Italian Crime Films and the Years of Lead

2019 ◽  
pp. 20-41
Author(s):  
Austin Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Film Industry ◽  
Italian Cinema ◽  
Italian History ◽  
The Past ◽  
Crime Films ◽  
Crime Film ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Post War

This chapter places Italy's 1970s within a broad continuum in post-war Western Europe, in which wartime schisms were silenced and shelved, only to reappear decades later into a transformed cultural landscape. An attendant sense of national 'taking stock' manifested itself in an acute awareness of the weight of the past, and of the present moment's significance as a turning point in Italian history. The chapter analyses this point in detail by looking at the influence of the USA in the post-war years, with a particular focus on Italy's film industry. As a barometer for the intimate economic and cultural relationship between the two nations, Italian cinema embodied wider tensions between the local and the global, and the 'crime film' is taken as a case in point.

scholarly journals Masculine Performance in Hong Kong Crime Films from Post-Bruce to the 2000s

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-82
Author(s):  
Gabriel F. Y. Tsang
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Film Industry ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Action Films ◽  
Crime Films ◽  
Crime Film ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Bruce Lee ◽  
Chinese Masculinity ◽  
Artistic Images

Masculinity, in Lacan’s sense, is an imagination. To specifically theorise Chinese masculinity, Kam Louie examined the elements of wen (cultural attainment) and wu (martial valour) rendered through historical or artistic images, and Song Geng and Derek Hird guide the discussions about Chinese manhood represented in everyday life. With a Marxist perspective, Lo Kwai Cheung illustrated the dissolvability of Chinese masculinity under international capitalism. With reference to Aristotle, it is supposed that Chinese masculinity, similar to ‘tragicity’ in nature, can be represented through imitating actions and hence be perceived. Based on Aristotle’s understanding, we can regard actions as ‘iterable’ media (like Derrida’s understanding of written texts) which engender performances according to the genealogy of quantitative mimesis. Integrating theoretical discussions with a chronological approach, my full paper will go through following points in order to summarise the changes in Hong Kong crime films from the post-Bruce Lee era to the 2000s: (1) Hong Kong crime film inherited the martial side of masculinity from action films and became a popular genre since A Better Tomorrow was well received in the mid-1980s. (2) Many directors diversified the interpretation of crime in the late 1980s and the 1990s, but remained a focus on the strength, nimbleness and boldness of men. (3) After the decline of Hong Kong film industry for several years, Infernal Affairs’s success renewed the representation of manhood. (4) From the 2000s to now, male characters in crime films are preferably intelligent and wisely-romantic, like the fragile scholar in ancient China. (5) While globalisation seems to be eliminating the Chineseness of Chinese masculinity, I argue that geographical specificity and different speed of cultural development lead to the impossibility of synchronic masculine similarity. (6) Through a brief discussion concerning Hollywood’s adaptation of Hong Kong films, I argue that local masculinity is not transformable.  

scholarly journals The right to comfort in the century of the self

2021 ◽  
pp. 4-7
Author(s):  
Zara Ferreira
Keyword(s):  
Social Transformation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post War ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
The City

After the war, the world was divided between two main powers, a Western capitalist bloc led by the USA, and an Eastern communist bloc, driven by the USSR. From Japan to Mexico, the post-war years were ones of prosperous economic growth and profound social transformation. It was the time of re-housing families split apart and of rebuilding destroyed cities, but it was also the time of democratic rebirth, the definition of individual and collective freedoms and rights, and of belief in the open society envisaged by Karl Popper. Simultaneously, it was the time of the biggest migrations from the countryside, revealing a large faith in the city, and of baby booms, revealing a new hope in humanity. (...) Whether through welfare state systems, as mainly evidenced in Western Europe, under the prospects launched by the Plan Marshall (1947), or through the establishment of local housing authorities funded or semi-funded by the government, or through the support of private companies, civil organizations or associations, the time had come for the large-scale application of the principles of modern architecture and engineering developed before the war. From the Spanish polígonos residenciales to the German großsiedlungen, ambitious housing programs were established in order to improve the citizens’ living conditions and health standards, as an answer to the housing shortage, and as a symbol of a new egalitarian society: comfort would no longer only be found in bourgeois houses.

scholarly journals Rozwój i stan krajobrazu językowego – przypadek języka wilamowskiego

Adeptus ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justyna Majerska-Sznajder
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
The Past ◽  
Current State ◽  
Recent Interest ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Recent Activity ◽  
Grass Roots Initiatives

The development and current state of the linguistic landscape – the case of the Wymysorys languageWymysorys is a micro-language with Germanic roots spoken by the residents of Wilamowice, a small Silesian town located between Oświęcim and Bielsko-Biała, where it was brought by settlers from Western Europe in the thirteenth century. It has been the subject of scholarly interest among specialists in a number of fields, not only linguistics and ethnology, since the early twentieth century. Following a ban issued by local authorities in 1945, the use of Wymysorys was prohibited and public manifestations of local culture were severely punished. This policy resulted in a drastic decline of the number of its users. The recent interest of researchers is focused not only on the documentation of Wymysorys or its sociolinguistic situation in the past and today, but also on the effects of its revitalization in the last decade. Despite the lack of institutional support, the users’ community has been engaged in grass-roots initiatives leading to the emergence of Wymysorys in the cultural landscape. Recent activity of its users indicates that the language has already spread beyond the circles of local activists and, after years of persecution, functions again in society, evolving and taking new forms. Rozwój i stan krajobrazu językowego – przypadek języka wilamowskiegoJęzyk wilamowski, którym posługują się mieszkańcy Wilamowic (wym. Wymysoü), od początku XX wieku interesuje naukowców wielu dziedzin – nie tylko lingwistów i etnologów. Został on przywieziony przez osadników z Europy Zachodniej w XIII wieku na teren obecnych Wilamowic – małego miasteczka na Śląsku leżącego między Oświęcimiem a Bielskiem-Białą. Na skutek zakazu wydanego przez władze lokalne w 1945 roku używanie wilamowskiego było zabronione, a wszelkie publiczne przejawy odmiennej kultury ostro karane, w związku z czym liczba użytkowników wilamowskiego zaczęła drastycznie maleć. Zainteresowanie badaczy ostatnimi czasy wzbudza nie tylko kwestia dokumentacji tego mikrojęzyka o germańskich korzeniach czy stan etnolingwistyczny. Obserwacji podlegają również obecne efekty zaaplikowanych w ostatniej dekadzie procesów rewitalizacji językowej i zmiany lokalnej, a także państwowej polityki językowej. Mimo braku instytucjonalnego wsparcia, społeczeństwo użytkowników oddolnie podejmuje inicjatywy, których efektem jest między innymi pojawianie się wilamowskiego w krajobrazie kulturowym. Ostatnie działania użytkowników języka świadczą o tym, że opuścił już kręgi lokalnych aktywistów i ponownie, po latach zakazu, funkcjonuje samodzielnie w społeczeństwie, ewoluując i przybierając nowe formy.

scholarly journals The Space for Preservation and Dilapidation of Historical Houses in Modlimowo Village in the Light of Post-Dependence Studies and Historical Politics after 1945

Arts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Rek-Lipczyńska
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Research Field ◽  
The Political ◽  
Interview Method ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Reality ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Village

The main purpose of this article is to present the results of the research on spatial degradation of Modlimowo village. Modlimowo is an example of a settlement form typical of the Western Pomerania region. Until 1945, half-timbered buildings of Modlimowo village constituted a well-preserved architectural and cultural heritage of this region. Over the past 25 years, changes in the spatial layout of Modlimowo Village irreversibly destroyed the architectural layout of the village, its cultural landscape, and affected its spatial character. The process involved the demolition of around 70% of its historical buildings. The residents, the descendants of post-war settlers, also acted in favor of the rapid degradation. This was typical in the Polish western lands, the area of so-called “Recovered Territories.” The historical memory encapsulated in the village’s spatial structure has been successfully decoded. Spatial degradation of the village of Modlimowo is an example that proves a certain regularity. The processes and mechanisms that govern the devastation taking place in Polish villages of the region of the “Recovered Territories” are subject to extensive analysis in terms of social, economic, cultural, historical, and architectural aspects. There is an ongoing discussion about the reasons for this situation. The political reality of post-war Poland and the persistent traumas of that period have had a significant impact on the actual situation of the Polish countryside. The described research may offer a contribution to the ongoing discussion regarding post-dependence, as it extends the research field typical of architecture to include aspects of the importance of collective memory as well as historical politics. The theoretical model of the conducted research was based on the grounded theory. The author chose this form due to the specific flexibility it offers. An important aspect analyzed in the research was the ability to adapt to the existing conditions. Supplementing the collected data with historical and ethnographic materials proved to be very helpful. The open interview method enabled the collection of the required, standardized data. The conducted research allows to conclude that the language of the historical architectural forms typical for the region was not understood by its new inhabitants. Therefore, newcomers felt free to thoughtlessly demolish whatever previous occupants had left. The analysis of the political context, the trauma of the post-war regime, and post-memory mechanisms can help to diagnose the reality of those times.

The right to comfort in the century of the self

2021 ◽  
pp. 4-7
Author(s):  
Zara Ferreira
Keyword(s):  
Social Transformation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post War ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
The City

After the war, the world was divided between two main powers, a Western capitalist bloc led by the USA, and an Eastern communist bloc, driven by the USSR. From Japan to Mexico, the post-war years were ones of prosperous economic growth and profound social transformation. It was the time of re-housing families split apart and of rebuilding destroyed cities, but it was also the time of democratic rebirth, the definition of individual and collective freedoms and rights, and of belief in the open society envisaged by Karl Popper. Simultaneously, it was the time of the biggest migrations from the countryside, revealing a large faith in the city, and of baby booms, revealing a new hope in humanity. (...) Whether through welfare state systems, as mainly evidenced in Western Europe, under the prospects launched by the Plan Marshall (1947), or through the establishment of local housing authorities funded or semi-funded by the government, or through the support of private companies, civil organizations or associations, the time had come for the large-scale application of the principles of modern architecture and engineering developed before the war. From the Spanish polígonos residenciales to the German großsiedlungen, ambitious housing programs were established in order to improve the citizens’ living conditions and health standards, as an answer to the housing shortage, and as a symbol of a new egalitarian society: comfort would no longer only be found in bourgeois houses.

scholarly journals Deshonra (Daniel Tinayre, 1952)

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 113-120
Author(s):  
Pablo Rubio Gijón
Keyword(s):  
Film Industry ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The State ◽  
Visual Features ◽  
Dominant Ideology ◽  
Film Genre ◽  
Crime Films ◽  
Crime Film ◽  
The Status

Within the context of the film industry of the first peronist period (1946-1955) crime films established themselves as a means to disseminate the dominant ideology. Some of the characteristics of this genre were used to leave proof of the pre-eminence of the State as a safeguard of the status quo. However, Deshonra (1952) resorts in its structure to visual features that could be interpreted as a veiled criticism to the very ideology it aims to divulge. The crime film genre, from its constitutive proposals and its supposed ideological rigidity in a political framework such as Peronism, may grant some areas of ambiguity.

‘Io so’: the absence of resolution as resolution in contemporary Italian cinema about the ‘years of lead’

Modern Italy ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-181
Author(s):  
Giacomo Lichtner
Keyword(s):  
Italian Cinema ◽  
Italian History ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Interference ◽  
Political Terrorism

This article analyses three fantasy sequences in contemporary Italian cinema about political terrorism in the period known as the anni di piombo (‘years of lead’). It argues that, faced with divided memories, ideologically-charged narratives of the past, political interference and the so-called Italian anomalies, film-makers have reacted by making the absence of resolution a question in its own right. The article identifies and analyses three specific approaches, each linked to a sequence from each film.  The first sequence, ‘uno sfondo di verità’, focuses on Marco Tullio Giordana’s Romanzo di una strage, which navigates the absence of resolution, lamenting it but also exploiting it to force a particular version of events. The second sequence, ‘vado a dormire’, focuses on Marco Bellocchio’s Buongiorno, notte, which uses a dream sequence to fabricate a different resolution, but simultaneously underscore reality. The third sequence, ‘mea culpa’, analyses the invented confession scene in Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo, arguing that it employs ambiguity to find closure in imagination itself, rather than in an imagined truth. Through the micro-analyses of these texts, this article seeks to highlight a broader question about cinema’s relationship with ambiguity and mystery in modern Italian history.

Cross-culture outcomes of a brazilian professor Fulbright in the USA

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (50) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Marcelo Da Silva Leite ◽  
Celeste Gaia
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cross Culture ◽  
College And University ◽  
Governmental Agencies ◽  
The Past ◽  
University Curriculum ◽  
Fulbright Scholar ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Higher Education Costs

Over the past decade due the expansion of globalization there has been an increasing emphasis on internationalization among faculty, administration and accrediting agencies in the Higher Education.  Although to promote internationalization in the Higher Education, costs are a big challenge, one way to have the international actions with low cost, it is seeking for grants from different governmental agencies and foundations.The Fulbright Scholar program provides a long-standing and externally-funded means for internationalizing college and university curriculum. This article is going to share the perspective   of a Brazilian Fulbright Scholar at an American college and the institution perspective of the Fulbright scholar participation at the College.

EPIZOOTOLOGICAL FEATURES OF MODERN CATTLE LEUKEMIA

1970 ◽  
pp. 53-58
Author(s):  
V. V. Makarov ◽  
D. A. Lozovoy
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Cattle ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Control Programs ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
Negative Order ◽  
Dairy Cattle Breeding ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Epizootic Process ◽  
National Programs

  Enzootic bovine leucosis (EBL) has been known for more than a century and a half. Its occurrence and registration may have historically been associated with intensive breeding of dairy cattle in Western Europe to increase target productivity. It is known that any limiting intervention in the nature of the animal organism is always accompanied by an uncontrolled and unpredictable change in the genotype of a wider range than the required, particularly negative order. In particular, a decrease in the resistance to macroorganisms and the possibility of the new diseases emergence, including infectious ones (for example, immunodeficiencies such as BLAD syndrome of black-motley cattle and stress syndrome in pigs, the occurrence of scrapie and other slow sheep infections). In the last two decades of the last century, in many disadvantaged countries, primarily Western European, national programs for the eradication of EBL have been developed and subsequently successfully implemented. First of all the motivation was the economy of dairy cattle breeding (mainly the extension of productive age, as well as the tightening of requirements in international trade in cattle and bull products, breeding, pricing, etc.). In an analytical article are reviewed the elements of epizootology of EBL in the foreign countries with special attention to the situation in the USA, scenarios of various control programs, and promising methods for assessing the role of infected animals in the epizootic process. A critical assessment of the problem of EBL in the Russian Federation is given, the reasons for the ineffectiveness of against leucosis measures are discussed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document