Table Of ContentCINEMA, GENDER, AND EVERYDAY SPACE
SCREENING SPACES
Series editor: Pamela Robertson Wojcik
Screening Spaces is a series dedicated to showcasing interdisciplinary books
that explore the multiple and various intersections of space, place, and screen
cultures.
Cinema, Gender, and Everyday Space: Comedy, Italian Style
Natalie Fullwood
Cinema, Gender, and Everyday
Space
Comedy, Italian Style
Natalie Fullwood
CINEMA, GENDER, AND EVERYDAY SPACE
Copyright © Natalie Fullwood, 2015.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-40356-8
All rights reserved.
Figure 3.6 © IL MONDO/RCS Archive
Figures 4.3, 5.1 and 5.13 used with kind permission of the Archivio
storico eni, eni spa
First published in 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-48704-2 ISBN 978-1-137-40357-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137403575
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fullwood, Natalie.
Cinema, gender, and everyday space : comedy, Italian style / Natalie
Fullwood.
pages cm — (Screening Spaces series)
Introduction: Gender, Space and Comedy, Italian Style—Contexts.
Cinema, Space, Gender—Comedy, Italian Style—Spaces. Bodies,
Bikinis and Bras: Beaches and Nightclubs in Comedy, Italian Style—
Masculinity at Work: Offices in Comedy, Italian Style—Driving
Passions: Cars in Comedy, Italian Style—Recipe for Change:
Kitchens in Comedy, Italian Style Conclusion.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Comedy films—Italy—History and criticism. 2. Motion pictures—
Italy—History—20th century. 3. Sex role in motion pictures. 4. Space
in motion pictures. I. Title.
PN1995.9.C55F86 2015
791.43(cid:25)6170945—dc23 2014035666
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: March 2015
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction
Gender, Space, and Comedy, Italian Style 1
Part I Contexts
Chapter 1
Cinema, Space, Gender 15
Chapter 2
Comedy, Italian Style 37
Part II Spaces
Chapter 3
Bodies, Bikinis, and Bras: Beaches and Nightclubs
in Comedy, Italian Style 65
Chapter 4
Masculinity at Work: Offices in Comedy, Italian Style 95
Chapter 5
Driving Passions: Cars in Comedy, Italian Style 129
Chapter 6
Recipe for Change: Kitchens in Comedy, Italian Style 163
Conclusion 197
vi CONTENTS
Notes 205
Filmography 223
Bibliography 233
Index 251
Figures
3.1 “Il ferragosto degli italiani”: dream vs. reality.
Le ore, August 22, 1963 67
3.2 Crowded beaches 69
3.3 The bikini 75
3.4 Looking at the bikini 77
3.5 Nightclub performance 81
3.6 Press coverage of Frenesia dell’estate. Il mondo,
November 12, 1963, p. 19 90
4.1 The old-fashioned executive office 99
4.2 The modern executive office 100
4.3 Monti menswear advert. Oggi, June 20, 1963, p. 37 102
4.4 The open plan office 107
4.5 Kaloderma moisturizer advert. Oggi, May 25, 1961, p. 58 116
4.6 L’impiegato. The office makeover: before and after 120
5.1 A GIP petrol advert. Epoca, December 8, 1963, p. 184.
“Every day the pride of a new car” 134
5.2 The car radio 136
5.3 The traffic jam 140
5.4 “La domenica delle nonne.” Le ore, July 18, 1963, p. 58 141
5.5 The two-shot through the windscreen 1 144
5.6 The two-shot through the windscreen 2 145
5.7 The two-shot through the windscreen 3 146
5.8 The two-shot through the windscreen 4 147
5.9 The two-shot through the windscreen 5 148
5.10 Gassman and Mayniel paparazzi two-shot.
Le ore, November 21, 1963, p. 72 149
5.11 A cavallo della tigre: inclusion and exclusion
through the windscreen 150
5.12 Motorized shot/reverse-shot 151
5.13 AGIP petrol advert. Epoca, April 28, 1963, p. 148 155
viii FIGURES
6.1 The modern kitchen 168
6.2 The kitchen in the rear of the frame 175
6.3 The maid in the rear of the frame 180
6.4 Il maestro di Vigevano. Sordi’s housework 183
6.5 Vedo nudo. Men at work in the kitchen 192
Acknowledgments
T
his book could not have been written without the support of
a number of people and institutions. The research was funded by
the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and I am grateful to
Newnham College and the Department of Italian at the University
of Cambridge for funding a research trip to Rome, essential to the
book’s completion. In Rome, I would like to extend my thanks to
the Emeroteca staff at the Biblioteca Nazionale (and the tortoise),
to the staff at the Biblioteca Luigi Chiarini, to the staff at the two
RAI libraries in Rome, and to the staff of the Sala di Lettura at the
Archivio Centrale dello Stato; all lent their help and expert knowl-
edge in ways that have been invaluable to the project.
I am grateful to RCS MediaGroup for permission to use the image
from Il mondo. Thanks are also due to the Archivio Storico eni for
their permission to use the images from eni and Monti advertising
campaigns.
I would like to thank Robyn Curtis, Erica Buchman, and Mark
Rinaldi at Palgrave MacMillan for their patience and expertise in
steering the book to completion. Thanks also are due to series editor
Pamela Robertson Wojcik for her judicious advice during the process,
and for her championing of all things cinema and space related.
Elements of the book have previously appeared in other forms. Parts
of Chapter 1 appeared in the article “Commedie al femminile: The
Gendering of Space in Three Films by Antonio Pietrangeli,” Italian
Studies, 65 (1), 2010, pp. 85–106. Sections of Chapter 2 appeared in
the article “Popular Italian Cinema, the Media and the Economic
Miracle: Rethinking Commedia all’italiana,” Modern Italy, 18(1),
2013, pp. 19–39.
Parts of the book have been presented at a variety of institutions,
including the Universities of Notre Dame, Cambridge, Southampton,
Durham, Exeter, and Bristol, and at CineRoma, the University of
Notre Dame’s Rome Seminar. I am extremely grateful to those who
