Mass culture and Italian society from fascism to the Cold War / David Forgacs and Stephen Gundle.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Forgacs, David.

Contributor:

Gundle, Stephen, 1956-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mass media--Italy--History--20th century.

Mass media.

Mass media--Political aspects--Italy--History--20th century.

Mass media--Political aspects.

History.

Italy.

Physical Description:

xvi, 351 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, [2007]

Summary:

The 1930s to the 1950s in Italy witnessed large increases in film-going, radio-listening, and the sale of music and weekly magazines. The industries that made and sold commercial, cultural products were transformed by the new technologies of reproduction and new approaches to marketing and distribution.

Yet historians tend to place the "real" genesis of mass culture in the 1960s, or to generalize about the harnessing of mass culture to the Fascist political project, without considering what kind of mass culture existed at the time and whether this harnessing was successful. This book draws on extensive new evidence, including oral histories and archival material, to explore possible continuities between the uses of mass culture before and after World War II.

Contents:

Introduction: Culture, Place, and Nation 1

Part 1 Cultural Consumption and Everyday Life

1 Patterns of Consumption 27

2 Practices of the Self: Intimacy, Sexuality, Sport, Fashion 63

Part 2 Cultural Industries and Markets

3 Publishing: Books, Magazines, and Comics 95

4 Film Production 124

5 The Film Market: Distribution, Exhibition, and Stars 146

6 Radio and Recorded Music 168

Part 3 Politics and Mass Culture

7 State Intervention in Cultural Activity 197

8 Civil Society and Organized Leisure 233

Appendix 1 The Oral History Project / Marcella Filippa 281

Appendix 2 Table of Interviewees 289.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [331]-344) and index.

ISBN:

9780253349811

0253349818

9780253219480

0253219485

OCLC:

154308949