Gender, Genre and Sociocultural Change in the Giallo: 1970-1975
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Mackenzie, Michael (2013) Gender, ge nre and sociocultural change in the giallo: 1970-1975. PhD http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4730/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Gender, Genre and Sociocultural Change in the Giallo: 1970-1975 Michael Mackenzie MA, MLitt Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies School of Culture and Creative Arts University of Glasgow August 2013 2 Abstract This thesis examines representations of gender in the Italian giallo, a short-lived but tremendously popular, lucrative and prolific body of films in the murder-mystery thriller tradition that enjoyed their heyday in the early-to-mid 1970s. Traditionally, both academic and populist responses to these films have focused on the output of a small number of maverick directors that have been elevated critically above their peers. Conversely, this thesis aligns itself with a more recent trend towards eschewing auteurist readings in favour of examining the giallo as a broad ‘filone’ (cycle) defined by shared iconography, narrative conventions and underlying anxieties. Building on the typological approach of this body of literature, I place the gialli within the historical context of their initial production and release, relating the anxieties they exhibit in their depiction of gender and sexuality to the seismic sociocultural changes that occurred during this period. Drawing on the methodologies employed in criticism of the American film noir movement of the 1940s and 1950s, I explore the gialli not as straightforward allegories of real world events but rather as discursive texts that engage in a refracted form with contemporary sociocultural concerns. As its central hypothesis, this thesis asserts the giallo uses the generic conventions of the ‘whodunit’ thriller to negotiate a crisis of norms in which traditional notions of masculinity and femininity have been destabilised. In exploring the ways in which this crisis manifests itself across a corpus of sixty films, I adopt the unique approach of restructuring the giallo into two distinct subcategories – ‘M-gialli’, focusing on male protagonists, and ‘F-gialli’, focusing on their female counterparts – and examining the differing ways in which they negotiate the same anxieties about gender and modern sociocultural transformation, and the differing solutions (or lack thereof) that they propose. I also examine the portrayal of gender/sexual minorities, children and teenagers as further articulations of concerns relating to the transformation of society. I argue that the gialli are characterised by a marked sense of ambivalence towards the upheavals of this period, precluding these films from being straightforwardly pigeonholed as either reactionary or progressive in their overriding ideology. This manifests itself in a plethora of uncertainties and contradictions in their narratives, mise en scène and the portrayal of the aforementioned characters, and an inability to provide credible solutions to the problems posed by the changing face of society. 3 This thesis moves criticism of the giallo beyond merely describing its conventions to actively explaining them, and highlights the value in reading popular filmic movements as articulations of the prevalent anxieties, attitudes and worldviews of their era. 4 Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................. 2 Table of Contents ................................................................................................................. 4 List of Figures ....................................................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... 9 Author’s Declaration ......................................................................................................... 10 1 Introducing the giallo: Critics, corpus and conventions ............................................ 11 1.1 Origins ...................................................................................................................... 11 1.2 Thesis aims and research questions .......................................................................... 14 1.3 What is a giallo? ....................................................................................................... 15 1.4 Internationalism, co-productions and filoni: The giallo in the context of 1960s/1970s European cinema ......................................................................................... 18 1.5 Summary of existing giallo literature ....................................................................... 22 1.6 Corpus of study ........................................................................................................ 29 1.7 (Re)organising the giallo .......................................................................................... 31 1.7.1 M-gialli and F-gialli ....................................................................................... 34 1.7.2 Queer characters, children and teenagers ....................................................... 39 1.8 Core texts and thesis structure .................................................................................. 41 1.9 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 43 2 Making sense of the giallo: Sociocultural context and critical frameworks ............ 44 2.1 Film and the ‘real world’ .......................................................................................... 44 2.2 Italy and Western Europe 1945-1970: An overview ................................................ 46 2.2.1 Recovery and prosperity ................................................................................ 48 2.2.2 Unrest and agitation ....................................................................................... 53 2.2.3 The end of the dream...................................................................................... 57 2.3 Establishing an appropriate framework .................................................................... 59 2.4 “Scenarios of maladjustment”: Film noir as a critical framework ........................... 63 2.4.1 ‘Decoding’ the femme fatale .......................................................................... 65 2.4.2 Noir masculinity in crisis ............................................................................... 69 2.4.3 ‘Decoding’ the giallo ..................................................................................... 73 2.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 75 5 3 “Keep[ing] individualism alive”: The M-giallo protagonist in crisis........................ 77 3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 77 3.2 Defining the M-giallo protagonist ............................................................................ 78 3.3 Urban spaces and ‘outsiderness’ in The Fifth Cord ................................................. 82 3.4 Freedom and the individual in Short Night of Glass Dolls ...................................... 92 3.5 Trophy girlfriends and monstrous women in The Bird with the Crystal Plumage 100 3.6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 108 4 Central women and fatal men: “Degradation and vice” in the F-giallo ................. 111 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 111 4.2 Conceptualising the F-giallo central woman ......................................................... 112 4.3 Pathologising the central woman in A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin ......................... 116 4.4 ‘Passifying’ the central woman in The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh ..................... 126 4.5 Broken windows, broken rules: Valentina in Death Walks at Midnight ................ 135 4.6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 141 5 “Perverts – filthy, slimy perverts!”: Queer sexuality in the giallo .......................... 144 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 144 5.2 Contextualising ‘queer’ .......................................................................................... 145 5.3 Women ................................................................................................................... 150 5.4 Men ........................................................................................................................