OVERVIEW

The course aims to analyze and discuss selected aspects of the relationships between cinema, cultural history, and the methodologies of cultural studies.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The objective of the teaching is to deepen students' knowledge of the history of cinema through a culturalist perspective, analyzing its characters, themes, figures, genres and authors in relation to its relationship with the media system and with the cultural history. The aim of teaching is also to investigate cinema in a network of socio-cultural discourses that can enable students to understand its interactions with the cultural, visual, productive, and economic framework of reference. The teaching also aims to offer methodological, critical and analytical tools to understand phases, contexts and themes in the history of cinema, media and the cultural industry.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the main theoretical and historiographical issues concerning the relationship between cinema and cultural history. They should be able to develop independent and critical perspectives on the methods of cultural history as applied to film history and theory. They should also be familiar with, and able to discuss, the key aspects of the film case studies examined during the course, as well as the historical and theoretical issues associated with them.

PREREQUISITES

No prerequisites are required.

TEACHING METHODS

The course will consist of lectures, presentations, screenings, and seminar-style discussions in the classroom.

Students are encouraged to enroll in the course page on the Aulaweb platform.

Students with disabilities or specific learning disorders (SLD) can find information on how to request support services, compensatory tools, exemption measures, and specific aids in the document available at the following link:  https://unige.it/disabilita-dsa/modulistica

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Elements of the Cultural History of Sexuality through Italian Cinema

This course aims to explore, from a cultural history perspective, selected phenomena and aspects of the history of sexuality through cinema and the media. It will examine the ways in which sexual themes have been addressed, with particular attention to Italian cinema of the 1960s and 1970s, and with specific reference to issues such as the representation of the body, gender roles, male identity, changing family structures, and nudity in selected examples of auteur cinema, erotic cinema, and popular cinema.

A central role will be given to questions of stardom and celebrity culture as vehicles for the re-examination and renegotiation of erotic and sexual issues. Through a comparative analysis of films, images, archival documents, paratextual sources, and scholarly and journalistic articles, the course will investigate the ways in which sexuality and eroticism have been represented and narrated within a specific period of Italian film history and, more broadly, within the cultural history of Italy.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Program for 6 CFU

1. Gabriele Rigola, L'officina dell'attore. Una storia culturale del divismo cinematografico in Italia, Meltemi, Milano, 2025 (Study only Chapters 1, 2, 4, 5)
2. Giovanna Maina, Federico Zecca (a cura di), Sessualità nel cinema italiano degli anni Sessanta. Forme, figure e temi, «Cinergie», n. 5, 2014 ( https://cinergie.unibo.it/issue/view/629/57) (Study only the section on sexuality)
3. Francesco Di Chiara, Gabriele Rigola (a cura di), Voglie matte, merli maschi, peccati veniali. La questione sessuale nel cinema popolare italiano dal miracolo economico all’avvento del porno, «Schermi», anno V, n. 9, 2021 (https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/schermi/article/view/16079/14405) (Study only five essays of your choice).

Program for 9 CFU

1. Gabriele Rigola, L'officina dell'attore. Una storia culturale del divismo cinematografico in Italia, Meltemi, Milano, 2025 (To be studied in full)

2. Giovanna Maina, Federico Zecca (a cura di), Sessualità nel cinema italiano degli anni Sessanta. Forme, figure e temi, «Cinergie», n. 5, 2014 ( https://cinergie.unibo.it/issue/view/629/57) (Study only the section on sexuality)

3. Francesco Di Chiara, Gabriele Rigola (a cura di), Voglie matte, merli maschi, peccati veniali. La questione sessuale nel cinema popolare italiano dal miracolo economico all’avvento del porno, «Schermi», a. V. n. 9, 2021 (https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/schermi/article/view/16079/14405) (To be studied in full)

Non-attending students must also include / add: Gabriele Landrini, Giovanna Maina, Federico Zecca (a cura di), Sesso e volentieri. Storie e forme dell'erotismo nel cinema italiano, "Quaderni del CSCI", n. 18, 2022

Mandatory filmography:

Dolci inganni (Lattuada, 1960)

Il magnifico cornuto (Pietrangeli, 1964)

Vedo nudo (Risi, 1969)

Il Decameron (Pasolini, 1971)

Malizia (Samperi, 1973)

Gruppo di famiglia in un interno (Visconti, 1974)

La liceale (Tarantini, 1975)

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Week of September 15, 2026, according to the timetable.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam will be oral.

Erasmus students who are not sufficiently proficient in Italian may agree on a substitute bibliography and take the exam in English or French.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral exam will assess knowledge of the specific topics covered in class and presented in the readings, with particular attention to analytical and critical abilities in discussing and problematizing them.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For any other information, please contact the instructor.