[Commlist] CFP special issue of the Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies: F. Fellini

*Call for papers*

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*Special Issue of the Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies*

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*With hat and red scarf**. *

*The building of Federico Fellini’s public image***

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*Guest-edited by Clizia Centorrino, Marco Dalla Gassa, Andrea Minuz*

The centenary of the birth of director Federico Fellini in 2020 invites 
a unique opportunity to reassess his contribution to the history of 
Italian culture from new perspectives.

Withhis monumental film production, which has been extensively 
studied—at least from/La dolce vita/forward—the Riminese director 
gradually seeped into Italy’s daily life. While his films have sparked 
lively debates since he first became popular in the 1950s, less 
attention has been devoted to the process that has led many scholars to 
consider him the emblematic figure of the film artist, both as a major 
character in the cultural history of Italy and as the symbol of what is 
quintessentially ‘Italian’.

Unlike other Italian directors, Fellini became a newsworthy and 
publicized figure beginning in the 1960s. He contributed to the creation 
of an ‘elusive’ image of himself (Hodsdon 2017) both through the 
construction of several cinematic alter-egos and through unmistakable 
appearances with his hat and red scarf in documentaries, feature films, 
illustrated news magazines, press and TV reports, and other forms of 
media. Equally, he emerged as a staunch defender of certain political 
and cultural struggles, such as those against television commercials or 
against Berlusconi (who was still an editor at that time). Additionally, 
he became an object of scrutiny and discussion for journalists, critics, 
cinephiles, colleagues, and biographers searching for an openly 
hagiographical definition of the threshold of the Italian artistic 
tradition.

Earlier theoretical contributions have thoroughly assessed the concept 
of ‘author’. Had Mikhail Bakhtin studied Fellini as an aesthetic and 
narrative object, he might have introduced him as a case study in/Author 
and Hero in Aesthetic Activity/to highlight the reciprocal nature 
between his creative acts and his activism on the public scene 
(Bakhtin 1920-23). Michel Foucault, on the other hand, would have 
praised the discursive feature “characterized by […] plurality of egos” 
(Foucault 1969). Roland Barthes, for his linguistic sensibility, might 
have asked how Fellini influenced even common vocabulary such as the 
transformation of his name into an adjective as well as other words such 
as ‘dolcevita’, ‘amarcord’, and ‘vitelloni’ (Barthes 1967-68).

However, from our point of view, it becomes essential to consider 
Fellini from a social and historical angle, calling upon cultural and 
social disciplinesto furnish new analytical perspectives— measuring the 
impact of his personality on today’s and yesterday’s Italy, and on the 
Italian identity abroad. For example, Fellini was keen on creating a 
public image of himself both as a ‘magician’ and as a country bumpkin, 
playing with a combination of two Italian stereotypes: the creative 
artist (the ‘maestro’) and, by a sort of ‘reverse patriotism’, a heap of 
irredeemable flaws (Patriarca 2010). In short, the creation of his 
reputation is a crucial case study of how an ‘artist’ is socially 
constructed and of the cultural forces that influence his public image 
(Kapsis 1992).

This angle unlocks promising and abundant research possibilities: the 
idea of masculinity offered by Fellini’s voice and body 
(his/acousmatic/force, as Chion [1999] would say, is flagrant); the 
fashion in which his cumbersome presence has transformed urban spaces, 
such as Rimini, a film library dedicated to him, the Cinecittà theme 
park, Rome, and the EUR district. Moreover, contributions to this 
special issue can discuss the exoteric vein in Fellini’s life 
experiences as often illustrated in magazines and news outlets; the 
numerous parodies of which he is the unconscious victim; the 
proliferation of commercial activity using the names of his films (here, 
too, are-semanticizedlexicon); and the way in which his wife, and his 
collaborators, friends, and colleagues evoke him in biographies, 
interviews, public statements (Giulietta Masina, Marcello Mastroianni, 
Vincenzo Mollica, Tullio Kezich, Milo Manara).

Overall, the broad and innovative perspective described in this call for 
papers pursues the goal of rediscovering the aspects that contributed to 
Fellini’s mythification and integration into the sphere of Italian 
public speech.If we can believe Morin when he says Fellini “is more than 
an actor incarnating characters, [since] he incarnates himself in them, 
and they become incarnate in him,” (Morin 1961) is it then possible to 
study Fellini as a character//divo/ in the film of social history and 
Italian culture in the last half century? If the articles composing this 
single-issue journal confirm that proposition, may one consider 
Fellinian heritage as the ability to inhabit social spaces, the ability 
to be inscribed in the (Italian) public sphere but in flesh, bones, and 
other phantasmal forms?

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

1.Fellini as an actor (in his films, in others’ films and in documentaries;

2.The embodiment of Fellini: voice and body of the ‘maestro’ on the 
radio, in his films and the question of dubbing his voice;

3.The mediatized Fellini on television, the radio, and in magazines: for 
example, the relation between Fellini and reporter Mollica in RAI 
programs; Fellini in feminist magazines; Fellini in daily newspapers in 
Italy and abroad; the ceremony at Cinecittà following Fellini’s death 
and its representation; and Fellini in contemporary art;

4.Fellini recounted and invented (by his wife Giulietta Masina, his 
collaborators and actors;

5.Fellini and public spaces: transformations in Rimini and Cinecittà, 
‘Fellinian’ commercial activities in the world and cinema tourism;

6.Fellini’s image abroad: the mythification of the director from a 
particular perspective (be it American, European);

7.The illustrated Fellini: comics, graphic novels;

8.The photographed Fellini: themes, motifs, poses; the construction of a 
visual semiotic through famous photographs, in magazines devoted to him;

9.The Fellinian lexicon and its re-semantization: ‘Fellinian’ as an 
adjective.

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 15^th  April 2019.

Interested contributors should send:

-500 word abstracts outlining the topic, approach and theoretical bases

-relevant bibliography and filmography

-200 word biographical notes (including academic publications)

to the three Guest Editors:

Clizia Centorrino, Université Grenoble Alpes

Marco Dalla Gassa, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

Andrea Minuz, Sapienza University of Rome

at the following addresses:

(clizia.centorrino /at/ univ-grenoble-alpes.fr) 
<mailto:(clizia.centorrino /at/ univ-grenoble-alpes.fr)>

(dallagas /at/ unive.it) <mailto:(dallagas /at/ unive.it)>

(andrea.minuz /at/ uniroma1.it) <mailto:(andrea.minuz /at/ uniroma1.it)>

*The accepted proposals will be notified by 30^th April 2019; completed 
articles should be sent by 31^st  July 2019 for peer-review; authors 
will be notified of the results of the peer-review by 15^th  October 2019.*

*References*

Bakhtin, Mikhail Mikhailovich, “Author and hero in aesthetic activity”, 
1920-23, Eng. trans. in Bakhtin, Mikhail Mikhailovich, /Art and 
Answerability/, ed. by M. Holquist and V.V. Liapunov, Austin 1990.

Barthes, Roland, “The Death of the Author”, /Aspen Magazine/, n° 5/6, 1967.

Bondanella, Peter, /The Films of Federico Fellini/, Cambridge University 
Press, Cambridge, New York, 2002.

Burke, Frank, Waller, Marguerite R. (edited by), /Federico Fellini: 
Contemporary Perspectives/, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2002.

Burke, Frank; Waller, Marguerite; Gubareva Marita (edited by), /Wiley 
Blackwell Companion to Federico Fellini/, forthcoming in 2019.

Chion, Michel, /The Voice in Cinema/, Columbia University Press, New 
York, 1999.

Dyer, Richard, /Stars/, British Film Institute, London, 1979.

Fellini, Federico, /Making a film/, Contra Mundum Press, New York, 2015.

Foucault, Michel, “What is an author?” in Preziosi, Donald (edited by), 
/The art of art history: a critical anthology/, Oxford University Press, 
1998, pp. 299-314.

Hodsdon, Barrett, /The Elusive Auteur: The Question of Film Authorship 
Throughout the Age of Cinema/, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 
Jefferson, North Carolina, 2017.//

Kapsis, Robert E., /Hitchcock: the making of a reputation/, Univ. of 
Chicago Press, Chicago, 1992.

Marcus, Millicent, /After Fellini: National Cinema in the Postmodern 
Age/, JHU Press, 2002.

Morin, Edgar, /The stars. An Account of the Star-System in Motion 
Pictures/, Grove Press, New York, 1961.

Patriarca, Silvana, /Italian Vices: Nation and Character from the 
Risorgimento to the Republic/, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010.

Stubbs, John C., /Federico Fellini as Auteur: Seven Aspects of His 
Films/, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, 2015.*Call for 
papers*


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