical considerations partaken by the author in writing this novel. Hebephilia is a term used to re fer to sexual preference for individuals with a particular physical appearance of either sex with a strong relevance to the age of that individual ((Nobokov 188). Humbert’s behavior can be considered to be a manifestation of chronophilic preferences which boarders on pedohilia , hebephilia and ephebophelia. All of these classifications concern definition of sexual preferences with people who are below the legal age limit allowed for consensual sex and intimacy. This novel was based on events were happening in the United States (US) during the early 1950s to the late 1950s, and it requires that one look into laws of that period. This is required to understand the protagonist’s thoughts and motivators of his actions. It will be useful in understanding why Humbert did not seem consider the repercussions of his actions towards a minor. It would be important to understand at this juncture, that this period in American history was characterized by the climax of the Civil Rig hts Movement. Thus, it would be appropriate to conclude that individual rights especially those of women, girls and children were not strongly advocated for or protected. This perspective can be used to explain Humbert’s disregard of the fact that he was defiling a minor. The novel illustrates that he was aware of the evil nature of his intentions when he drugs Dolores/Lolita with sleeping pills in order to unknowingly defile when she was asleep. This does not change the fact that he accepted her sexual advances when she initiated sex for the first time. According to the Sexual Violent Predator Act (SVPA) classifications, Humbert fits perfectly into the classification of a pedophile. He exhibits a mental anomaly that predisposes him to having volitional and emotional capacities to commit sexual offences to both adults and minors. In today’s world, people of Humbert’s predisposition are placed on global watch lists of sexual predators in order to increase society ’s protection from such individuals. If an individual qualifies for one of the SVPA conditions and classifications, the law requires that they be committed to civil mental institutions where they receive specialized psychiatric evaluation and treatment for as long as it takes to cure them or reform their behavior. This predisposition was not regarded as mental condition during Humbert’s time, and it is characterized by some states in the US