Echoes of Pier Paolo Pasolini in Contemporary Italian Cinema: the Cases of Marco Tullio Giordana and Aurelio Grimaldi
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ECHOES OF PIER PAOLO PASOLINI IN CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN CINEMA: THE CASES OF MARCO TULLIO GIORDANA AND AURELIO GRIMALDI A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Anna Paparcone May 2009 © 2009 Anna Paparcone ECHOES OF PIER PAOLO PASOLINI IN CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN CINEMA: THE CASES OF MARCO TULLIO GIORDANA AND AURELIO GRIMALDI Anna Paparcone, Ph.D. Cornell University, 2009 In this dissertation, I examine the legacy of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s life, artistic production and political engagement in contemporary Italian cinema. I focus on films by Marco Tullio Giordana (Maledetti vi amerò [Bastards, I will Love You, 1980]; Pasolini: Un delitto italiano [Pasolini: An Italian Crime, 1995]; I cento passi [One Hundred Steps, 2000]) and by Aurelio Grimaldi (Nerolio: Sputerò su mio padre [Nerolio: I Will Spit on My Father, 1996]; Un mondo d’amore [A World of Love, 2002]). Through their references to and reappraisal of Pasolini, these films re-appropriate thematics dear to him, acquire a more powerful socio- political meaning and rethink the aesthetic possibilities of Italian contemporary cinema. I focus on Giordana and Grimaldi because they exemplify two different treatments of Pasolini. Giordana shows absolute admiration for Pasolini, focuses on his socio-political struggles, and deals with his death as a result of a conspiracy. Grimaldi instead takes a more critical stance vis-à-vis Pasolini’s merits and flaws, represents specifically the different stages of Pasolini’s homosexual life, and interprets his death as a consequence of the homosexual encounters in hidden, often degraded places. In Grimaldi’s view, Pasolini’s (homo)sexuality has been overlooked by those who have sought to monumentalize him, and in this way, the power of Pasolini’s word and his public engagement have been neutralized. While Pasolini’s presence is self-evident in Giordana’s Pasolini: Un delitto italiano, and in Grimaldi’s Nerolio and Un mondo d’amore where Pasolini is the protagonist, in Giordana’s Maledetti vi amerò and I cento passi, Pasolini appearsin a few citations of his poems (particularly those referring to Antonio Gramsci’s politics and to Pasolini’s relationship with his mother). I maintain that if spectators miss the significance of those citations, they also miss the political and social nuances present in the films. In exploring the presence of Pasolini in Giordana’s and Grimaldi’s films, I also touch upon their understanding of cinematic realism, their encouragement to reflect on what it means today to look for and talk about truth, the role of the intellectual in Italy, and finally homosexuality as an important social question in contemporary Italy. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Anna Paparcone was born in Vico Equense, in the province of Naples, and was raised in Aquino, the town of Thomas Aquinas, in the aria known as Ciociaria. Imbued with Neopolitan spirit and acquiring popular traditions of her home town, she grew up happily surrounded by family and friends. Her mother Rosa and her father Francesco set up some priorities for her: studying first of all, and then her hobbies, which included volleyball and singing in the town’s choir. And it worked well for her. Her parents made it possible for Anna to study without economic concerns, always supported and encouraged. She attended elementary and high school in Aquino, and high school and the university in Cassino, a city that is overlooked by the famous abbey of Montecassino. At the university she had a wonderful group of friends and she met her best friend Nicoletta. At an early age she began to play piano as well. For a few years she took private lessons, until she enrolled as a piano student at the Conservatorio Licinio Refice in Frosinone, where she took her degree in piano. Combining both commitments (school and conservatory) was not always easy, and when the time came to decide between these, she opted for the university. That was the first difficult choice of her life. However, the university program in Foreign Languages and Literatures greatly satisfied her interests; knowing different cultures and traveling fascinated her. She took her first plane to England (Brighton and then London). She found that it was truly exciting to meet people from all over the world and to study English in full immersion. The trip of her life was in August 1999, when she first flew to the United States of America to participate in an exchange program between the iii University of Cassino and Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania. She stayed in Pennsylvania for four months. It was indeed crucial for her, since it changed the way she looked at her entire life: the possibility of working in an American campus was very appealing. This first experience also gave Anna the opportunity to meet people of different nationalities who, today, are among her best friends. After graduating from the Universita degli Studi di Cassino, she returned to the USA in 2000 to teach Italian at the same university she had attended as a student a year earlier. She meant to stay there one semester, but it ended up being two years. Living in the US allowed her to pursue her dream of teaching and studying, without having to struggle endlessly with the Italian academic system. She tried to return to Italy for a few months, but the possibility of working and doing what she studied for was close to impossible. At Lock Haven, she also met Jason, the man who, a few years later, would become both her husband and an incredible guide through the American academia. The decision to remain in the USA became an issue when she was accepted into a Ph.D. program at Cornell University. More years away from Italy meant a definitive farewell to the possibility of returning and working there. The decision was very hard, since her bond with her family was strong and so was her sense of guilt at leaving behind her parents and sister Raffaella. She was very fortunate because they did not think about their desire of having her close to them, but encouraged her to pursue her dream of studying and working at the university. She started her Ph.D program, and since then she has been working hard to finish her dissertation and present her work at scholarly conferences. In October 2008 her sister Raffaella moved to the USA as well, and this added more joy to her life. She has recently iv accepted a job at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, a job that allows her to meet both her professional and private needs. Throughout these years, Anna has been extremely lucky to encounter and know exceptional people, who have helped her to learn new things and to enjoy her life. She was blessed to have the support and love of her family and her friends in Italy and in the US. v Alla mia famiglia vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There is little hope that I can ever express the full extent of my gratitude to Professor Marilyn Migiel, my advisor. On April 2004, while I was attending her course on translation, she gave me a present, her book A Rhetoric of the “Decameron” in which she wrote: “For Anna, future colleague and interlocutor.” I was at the beginning of my graduate career, I was still timidly in search of my own path in academia, and I was touched that such a well- respected scholar put so much trust in me. Her recognition of my potential had great significance for a young student like me who had still years of study and research ahead. Since 2004 Marilyn Migiel never stopped encouraging me, giving me the most helpful suggestions and sophisticated advice. She has become my intellectual role model, an invaluable mentor, and a delightful company. Her impressive expertise in various areas of Italian literature, her limitless patience, her acute sense of critique (and humor) as well as her teaching skills greatly contributed to my academic growth and guided me through the completion of this dissertation. I truly owe this degree to her. I am very grateful also to Professors Ellis Hanson and Geoff Waite for their unwavering support throughout the years at Cornell University. Ellis Hanson instilled in me a renewed interest in Pier Paolo Pasolini, and inspired me to undertake a study of Italian contemporary filmmakers that revitalize Pasolini and bring to the surface social issues related to (homo)sexuality in Italy. Geoff Waite introduced me to the study of Antonio Gramsci who is instrumental for the understanding of major Italian political controversies, and ultimately to the analysis of a number of films in my thesis. My gratitude also goes to Professor William Kennedy for his generosity and kind support of my academic career, to Professor Satya Mohanty for his encouragement and vii for the time he often dedicated to our exchanges, and to Professor Carlo Testa for sharing his extensive knowledge of Italian cinema and Italian history with me, for reading my work and for supplying me with a steady stream of references and materials to continue my research successfully. I have been incredibly lucky to encounter such a variety of scholars at Cornell and elsewhere, and I am grateful for their contributions to my academic growth. I wish to express my appreciation to the Graduate School, the Romance Studies Department, the Cornell Society for the Humanities, and the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies for granting me funds that allowed to me to travel to and throughout Italy, to collect useful material for my thesis and to interview filmmakers and film critics.