4 - Comedy and the Cinematic Machine

Summary

In the customary divide between the cinema of the Fascist years and neorealism, an opportunity is lost to understand the cinema's conception of itself as major force in Italian culture, as well as also to reconsider continuities and discontinuities in the history of Italian cinema. According to Ernesto G. Laura,

the so-called “Italian-style” film comedy is different from other types of film comedy to be found in the history of the medium. … It is not only a question of a well-defined Italian landscape or of language or of even dialects, but of an intimate relationship with the customs, events, periods and problems of contemporary Italy.

This chapter undertakes an examination of the permutations of cinematic comedy from the films of the 1930s to the present, focusing particularly on how various expressions of comedy are intimately tied to constructions of the nation, history, work, gender difference, and conceptions of the cinematic apparatus. Italian comedy takes a variety of forms: romantic comedy, musicals, comedian comedy (as exemplified in the work of such comic stars as Totò, Macario, Vittorio De Sica, Alberto Sordi, Nino Manfredi, and Roberto Benigni, among others), commedia all'italiana (related to the commedia dell'arte), parody, burlesque, and satire. The chapter explores how memories of Fascism and of the war are still intrinsic to the cultural life and politics of Italy, and how comedy is a major medium for recollection and criticism.

To gain an appreciation of the workings of Italian film comedy, it is necessary to return to films of Fascist era.