عنوان

The politics of masculinity :

Number

TLets529961

Title Proper

The politics of masculinity :

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Rigoletto, Sergio

Title Proper by Another Author

male subjectivity and social conflict in Italian cinema of the 1970s

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

The University of Reading

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2010

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

The University of Reading

Text preceding or following the note

2010

Text of Note

The 1970s have been largely seen as the starting point of a period of crisis for Italiancinema, marked by the increasing financial difficulties of its film industry and thegradual dissolution of its long and authoritative tradition of political engagement. Thisthesis interrogates this rhetoric of crisis and assesses the impact of the political andsocial unrest of this period on cinema. Its focus is on gender. In particular, itdemonstrates how masculinity repeatedly functions in a number of films of this periodas a crucial component in the articulation of critical commentaries about the nationand its socio-political lacerations. This thesis places films in their historical contextand in relation to contemporary debates about politics, national identity and gender. Itassesses the impact of these debates on cinematic representations of masculinity andexamines the strategies used by a number of filmmakers to make sense of the socialupheavals of the 1970s.The thesis develops an understanding of the characteristics, functions andimplications of a number of cinematic narratives about men and their dilemmas at thisparticular historical moment. Through in-depth analysis of selected films, this thesisexamines the rhetoric of male crisis of the 1970s and explores its relation to anxietiesabout modernization, the sexual liberation movements and the legacy of 1968. Eachchapter shows how Italian cinema of the 1970s develops a commentary on the sociopoliticalconflicts and tensions of this period through male points of view. This thesisexamines the limits of this gendered perspective as well as some of the opportunitiesthat it raises for understanding questions of agency and gender power in relation to thecinematic medium. Finally, it assesses the political potential for resistance anddissidence of some of these films and the way in which they attempt to challengedominant gender paradigms of cinematic visibility.

Rigoletto, Sergio

The University of Reading

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y