Spring, ‘18 ITAL/CINE 3077 Class meetings: Mondays, 6:30-9:25 pm in Mass Hall 105, McKeen Study Office hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 3-4 pm and by appointment in Dudley Coe 207 DIVAS, STARDOM, AND CELEBRITY IN MODERN ITALY Professor Allison Cooper
[email protected] 207.798.4188 Dudley Coe 207 Before there was Beyoncé there was Borelli; before Clooney there was Mastroianni; before Trump there was Berlusconi. The diva derives from Italy’s nineteenth-century opera, silent film, and Catholic culture. Today, she has evolved into a secular alternative to traditional female religious icons such as the Madonna and the Magdalene. Alongside the figure of the diva is that of her historical male counterpart, the divo, initially a sort of demigod in early Italian cinema who has now come to reflect contemporary Italy’s crisis of masculinity. Beyond their origins and evolution, the diva, divo, and modern star can ultimately be defined as performers who know how to play any role while superimposing their own image onto a character. “Divas, Stardom, and Celebrity in Modern Italy” examines in detail the question of how those images have been constructed, transmitted, and received from the late nineteenth century to the present day. A number of related questions will inform the course: How do different genres and modes of Italian film, from silent film, talkies, fascist propaganda films, and neorealism to comedy Italian style, the spaghetti western, and the horror film construct stars differently? How does stardom depend upon publicity, promotion,