LIFE IN FASCIST ROME
SPORT AND PROPAGANDA
Propaganda was a very important aspect of the fascist regime. It created an apparent sense of unity in the Italian nation that reflected the important characteristics of a fascist society. In addition to the public displays of Fascist ideals made visible in the roads and builings of Rome in the 1930's, Il Duce's propaganda tactics expanded into private life.
Mussolini wanted to reconfigure private life in ways that would link each inidivual citizens to the Fascist nation. This was in part achieved by the emphasis of sport and health. Sports were a way to unify and tie the present back to ancient Rome and exhibit the virility of the Fascist human. Propaganda in film was subtle. Cinema was used as entertainment as well as a platform for demonstrating fascist ideals.
Organized Sports ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIDEO, ABOVE: This Luce clip from 1933 shows the large group athletic exercises typical of public sport displays under fascist rule in Italy.
VIDEO, ABOVE: This British Pathe Clip from 1932 celebrates the opening of the new Foro Mussolini, a monument to Fascist love of the ancient world and to the party's commitment to reinvigorate all Italians.
Organized sports were central to reorganization of daily life in Fascist Rome. Fascism needed men who would be fit and disciplined, be ready to fight on a moment’s notice, and be willing to die for the revolution and the fatherland. Although the focus on physcial fitness was predominantly men, women were also expected to be physically fit through the participation of sports. In each neigborood, Mussolini opened recreational centers that included soccer, tennis, and fitness fields. The purpose of this intense training for men and women was to strive for modern fulfillment of the ancient Roman warriors and mothers.
Along with neighborhood recreational centers, Mussolini oversaw the construction of a large public stadium, aptly called the Foro Mussolini, to attest to the power and virility of the new Fascist man. Starting in the late 1920’s, buildings went under construction to create facilities to mirror this ideal, athletic Roman. These buildings were known as “sports city” to demonstrate the commitment to youth sports and physical fitness. The massive area included an Olympic stadium, tennis courts, youth hostels, and sun therapy camps for the frail and ill youth. The entrance to the facilities are marked by a column dedicated to Mussolini, monuments recounting to the history of fascism and war, and mosaic art depicting fascist themes and slogans. Some of the slogans stated: “Duce, we dedicate our youth to you”; “Better to live one day as a lion than a hundred as a sheep”; "It is necessary to win, but it is more necessary to fight". Through it's pagentry, the history, and the appopriation of Roman architectural elements, it inspires the individual to be apart of the collective social body.
SLIDESHOW, ABOVE: The Foro Mussolini, now known as the Foro Italico, remains a major recreational space for Romans. The city's soccer team holds its games at the newly built stadium at the Foro's center. After the war the complex was used as as camp and staging ground for allied troops. Photos: MU Students 2014.
FILM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition to promoting fascist education in schools, Mussolini also understood the benefits of cinema and the power of media in its effects on the public. Control of the newspapers, film and radio were central to the appearance of a powerful and omnipresent fascist regime. By the mid-1930s film emerged as one of the critical means of disseminating fascist propaganda at home and abroad.
Mussolini inaugurated Cinecittà in the spring of 1937 (see video, left) with the powerful slogan of "Il cinema è l'arma più forte," or, "Cinema is the most powerful weapon." (1) Cinecittà boosted the weak Italian feature film industry; between 1938 and 1940 production ranged from 36 to 55 films per year. The film industry was funded by the Fascist regime and high productions quotas were set. Cinecittà also became the home of Luce, the Fascist propaganda machine which boasts an expansive historical archive from the 1920s onward. Instead of commercial films, Luce focused on nonfictional works, namely newsreels and documentaries, in promotion of Fascist achievements (2).
While few films were imported from Axis countries, there was a general ban on the importation of films. This was another Fascist tactic for control of public opinion and furthered the Italian goal of self-sufficiency. The state-controlled censorship board, Direzione Generale per la Cinema, monitored film content to ensure its compliance with Fascist governmental ideals (2).
VIDEO, ABOVE: Mussolini Inagurates Cinecittà. This Luce clip shows Mussolini's inauguration of Cinecittà on May 5th, 1937, in front of crowds of the excited fascist public.
Fascist Films
Film History critics have divided films produced under Fascist Cinema at Cinecittà into one of two categories: either escapist films, which do not directly articulate Italian life, or propaganda films, which portray the perspective and ideals of the Fascist State. White telephone talkies, one form of escapist film, mimicked comedies filmed in America and were characterized by a heightened sense of drama upon the answering of the ringing white telephone.
Other films glorified war and patriotism, these included: Vecchio Guardia by Blasetti, and Il Grande Appello by Camerini and Soldati and Camicia Nera by Forzano tracing the rise of fascism. Passaporto Rosso by Brignone released in 1935, narrating the story of an emigrant family in Buenos Aires conveyed the message that an Italian's love of country was deeply rooted in Italian blood throughout the generations.
Post War
The hardship of war from 1942-1945 caused Cinecittà to rapidly decrease film production to a mere seven films a year. Floodlights were replaces with candles just as famous actors disappeared from production. The studio became home to the homeless, the evacuated, and the refugees of Rome. The once-prosperous Cinecittà came to mirror an inner-city suburb. By 1948, once the initial pain of war faded, a new era dawned on the studio and Cinecittà was back to business.
After Italian liberation at the end of WWII, well-known directors such as Roberto Rossellini switched from directing films fulfilling Fascist propaganda to becoming artists at the forefront of Italian neorealism and postwar film. Postwar neorealism films, such as Roma Città Aperta, represented realistic conditions of Italian life including poverty, injustice, oppression, and desperation (3). Personal testimonies and actual plights during the war served as inspiration for these films.
Sources:
Cinnecittà Museo di Fellini
Ricci, Steven. Cinema and Fascism: Italian Film and Society, 1922-1943
Jacqueline Reich, Piero Garofalo, eds. Re-viewing Fascism: Italian Cinema, 1922-1943 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,) 2002