Bisogni e desideri : società, consumi e cinema in Italia dalla ricostruzione al boom

Abstract

The aim of this research is to retrace the Italian’s imaginary in the cultural transition that took place in the post-­‐war period, when from a rural nation Italy became a modern mass society: to examine this evolution from the miserable conditions of the post-­‐war period to the economic boom years, the analysis will focus on the change that has most influenced the daily life of Italians – the evolution of consumption and change of habits – through the film lense of coeve popular films production. During the period considered, the movie comedy has recorded the changes that occurred in the Italian society, often redefining the collective imaginary in terms of needs and desires. The discussion is divided into two parts. The first part outlines the contours of the historical context: the first chapter offers an overview on the evolution of post-­‐war consumption and defines the research perspective, reviewing the stages that characterized the post-­‐war period in a periodization related to a reading of consumption – which reflects the subdivision of the proposed analysis in “needs” and “desires”. The second chapter describes the conditions of Italian cinema after the Second World War, both to understand the reasons that make it a crucial point to observe the change of Italian society, and to outline the reciprocity between the history of cinema and the history of Italian society in that moment. Thanks to these particolar conditions, it is then possible to proceed with the second part, analysing the movies in relation to the objectives of the research: the third and fourth chapter are focused respectively to the Needs of Reconstruction and to the Desires of the "Italian Miracle".