When we first started talking about this film, I really couldnt see myself getting into the whole idea of the high society thing that was described to us, but you know what, after watching the whole thing I got really into it. The whole plot in general and the main character kinda reminded me of a greek god named Dionysus. Now this god is depicted of being the "party animal" of the gods, and that is kinda expected when you have the title of being the god of wine. Marcello reminded me in the way that Disney described Dionysus in Fantasia, running around from place to place, drinking wine and meeting women, oh what a life it is.
I thought that the layout of the film was also an interesting touch. Now what I mean by this is that when I looked up extra information about th film to understand it better, I found out that the film is kinda split up into "episodes" and these episodes, when looked at one right after the other, basically give you insight of Marcello's life for what I believe is about seven days. Now the first episode which is basically the opening sequence discribes the tone of the film really well, because of the actions seen by our main character Marcello. In class we talked about how the catholic church banned this film from being shown basically everywhere, and judging from the time period that the film was made and the content shown throughout, I can kinda understand why they had that feeling. Just how Marcello and the camera seem to be distracted by the women in bathing suits when the christ statue is being delivered makes you think that this character is peobably up to no good. The article also had some good points to how the church saw this film to be insulting to them at multiple spots. Not only is it that the first scene seems to have a statue blessing Rome as it flies over "distracting" women haha, but also there seems to be reoccuring religous icons shown in the film. These icons plus the over all "playboy" feel to the film is what made me think that the church had a huge problem with it.
Alright now I had some questions to the film that I was hoping to get answered so I thought why not just put it out there. For one thing, why is it that they used two languages throughout the film? What was the point? Is it just to show that there is a difference in some of the people or some sort of communication barrier? Now this is just my opinion, but I think that it was used to try and make a seperation between the two types of people. Let me explain myself, I dont know if it was just me, but didn't alot of the dialoge that the americans said seem kinda...dumbed down in a way. For example the american actress seemed like she was just in a different world throughout the whole time we saw hew, and her husband didnt seem any better. The whole time we saw him he seemed to be drunk or had a drink in his hand within thirty seconds. Now my favorite example of what I am talking about would have to be that one woman at the last party scene in the beach house. Everyone is speaking french and I believe that Marcello said something funny, and she laughs along with everyone else and says " what did he say?", I mean what the heck is that.
The last thing I just want to touch on is how alot of people discribe the characters to have not really progressed at all throughout the film. I would have to disagree for only one reason, and that reason is because of the way Marcello seems to be acting at the end of the film. He seems to be just sick of the whole party scene in general making him lose it. Along with that, at the very end on the beach he really seems to be just out of it in some way. Walking away from the party people and talking to the beach girl , but not hearing her, and not really caring weather or not if he does. That just forced me to look at this man differently than I did throughout the entire movie.
All in all interesting film , see y'all next time!
I never thought of the opening Jesus scene as being shot as if the camera were Marcello, and we the audience were experiencing his view. This makes a lot of sense to me now, and I think the way you interpreted it certainly could be right. I honestly didn't know how to read that scene, other than being like "Jesus hanging off a helicopter... how silly!" :)
ReplyDeleteMaybe Dr. McRae can answer your questions about the language, because now you've got me interested. What bothered me was not only did our version have subtitles, but the actual voices seemed to be dubbed over as well. I thought the language we were hearing was Italian, and it's an Italian film, so I didn't know what was going on. I laughed at the English-speaking girl at the party, and her ridiculousness in asking what he said after already laughing at it. Although, I have to admit that whole scene was getting on my nerves... I felt like the only sober person at a party of drunk hooligans. No one likes that.
I really liked your comparison of Marcello to Dionysus. It is pretty apparent and easy to see why this film would anger and insult the Catholic church. I think the fact that there were two languages was to show lack of communication and closeness between characters, just a guess though. This was a great blog to read, thanks!
ReplyDeleteUr relation of Marcello to Dionysus is pretty neat. Being a Journalist he has many powers over the people. He also has all of the Paparazi following him around much like the Bacchi. His tastes borderline statutory and his thirst for paying nearly endless.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the multiple languages go, I think Fellini could also just be going for a more realistic portrayal of events. I like the idea that he is using it for lack of communication as well but I really do believe that, much like Tarantino did in Inglorious Basterds, he is simply going for a realistic representation of people at that time and place. As far as the voices being dubbed over, I think I've heard that at this time, Italian cinema re-recorded all of its dialogue, but I would really like to know why that was the case.
ReplyDeleteI really love the first scene. It seems so ambiguous at first and perfectly establishes character right from the start. I especially like the fact that this first glimpse at Marcello’s character doesn’t seem forced. It’s as if we’re starting the film in the middle of an actual person’s life, rather than being spoon-fed details by the screenwriters in order to understand why this man is doing these things.
I like the idea of this being somewhat Dionysian too, except I think that people are trying harder to be Dionysian than they really manage to be. Marcello just looks really doofy hitting those women with chicken feathers. Though Eric's comparison of the paparazzi to the Bacchae is an interesting one. I hadn't thought of that.
ReplyDeleteI think that the multiple languages were part of the realism, as Van Damn suggests. Rome is an extremely cosmopolitan city, especially during that time period. I think Kyle's take is a good one. Part of the alienation being portrayed is people not speaking each other's languages. Marcello wants to connect with the American actress. He thinks he's in love with her, but they can't even communicate well enough to have a basic conversation. The movie is full of missed and failed communication like that--the end, which you describe well, is just one more example of people missing each other, or trying to create significance that just isn't there, or missing the significance that is.