This paper will be an introduction to a large-scale project, for which we are currently seeking funding, which aims to address the gap in knowledge about the Italian cinema-going public of the 1940s and 1950s, for whom cinema was by far the most popular pastime. Following the model of works that combine ethnographic audience study with analysis of the films, genres and stars that produced audiences’ dominant memories, this project will re-evaluate the popular reception of film by engaging with cinema-going memories. Through the triangulation of box office figures, the popular press and audience interviews, its aim is to provide the first detailed and wide-ranging analysis of cinema audiences in Italy in the 1940s and 1950s. In this paper we will showcase our initial work on 20 trial interviews that have been conducted with Romans over the age of 70. Analysing these interviews, we will offer a new view of cinema-going in the post-war period: one that focuses on the everyday nature of the experience, from the perspectives of gender, genre and national identity.
Treveri-Gennari, Daniela O’Rawe, CatherineHipkins, Danielle
Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment\School of Arts
Year of publication: 2011Date of RADAR deposit: 2018-09-20