Fascism in Fellini's

Fascism undoubtedly played a tremendous role in young Fellini’s life. We are aware of its presence very early in the film and it most certainly had to affect everyone in Italy at he time. Aside from the scenes that demonstrate physical brutality, it seemed to me that much of this film dealt with symbolic and subtextual notions about Fellini’s hatred of fascism.

The first sense of terror I get is at the bonfire. With thick smoke nearly blinding the crowd, a bunch of men stomp on fireworks, causing people to scream and add to the bizarrely chaotic nature of the scene. The burning carcass of the witch is a frightening sight. After viewing this film, I am able to say that black smoke is a motif in this film; it appears often as a symbol of fascism.

In perhaps the most frightening scene in the film, the fascists bring in Aurelio, Titta’s father. In an example of fascist’s paranoia and ridiculous obsession with control, they claim that he is known to have said the meaningless phrase “If Mussolini continues like this, I don’t really know.” They proceed to torture him with castor oil.

I hope I have gotten to most of the references. All I know is that if you’re not looking for this stuff, it’s not easy to find, and that’s part of Fellini’s genius

As the boys follow Gradisca, they see their headmaster, and they give him a fascist salute. The next scene is the parade of fascists. Hundreds of people in uniform stand at attention while hundreds of crazed onlookers cheer at the opportunity to see the fascist leaders. Their appearance is announced with a black cloud that appears out of nowhere. It blankets over the crowd, becoming so thick that you can barely see the group of soldiers and “El Duce” when they emerge from the tunnel. All fascist activity is shown as mindless, choreographed, and obnoxiously loud. We see the children, doing exercises with guns, and the leaders smiling approvingly, happy that these children are “Steady as a rock.” The leaders are shown on platforms that seem to be sky high. They scream like hawks and appear to be much larger than life. Fascism was shown to be, in Ciccio’s fantasy, a way to finally get Aldina, the girl of his dreams. Fellini

Some topics in this essay:
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