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Pedagogical Considerations on the Role of Children in Vittorio De Sica’S Neorealism

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Pedagogical Considerations on the Role of Children in Vittorio De Sica’S Neorealism FROM VISUAL LEARNER TO VISUAL TEACHER AND BEYOND: Pedagogical Considerations on the Role of Children in Vittorio De Sica’s Neorealism by Teresa Lobalsamo A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Italian Studies University of Toronto © Copyright by Teresa Lobalsamo, 2013 From Visual Learner to Visual Teacher and Beyond: Pedagogical Considerations on the Role of Children in Vittorio De Sica’s Neorealism Teresa Lobalsamo Doctor of Philosophy Department of Italian Studies University of Toronto 2013 Abstract This dissertation will examine the role of children in Vittorio De Sica’s films I bambini ci guardano (1944), Sciuscià (1946), and Ladri di biciclette (1948). The strength of their function, as shall be outlined, lies in their expansive field of vision which allows them to take on great responsibilities. Those they come to affect, through what they see, are not limited to the characters with whom they come into contact. They become a source of identification for the neorealist spectator. Thus, the child will be shown as a symbol for the redefinition of what constitutes the male agency - a term which is already on unstable ground during the postwar years. What he lacks in virility and active potency, the child makes up for in insight and intuitiveness until those qualities elevate him to the heights of focal protagonist and moral compass. In support of this stance, the dissertation will employ the teachings of Gilles Deleuze in Cinema 1: The Movement Image and Cinema 2: The Time-Image, books which champion Neorealism for its ability to suspend the spectator’s need for decisive action to occur in film and for giving prominence to propelling reflection. ii The impetus to select De Sica over other neorealists was crafted by the weight and presence of young characters in his films who were neither heroic nor crusaders for social change. They were, simply, children. What they represented, what their gazes revealed willingly and instinctively, were the basic facets of human existence: warmth, kindness, regret, guilt, and, above all, love. With the realization that within children there exists great humanity, the adults around them begin to question their own behaviour. Thus, the child, despite his restricted physical action, also takes on the role of teacher. How far the child’s pedagogical abilities can take him are also explored in a different, but relevant setting: the classroom. This dissertation, then, comes full circle when it aims to highlight the influence of the child on yet another spectator: the student-cinephile. iii Acknowledgments For their unfailing support, encouragement, patience, and expertise, my heartfelt gratitude is extended first and foremost to my parents, to my brother, and to the rest of my family, to Professor Michele Lettieri, Salvatore Bancheri, Katherine Rehner, Marcel Danesi, and each of the other inspiring members of my dissertation committee. There are no words adequate enough to describe the ways in which you have helped me arrive at where I am today. Your contributions are simply immeasurable. I will always be mindful that whatever successes I have been or will be rewarded with, I have obtained in large part thanks to each of you. It is also of utmost importance for me to warmly express appreciation to my closest friends, extended family, colleagues, and students, Simona Scala, Monique Brand, Jeannine Debattista, Arturo Victoriano, Wendy Schrobilgen, Adriana Grimaldi, Emmanuel Nikiema, and Rosa Ciantar, who never tired in their faith in me and on whom I relied greatly for their endless abilities to listen, to interject, and to rally enthusiasm. The road was undoubtedly more easily traveled because it was paved with your friendship and your limitless advocacy. iv Table of Contents Introduction: Personal Impetus.............................................................................. 1 A Brief Review of Recent Scholarly Contributions 2 Outline 9 Chapter 1 ................................................................................................................16 Children of the Golden Years................................................................................ 16 1.1 Glimpses of Children in Silent Films 16 1.2 Paving the Path to Neorealism 18 1.3 From a Fascist Reality to a New Realism 23 1.4 Literary Neorealism 25 1.5 The Limitless Definition of Cinematic Neorealism 27 1.6 The Neo-Point of View 35 1.7 Performers and Characterization: Breathing Life into Neorealism 39 1.8 Italo Calvino’s Child Narrator 41 1.9 Gilles Deleuze and the Child as the Ideal Representative for Neorealism 44 Chapter 2 ................................................................................................................55 Vittorio De Sica: Actor and Director ....................................................................55 2.1 Before and Behind the Camera: De Sica’s Transition into Neorealism 55 2.2 Fruitful Collaborations Abound Out of De Sica-Zavattini 59 2.3 On the Use of Children in De Sica’s Films 61 2.4 Children at Home: The Image of Surveillance in I bambini ci guardano 65 v 2.5 Orphans of the Institution: Sciuscià’s Pasquale and Giuseppe 75 2.6 The Making of Ladri di biciclette 86 2.7 A Coming of Age in Pictures 89 Chapter 3 ................................................................................................................91 Ladri di biciclette ...................................................................................................91 3.1 Beyond Ideology 91 3.2 Characterization 93 3.3 What the Child’s Eyes Reveal 105 3.4 Bruno as the Focal Protagonist 108 3.5 The Importance of Sight in Ladri’s Weighted Ending 133 3.6 The Touching Finale 137 Chapter 4 ..............................................................................................................143 The Effectiveness of Film in the Classroom ......................................................143 4.1 Chapter Overview 143 4.2 Cinema as a Teaching Tool in the Foreign Language Classroom: Beginnings 146 4.3 Benefits: Increased Linguistic and Cultural Competencies 147 4.4 Suggestions for Integrating Cinema into the Language Classroom 151 4.5 Selecting Visual Materials 153 4.6 The Visual Teacher for the Foreign Language Learner: Achieving Advanced Italian Adeptness by Studying the Neorealist Child 154 Structure 155 vi Pre-Viewing Activities 156 Mid-Viewing Activities 157 Post-Viewing Activities 158 Results 158 4.7 Transforming the Cinema Theatre into the Cinema Classroom: Personal Approaches 160 4.8 What is the Profile of the Film Student? 161 4.9 How Can We Achieve Higher Learning Through Cinema? Tangible Practices from the Film Classroom 164 4.10 The Visual Teacher for the Film Learner: Achieving Increased Retention by Studying the Neorealist Child 174 4.11 Methods of Evaluation 178 4.12 Reinvigorating the Classroom 183 Conclusion ............................................................................................................185 Works Cited ..........................................................................................................190 Appendix ...............................................................................................................203 Copyright Acknowledgements ............................................................................230 vii List of Tables Table 1 Syllabus, Course Title: Classics of Italian Cinema of the Sixties and Seventies ..... 167-169 viii List of Figures Images from Vittorio De Sica, I bambini ci guardano ..................................... 67-68 Images from Vittorio De Sica, Sciuscià ............................................................ 77-84 Images from Vittorio De Sica, Umberto D. ...................................................... 90 Images from Vittorio De Sica, Ladri di biciclette ............................................ 101-142 203-228 ix List of Appendices Appendix 1 Film Analysis Workbook for Advanced Language Students .............................. 203-229 x Introduction: Personal Impetus The figure of the child has occupied the moving picture frame since 1895, when the Lumière brothers captured Auguste feeding his young son in Repas de bébé. This early, short documentary-style home movie would be the first amongst several Lumière brothers’ films to follow which featured young children at play (Jeux d’enfants dans une rue, presumambly 1895 or 1896; Enfants jouant aux billes, 1896), mischievous boys (Arroseur et arrosé, 1896), and the humanity that only a child’s smile can display (Le village de Namo - Panorama pris d’une chaise à porteurs, 1900). The expressiveness of their faces and wide eyes were, alone, enough to connect French audiences to French Indochina, in Northern Vietman (where Le village de Namo takes place), the site of their colonial institution. The silent film era is an ideal place to begin this exploration into the use of children in films which are not necessarily intended for them, but for adults. As it will become apparent, the greatest strengths the youth’s characters bring to the screen seem to lie in what the child is not saying. Without the child’s ability to verbally express himself, the spectator is more capitvated by what children’s eyes can take in and, in turn, tell. Before a child is old enough to speak and explicity state his needs, concerns, or emotions, an adult must look at him and listen to him to know how to proceed. This instinctive function of the adult in the child’s life is what, on a fundamental
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