The Italian Giallo Films

Virtually every country boasts a film industry but the level of advancement varies from one country to another. Italy is one the countries with a well-established and centuries-old film industry that continues to deliver incredible films. Notably, the cinema sector in Italy encompasses films created within Italy and films made by Italian producers. The Italian film industry debuted in the 1900s and over the years, Italian producers and actors have gained both domestic and international success besides influencing notable film movements across the world. The artistic skills that characterized Italian films have seen Italian films win 14 academy awards for best foreign language film and 12 Palmes d’Or (Bondanella 32). This makes Italy be the country with most academy awards. Typically, early Italian films entailed the adaptations of stage or book plays. By 1910, Italian filmmakers were already making use of lavish costumes and complex set designs to produce pioneering films such as Quo Vadis (1913).

            One of the key characteristics of the Italian cinema back then is its division into thee classes. The development of the three class model is credited to Christopher Wagstaff. The three classes were Italian futurism, Italian neorealism, and Telefoni Bianchi. The Italian futurism class or movement started in the 1910s. notably, this class of Italian cinemas defied geographical borders to influence the Russian futurism cinemas. In the 1920s however, this class of cinema experienced a major decline but the film industry was later revitalized by the debut of sound film in the 1930s. notably, the fascists government offered financial support for the film industry specifically to facilitate the construction of the Cinetta studios. However, the government engaged in censorship such that most of the films produced in the 1930s were propaganda films. After world war II, the Italian neorealist class was launched. The name suggest that the films portrayed actual reality but that was not the case. Instead, they used realistic elements to develop an illusion if a working class. However, this class of films focused on making use of real settings and actors. However, the plots on the films were not a direct representation of reality.

Question 2

In his theorization of vernacular cinema, Koven focusses on the Italian Giallo films which he considers to be an underappreciated cultural phenomenon. Despite the fact that the term giallo is thrown around like some term that has been in existence for a long time, that is not quite the case. In fact, the giallo is a quite a unique genre characterized by submission to traditional and generic barriers but still has the tendency to mutate and multiply. The term giallo means yellow and it is used in reference to pulp fiction novels. Specifically, Giallo refers to those pulp fiction novels published by the Mondadori publishing house in the 1920s. in trying to dissect the giallo in his ‘vernacular cinema’, Koven borrows quite a bit from religion and architecture. For instance, architecture is characterized by design with each design receiving credit for invoking different feelings and perceptions (Bondanella 45). The Giallo is a unique film which brings a new twist to the conventional films thus deserving its due credit. On the other hand, Koven draws from religion in his attempt to explain the spiritual aspects of the giallo. Notably, this film is the genre of thrillers and horrors thus it contains several spiritual.

Question 3

Oral communication is a major part of films which explains why Koven would be interested in Ong’s psychodynamics of primary orality. Notably, some of the psychodynamics of orality discussed by Ong resulted from his examination of primary oral cultures or people who did not have a system of writing. Notably, oral cultures are characterized by the representation of words only as sounds according to Ong, the problem with sound is that it is cannot be preserved or stopped. To this end, he examines how oral cultures are able to remember words given that they do record them from future reference. The knowledge that has been acquired so far has been made possible by assembling and being availed in written form. Essentially, mastery of words and consequently communication is made possible by frequent review of the written literature. Oral cultures, however, do not have written information. Therefore, Ong asserts that oral cultures are able to remember information by use of formulas and mnemonics. Essentially, formulas and mnemonics provide some basis of thinking for oral cultures owing to the rhythmic sounds they make. This enables them to recall. Following a thorough examination of the oral cultures, Ong comes up with a number of psychodynamic of orality some of which are discussed below:

Additive as opposed to subordinative- oral cultures make use of minimal structure than literature cultures and place little emphasis on grammar rules. In order to express themselves, they append their thoughts in a pragmatic manner.

Aggregative instead of analytic- in an attempt to make expressions more memorable and meaningful, oral cultures use formulaic oral expressions.

Homeostatic- this means that oral cultures are more concerned with retaining information pertaining to the present while being barely concerned with past events.

Agonistic tone- this implies that oral cultures tend to remember dramatic events that have tone and express agony.

Conservatism to traditionalist- oral cultures has a tendency to repeat information frequently to instill the information as opposed to adding more information as remembering these would be burdensome.

Emphatic and participatory or objectively distanced- oral cultures opt to be close to their audience such that the audience and the speaker have influence over each other.

Situational, not abstract-  this implies that oral cultures prefer to familiarize themselves with things that actually exist as opposed to learning about fictions things and concepts.

According to Ong, oral cultures are incapable of processing complex concepts such as geometry and logical reasoning. The rationale behind this is that engagement in these thought processes requires frequent review of the written literature. Additionally, Ong’s findings agree with the great divide theory which suggests that literate and oral cultures process information differently. However, other linguistic scholars tend to disagree with the great divide theory suggesting that while behavioral differences exist, psychological differences between literate and oral cultures tend to be exaggerated.

Works cited

Bondanella, Peter E., ed. The Italian Cinema Book. British Film Insitute, 2014.