I just finished watching "Ladri di Biciclette" (Bicycle Thieves), an Italian film from 1948. It is widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best, Italian film ever made, let alone one of the best films ever made. Period. I'd say it's up there. But this post isn't really about that movie. What I want to write about is the way the movie depicted its setting, Rome, as opposed to other, American-made movies also set in Rome. There's an amazing dichotomy to it, and I think reflects on how tourism in Italy is so much about monuments rather than moments, seeing what you're supposed to see rather than living how you're supposed to live.
Let's start way back at the beginning, in the fall of sophomore year (aka 2009). I took a class called Italy Through Hollywood's Eyes, a survey of five American films made in Italy from 1954 to 1969. The class was meant to get us to think critically about how Italy and Italians were portrayed in film in the post-WWII period and in so doing discover stereotypes inherent in the filmmaking. The reason this matters is that most of these films were set in Rome and yet you see an entirely different side of the city in these films as opposed to Bicycle Thieves. This is what drove me to write this blog. Their different approaches to filming Rome showcase so much about American tourism and the Italian way of life that I had to write my thoughts down.
Three of the films from my class ("Three Coins in the Fountain", "Stazione Termini", and "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone") each concern themselves heavily with showing pretty sights from around Rome and rarely dig in to the city or the people who live there. For example, "Three Coins in the Fountain" revolves around a wish the three main characters (one-dimensional women who conform to every sexist stereotype necessary) make by throwing coins into the Fountain of Trevi. The script serves only as an excuse to film monuments in Rome with floozy women and their debonair yet dangerous Italian lovers serving as ornaments. Next we have "Stazione Termini" which is less about seeing as many monuments as possible (though we do get a Colosseum sighting) and more about how Italian men are seductive and will attempt to corrupt any American women who happen to cross their paths. Finally we have "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" which I guess was an alright movie but still had a stereotyped view of Italy. Specifically, the movie is set almost entirely on the Spanish Steps and features an older American women being terrified of the dirty Italians outside her window.
In contrast to this, we have "Ladri di Biciclette", an uncompromising and heartbreaking look at post-WWII Rome. The film is about a poor family who lives on the outskirts of the city and are struggling to get by; one day the patriarch of the family gets assigned to what is, for him, an amazing opportunity: bicycling around the city putting up posters for a new Rita Hayworth movie. Unfortunately on the first day on the job his bike is stolen and he is left to find the bike by any means necessary (because there is literally no way his family can scrounge together enough money to buy a new one). The film follows him around the day after his bike is stolen, a Sunday, looking anywhere and everywhere he can to find the bike, the thing he absolutely needs to provide for his family. In so doing we see all manner of minutiae of Italian life: Sunday markets, Sunday mass, the dichotomy between rich and poor (an ever-present theme throughout the film which becomes almost overbearing by the end), strength of community, etc.
Even more surprising is that throughout the film we never see any recognizable Roman landmark; the only thing that could clue us in is one scene set on the Po, but its not a particularly unique looking river so we're out of luck. I had no idea the film was set in Rome until I looked it up on Wikipedia, whereas the three films above beat it in to your head that they are set in Rome. That's pretty much all they have going for them, a shallow understanding of the fact that these parts of Rome are famous and therefore people want to see them; "Bicycle Thieves" takes us in to the heart of the city and shows us life, not stagnant monuments that only really had meaning to people long-dead. "Ladri" shows how people live, while "Three Coins", "Stazione Termini" and "Roman Spring" all show how Americans fail to appreciate anything more than skin-deep about the cities we visit while vacationing.
I just found it interesting that these three films perfectly encompass the typical American perspective on traveling to foreign countries, Italy specifically and when compared with "Bicycle Thieves" bring this dichotomy into sharp relief. You have to see all the right places and avoid the locals unless you're sleeping with them rather than taking some time to find out how people live in these cities that are just like any other, and how they see their city. I would like to think that I when I was in Europe I at least was a part of my community in Milan; this is not at all the case for any other city I visited. I was always intensely focused on seeing sights and getting from Point A to Point B (or, more accurately, Museum A to Museum B to Museum C to Piazza A to Tourist Trap A to Hostel) and never truly became a part of the place I was visiting. The only exception I can think of here is when I visited Tübingen; I was lucky that Hillary was there to guide me and show me around and kind of assimilate me while simultaneously doing touristy everything. Even in Venice, where I wandered around on my own for three hours, I didn't absorb any part of the city, I just looked at it and thought "Oh good for me, I'm out here doing something other tourists haven't done" rather than "What can I learn about life here, what can the people who call this city their home show me." I guess what I'm really trying to say is: I want to back to Italy and live there forever. (In all seriousness, I wish I had taken more time to get to know the cities I visited and just walk around more. I felt like I did this a lot with Rome and I'm really happy I did, but "Bicycle Thieves" made me think really seriously about how tourists tend to be detached from the country they are visiting, voyeurs who never sit down and stop and think about how amazing it is to be in the city they are visiting. Most people never get that kind of opportunity, and those who do need to be sure not to squander it. You need to seize the opportunity to learn things about these new surroundings and not just let it slip past you. The end.)
P.S. This is sloppy and hasty and not thorough because I just sat down at my computer and word vomited. It could be better but I just had to write these thoughts down. You're welcome mom for writing a new post. Maybe this will become a regular thing. We'll see.
Let's start way back at the beginning, in the fall of sophomore year (aka 2009). I took a class called Italy Through Hollywood's Eyes, a survey of five American films made in Italy from 1954 to 1969. The class was meant to get us to think critically about how Italy and Italians were portrayed in film in the post-WWII period and in so doing discover stereotypes inherent in the filmmaking. The reason this matters is that most of these films were set in Rome and yet you see an entirely different side of the city in these films as opposed to Bicycle Thieves. This is what drove me to write this blog. Their different approaches to filming Rome showcase so much about American tourism and the Italian way of life that I had to write my thoughts down.
Three of the films from my class ("Three Coins in the Fountain", "Stazione Termini", and "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone") each concern themselves heavily with showing pretty sights from around Rome and rarely dig in to the city or the people who live there. For example, "Three Coins in the Fountain" revolves around a wish the three main characters (one-dimensional women who conform to every sexist stereotype necessary) make by throwing coins into the Fountain of Trevi. The script serves only as an excuse to film monuments in Rome with floozy women and their debonair yet dangerous Italian lovers serving as ornaments. Next we have "Stazione Termini" which is less about seeing as many monuments as possible (though we do get a Colosseum sighting) and more about how Italian men are seductive and will attempt to corrupt any American women who happen to cross their paths. Finally we have "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" which I guess was an alright movie but still had a stereotyped view of Italy. Specifically, the movie is set almost entirely on the Spanish Steps and features an older American women being terrified of the dirty Italians outside her window.
In contrast to this, we have "Ladri di Biciclette", an uncompromising and heartbreaking look at post-WWII Rome. The film is about a poor family who lives on the outskirts of the city and are struggling to get by; one day the patriarch of the family gets assigned to what is, for him, an amazing opportunity: bicycling around the city putting up posters for a new Rita Hayworth movie. Unfortunately on the first day on the job his bike is stolen and he is left to find the bike by any means necessary (because there is literally no way his family can scrounge together enough money to buy a new one). The film follows him around the day after his bike is stolen, a Sunday, looking anywhere and everywhere he can to find the bike, the thing he absolutely needs to provide for his family. In so doing we see all manner of minutiae of Italian life: Sunday markets, Sunday mass, the dichotomy between rich and poor (an ever-present theme throughout the film which becomes almost overbearing by the end), strength of community, etc.
Even more surprising is that throughout the film we never see any recognizable Roman landmark; the only thing that could clue us in is one scene set on the Po, but its not a particularly unique looking river so we're out of luck. I had no idea the film was set in Rome until I looked it up on Wikipedia, whereas the three films above beat it in to your head that they are set in Rome. That's pretty much all they have going for them, a shallow understanding of the fact that these parts of Rome are famous and therefore people want to see them; "Bicycle Thieves" takes us in to the heart of the city and shows us life, not stagnant monuments that only really had meaning to people long-dead. "Ladri" shows how people live, while "Three Coins", "Stazione Termini" and "Roman Spring" all show how Americans fail to appreciate anything more than skin-deep about the cities we visit while vacationing.
I just found it interesting that these three films perfectly encompass the typical American perspective on traveling to foreign countries, Italy specifically and when compared with "Bicycle Thieves" bring this dichotomy into sharp relief. You have to see all the right places and avoid the locals unless you're sleeping with them rather than taking some time to find out how people live in these cities that are just like any other, and how they see their city. I would like to think that I when I was in Europe I at least was a part of my community in Milan; this is not at all the case for any other city I visited. I was always intensely focused on seeing sights and getting from Point A to Point B (or, more accurately, Museum A to Museum B to Museum C to Piazza A to Tourist Trap A to Hostel) and never truly became a part of the place I was visiting. The only exception I can think of here is when I visited Tübingen; I was lucky that Hillary was there to guide me and show me around and kind of assimilate me while simultaneously doing touristy everything. Even in Venice, where I wandered around on my own for three hours, I didn't absorb any part of the city, I just looked at it and thought "Oh good for me, I'm out here doing something other tourists haven't done" rather than "What can I learn about life here, what can the people who call this city their home show me." I guess what I'm really trying to say is: I want to back to Italy and live there forever. (In all seriousness, I wish I had taken more time to get to know the cities I visited and just walk around more. I felt like I did this a lot with Rome and I'm really happy I did, but "Bicycle Thieves" made me think really seriously about how tourists tend to be detached from the country they are visiting, voyeurs who never sit down and stop and think about how amazing it is to be in the city they are visiting. Most people never get that kind of opportunity, and those who do need to be sure not to squander it. You need to seize the opportunity to learn things about these new surroundings and not just let it slip past you. The end.)
P.S. This is sloppy and hasty and not thorough because I just sat down at my computer and word vomited. It could be better but I just had to write these thoughts down. You're welcome mom for writing a new post. Maybe this will become a regular thing. We'll see.
