2
critics have often pointed out the director’s fascination with spectacle and popular
entertainment; no one has, however, investigated the subject extensively. This study is
therefore directed to a reexamination of the connections between the world of popular
entertainment and Fellini’s earlier career, when he was working as screenwriter, journalist,
and gag-writer. The influence of avanspettacolo and rivista are discussed in more detail, in
an attempt at reconstructing Fellini’s work within its context of multidirectional influences.
0.1. Survey of Existing Studies on Federico Fellini
What was there to say about circus has already been said: it’s an inflated
scaffolding of literature, by now rotten. Nevertheless, this scaffolding
ultimately continues to exist and it offers itself as an established nucleus: a
dimension, an authentic atmosphere that cannot be archived, nor covered with
dust, because that way of living and of representation gathers in itself, in an
exemplary way, some everlasting myths.
1
What Fellini asserts about circus applies him as well. On him people have already
said all that could be said and even all that could not. Yet, even if this self-generating
literature continues to produce interest, no one has yet investigated the “theatrical
component” of Fellini’s art. Classifying and describing what has been written on Federico
Fellini is thus an arduous task for two reasons. First, the number of published works is
enormous. Second, European and North American criticism, even though developed along
the same lines, differ remarkably in form, methodology, and critical trends. Points in
common do exist, however. To facilitate a review on the literature on the Italian director,
the following pages focus on those streams that are common to both critical literatures.
3
The first critical readings of Fellini’s films, especially after the success of La
Strada, can be described as heavily author-centered. This critical trend started, for obvious
reasons, in Italy, and then extended to France, England, Germany and finally the USA.
Between the late 1950s through the 1970s, the main concern of the critics was to situate
Fellini culturally and historically and to examine the intrinsic values of the features
analyzed. The critical works of this period are distinguished by reverential auteurism—a
devotion which, because of the political implications of Neorealism, turned, in some cases
into partisan biases—and a superficial analysis of his films. An interesting example of this
cycle is Gilbert Salachas’ Federico Fellini: An Investigation into His Films and
Philosophy.
2
What renders these writings interesting to contemporary critical discourses is their
investigation of Fellini’s ties to Neorealism at a time when his distance from the movement
was not yet so evident.
Between the 1970s and the 1980s, deconstruction became very popular on both
sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Works pertaining to this group—the postmodern stream—
typically analyze the production of meaning operating in Fellini’s features. Frank Burke,
for instance, whose work can be considered representative of this trend, has devoted his
critical enterprise to study “the way in which Fellini’s films construct and invite meaning.”
3
Similarly, Millicent Marcus’s Filmmaking by the Book: Italian Cinema and Literary
Adaptation, deconstructs Casanova and La Voce della Luna with an approach that mixes
psychoanalysis with the theory of the gaze.
4
In most cases, these studies offer an analysis of
recurrent themes such as water, death, clowns, spectacle, or large women. Ennio Bispuri’s
Federico Fellini: Il Sentimento Latino della Vita, for instance, focuses on the
Mediterranean qualities and themes of Fellini’s features.
5
The contribution of these works is
purely theoretical and thus linked to the ups and downs of critical trends.
4
Deconstructionist studies appeared at the same time as psychoanalytic readings,
between the late 1960s and the early 1980s. This stream is characterized by an in-depth
analysis of the autobiographical semiotics of the director’s films. This critical approach has
been encouraged—both in Europe and America—by Fellini’s undergoing therapy and his
interest in Jungian theories. Critics generally would examine the presumed parallels
between the director and the protagonists of his features in order to prove complexes that
Fellini supposedly reveals in his art (see for instance Elio Benevelli’s Analisi di una Messa
in Scena: Freud e Lacan nel “Casanova” di Fellini, or Michael Papio’s “Derailment of
Closure: The Father-Son Enigma in Fellini”).
6
Juliet of the Spirits and 8 ½ have occasioned the greatest amount of psychological
interpretation. Typically, a study of this kind emphasizes the analysis of dream sequences
such as Guido’s vision of his father and mother in 8 ½. Carolyn Gelgund, for example, in
her “Juliet of the Spirits: Fellini and Jung,” concentrates on the analysis of Juliet's visions
and her psyche.
7
Beside the general decline that psychoanalysis has experienced within critical
studies in the last decades, psychoanalytical approaches suffer a major lacuna: they are
grounded on data whose soundness is hard to prove. Not only do these analyses often relate
to events whose authenticity is uncertain, but they also treat those same events as if
objectively valid despite the fact that Fellini has proven to be a very creative source of
information. The director’s acknowledged tendency “to lie” has in fact always rendered any
critical discourse grounded on his own statements problematic.
Another critical approach of significance—more popular with North American
critics than with Europeans—is that which compares Fellini to major figures of the literary
world. This trend saw its peak in the 1970s. Robert Richardson’s “Waste Lands: The
5
Breakdown of Order,” for instance, associates La Dolce Vita to Eliot’s The Waste Land.
8
Barbara Lewalski’s “Federico Fellini’s Purgatorio,” on the other hand, offers a comparative
analysis of Dante Alighieri’s masterpiece and La Dolce Vita.
9
Both these studies are
intriguing, if only because they deal with works of powerful artistic impact, but their
contribution is unfortunately tied to a specific critical trend which has currently lost
attention.
Finally, there is the weighty contribution of aesthetic studies. Some of these works
are merely technical, focusing on Fellini’s use of the camera, colors or editing techniques,
while others concentrate on recurrent visual narratives, or on the movement from a
somewhat realist cinema, where the act of filmmaking is concealed, to a highly self-
conscious examination of cinematic and narrative techniques. Over all, these works are
engaging and valuable to those who concentrate on the visual aspects of Fellini’s art: they
contain numerous stills, pictures, sketches and caricatures by Fellini who, in fact was prone
to draw sketches of the films before writing the proper script.
A place apart is held by collections of interviews with the director and/or his close
collaborators. The production of such works is quite consistent from La Strada until the
director’s death. They are all generally rich in anecdotes and very readable, but not always
reliable. Most of the interviews are mainly directed to the investigation of biographical
references in Fellini’s films. Dario Zanelli’s Nel Mondo di Federico is one of the few which
does not focus solely on Fellini’s works as a film director. Rather, he devotes some pages,
even though casually, to Fellini’s past as a caricaturist and dramaturg.
10
Among the
biographies, two works are worth mentioning: Bernardino Zapponi’s Il Mio Fellini, and
Tullio Kezich’s Fellini.
11
The informal tone of the first work shouldn’t discourage those
6
scholars who are in search of historical data and reliable documents. The book offers the
insight, sweet and disenchanted, of one of Fellini’s closest collaborators—his friend and
screenplay writer for Toby Dammit, Satyricon, Clowns, Roma, Casanova, and La Città
delle Donne. It discloses what the author calls “i segreti di bottega,” a very human image of
Fellini.
Tullio Kezich, on the other hand, is the only biographer whom Fellini officially
accepted—when asked some specific detail, Fellini would often answer “don’t ask me, ask
Kezich.” His Fellini is the most detailed, well-documented and scrupulous biography
available. It is based upon meticulous research into all sort of archives, private collections,
and public and private libraries even remotely related to Fellini and his kaleidoscopic
career. The book is also very readable, notwithstanding its length, but, unfortunately, it
lacks detailed footnotes and references.
The present survey couldn’t be concluded without a reference to the material written
by Fellini himself who has been a prolific writer. Unfortunately, not all that he has written
has been yet catalogued, printed, or officially recognized as his production. Screen-plays
and theatre gags, especially, which he started writing after having moved to Rome, are still
not thoroughly catalogued since he often worked under-the-table, and didn’t sign his works.
Fortunately, in the last three decades, Fellini’s most precious collaborators and biographers,
such as Tullio Kezich, Liliana Betti or Gianfranco Angelucci, have taken care of sorting out
the gigantic amount of information that Fellini generated throughout his life. Of all these
works, Fare un Film deserves a place of respect. Written with the editorial supervision of
Liliana Betti, and with an interesting introduction by Italo Calvino—“Autobiography of a
Spectator”—the book is about the main concerns that have accompanied the director
throughout his life.
7
Interest in Fellini by critics in the popular media has declined since the 1970s.
Today, Fellini’s work continues to get serious academic attention almost exclusively from
scholars whose principal interest is in Italian culture rather than film studies, and who often
operate outside the mainstream of contemporary film theory. As a result, Fellini is often left
out of several anthologies of modern and contemporary cinema. If he is mentioned, he is
identified as the author of 8 ½ and La Dolce Vita. Consequently, many students of cinema
studies are not aware of the existence of his later productions, such as La Voce della Luna
for instance which has never been distributed in American theatres and has been released in
VC, LD, or DVD only recently.
This dissertation contributes to the scholarship on Fellini in the following ways: 1)
it highlights Fellini’s past as journalist, gag writer, script writer, and caricaturist and thus
emphasizes his artistic contribution beyond directing; 2) it points out his close collaboration
with some major figures of the Italian popular entertainment and how they mutually
influenced each other; 3) it focuses on a part of Fellini’s career which is generally
disregarded, even by the most careful biographers; 4) by bringing attention to those films
that are generally considered of secondary importance by critics, such as Le Tentazioni del
Dottor Antonio or Lo Sceicco Bianco, it highlights their importance in the director’s canon;
5) it examines documents that are unknown and unpublished; 6) finally, it emphasizes the
interconnection among theatre, cinema, and the study of popular culture.
8
0.2. Chapter Structure
The first chapter assesses postwar popular entertainment in Rome and Fellini’s
connections with it. It opens with a description of the genres varietà, rivista, and
avanspettacolo. Then it proceeds with an examination of Fellini’s collaboration as a
journalist, caricaturist, and gag writer to Marc’Aurelio, a comic magazine. It is because of
this job that he was able to meet and interview performers of the riviste, and thus be offered
work as a gag-writer (1.2.). Since the research focuses on Fellini’s earlier career, it deals
mostly with the time period that spans between 1938, when the director moved to the
capital, to the late 1950s when the varietà was replaced by the film industry as the most
popular form of spectacle.
Chapter two, “Fellini’s Collaborations with Avanspettacolo Performers,” examines
Fellini’s early work in Rome and his collaboration with some major performers of
avanspettacolo and rivista. The chapter opens with a section on Erminio Macario and
Wanda Osiris (2.1.), containing a brief biography of the two performers which focuses on
the events that are relevant to the analysis of Fellini’s earlier career. The following section,
“The relevance of the link: Masina like Macario?” (2.1.1.) analyzes the possible influences
that Macario had on Fellini’s style: 1) the relation between Macario and Gelsomina and
Cabiria (the two female protagonists of La Strada and The Nights of Cabiria); 2) the
portrayal of women. The third section, “…And Wanda Osiris like Liliana, and Ginger?”
(2.1.2.) focuses on the possible influences that Wanda Osisris had on Fellini’s female
characters such as Liliana in Variety Lights. The chapter proceeds with sections devoted to
Aldo Fabrizi (2.2.) and Alberto Sordi (2.3.), two other famous avanspettacolo performers.
9
Chapter three, “Film Analysis,” focuses on the cinematic aesthetics and style
components seen through Fellini’s background in avanspettacolo. There are certain
characteristics of Fellini’s films that come immediately to mind when his name is brought
up. The chapter analyzes those qualities and their references, visual and historical, to Italian
post-war popular entertainment (rivista, avanspettacolo, and varietà). If looking at Fellini’s
canon in its entirety in fact, it is immediately evident that not only there are recurring
philosophical themes—loss, loneliness, betrayal, religion, growth—but also visual and
narrative ones. Hence, the necessity to reconsider whether these recurring elements are
relevant solely in reference to the specific scene, or can be evaluated as part of an overall
style. The chapter is divided into the following sections: 1) “Narrating Style,” where the
influence of Futurism and the use of quadri are analyzed; 2) “Fellini’s theatricality,” which
studies the influence of Totò on certain specific elements of Fellini’s style; 3) “Costumes
Sets, and Music,” which discusses resemblances of certain costumes and makeup with
famous avanspettacolo artists, and Fellini’s use of music; 4) “Fellini’s Grotesque,” which
suggests that Fellini’s grotesque is tied to the representation of the grotesque in popular
entertainment.
Chapter four, “Conclusions,” provides a critical assessment of Fellini’s early work
and social connections and the subsequent aesthetics of his films. Questions that will be
discussed include: overall, how essential to his aesthetics was Fellini’s background in
avanspettacolo and comic strip magazines? How do these qualities affect the final result? Is
the inclusion of these forms necessary to establish Fellini’s cinematic aesthetics?
10
1
Federico Fellini, Fare un Film (Torino: Einaudi Tascabili, 1993), 115. “Sul circo si è già detto tutto, è
un’impalcatura inflazionata, ormai fradicia di letteratura. Eppure, ciononostante, alla fine essa resiste,
riproponendosi come un nucleo preciso: una dimensione, un’atmosfera autentica, che non si riescono ad
archiviare, che non sono impolverate, perché quel modo di vivere e di rappresentarsi raccoglie in sé, in
maniera esemplare, alcuni miti durevoli.”
2
Translated by Rosalie Ssiegel (New York: Crown Publishers, 1963).
3
Frank Beaver ed. Fellini’s Films. Twayne Filmmakers Series. (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1996), xiii.
4
Baltimore and London: The Johnson Hopkins University Press, 1993.
5
Ennio Bispuri (Roma: Il Ventaglio, 1981).
6
Bari: Dedalo Libri, 1979; the article is contained in Italica. Journal of the American Association of Teachers
of Italian, vol. 74, n. 3, Autumn 1997, pg. 392-407.
7
Bondanella, Peter. ed. Federico Fellini. Essays in Criticism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978),
137-151.
8
Bondanella, Peter. ed. Federico Fellini. Essays in Criticism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978),
103-112.
9
Ibid.
10
Fellini di Fronte al suo Cinema [e a Quello degli Altri] (Torino: ERI Edizioni Rai, 1987).
11
Il mio Fellini. Massiccio e Sparuto, Furente e Dolcissimo, Vecchio e Infantile, l’Uomo e il Regista nel
Racconto del suo Sceneggiatore. (Venezia: Marsilio Editorei, 1995).
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