[DOC] Italian Women Filmmakers and the Gendered Screen (Italian and Italian American Studies) by Maristella Cantini in Arts-Photography

Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Reel Good FunBy Jon AbbottThis book is hilarioushellip; and not even because the writer is a Guardian columnist who thinks The Ten Commandments was McCarthyist or that a dancing cavegirl has invented lsquo;patriarchyrsquo;. Itrsquo;s also funny for a long list of things Raquel Welchrsquo;s tribe have invented One Million B.C. thatrsquo;s too lengthy to copy out here (but of course includes that old favorite; cosmetics); and for such comments as ldquo;Loana points at it (a giant prehistoric iguana) shouting lsquo;Archelon! Archelon!rsquo;; which is clever of her; seeing as it was named by palaeontologist G. R.Wieland in 1896rdquo;.Therersquo;s also such gems as the magnificent ldquo;Itrsquo;s odd to make a homophobic remark (calling the Athenians lsquo;philosophers and boy loversrsquo;) if you are in charge of the Spartan army; which insisted on homosexual contact between mature male warriors and young boys as part of social and martial trainingrdquo;.Itrsquo;s quite clear that author Von Tunzelmann knows her history and loves her film; and this is not the usual book of cheap shots at Hollywood idiocy; carping about commercial dictates; or pointless pedantry of the ldquo;this military officer only had two bars when he should have had threerdquo; variety.It is; as I said; brilliantly; wickedly funny; but sensible about the fair expectations of film makers (who are not educators; certainly not socially responsible; or in many cases even educated) and their audience. Accuracy is important; but we canrsquo;t and shouldnrsquo;t expect it of people making commercial entertainments in a tight time frame for a mass audience. As someone whose favorite TV show is the glorious insanity of The Time Tunnel; a wonderful example of a Hollywood view of history that never lets the facts get in the way of a good story or a great performance; I was completely on message.Nevertheless; real history is important too; and Von Tunzelmann (who points out that even politicians now repeat the impossible tosh that Jewish slaves built the pyramids) finds a wonderful quote from a professor who points out that the best way to teach history is through lsquo;myth-bustingrsquo; rather than lsquo;myth-makingrsquo;. Films and TV shows can be a great way of provoking interest in historical people and events; the minor (or major) errors in which can be intriguingly unravelled later through the joy of learning. After all; the only thing more interesting than finding something out thatrsquo;s true; is finding out something that was never true. People love to debunk.Von Tunzelmann sets out her parameters in a careful and wise introduction; accepting the limitations of artists; industry; and audience; while at the same time offering some always interesting fact-checking in the main text. As someone often accused of putting too much glib humor in my own books about film and TV; and as a reader who tires quickly of dry; fun-draining; poker-faced reference works whose authors have forgotten how to enjoy a good read and a good film; I found Reel History a refreshing bedtime read that only tiredness forced me to close each night.And I lied earlier when I said there were no cheap shots. There are a few; but theyrsquo;re funny. The iconic John Wayne; whose westerns I love; but always made a fool of himself when he took his cowboy hat off; is ldquo;the centurion at the crucifixionrdquo;: ldquo;Itrsquo;s not an ideal moment to have the audience hooting with laughterrdquo; says Von Tunzelmann. And here she is on Ben Hur: ldquo;According to Vidal; Boyd faithfully acted this as a love scene. Heston; less cosmopolitan; was not told what was going onrdquo;.But itrsquo;s not all laffs; either. Von Tunzelmann mounts a solid defence for Alan Turing and other real individuals outrageously marginalised or maligned by mendacious morons more concerned with pandering to contemporary audiences than with their responsibility to real peoplersquo;s honor or reputations (not a new phenomenon; as Zulu indicates; and one of my major pet peeves). If I were an actor; I could never; under any circumstances; knowingly take a role that slandered a real person. Itrsquo;s amazing how many of these happily posturing and pontificating big Hollywood stars twittering away about this and that outrage on social media are able to sweep away any concerns when a big juicy role is on offer.However; like all of us; she occasionally falls into contemporary traps. Having only just pointed out that everyone in the 1940s should be smoking like chimneys (a minor point in my view; like insisting that everyone in the distant past should be short); the author then complains about the ldquo;1950s prejudicerdquo; that homosexuals were a security risk. Gays/homosexuals most certainly were serious security risks at that time; which was one of the major reasons for decriminalisation in the late rsquo;60s; precisely to put an end to the sordid blackmail threats that so compromised people in positions of trust or authority. It wasnrsquo;t about ldquo;homophobiardquo;; it was simply a matter of gays breaking an absurd law; and the attendant public disgrace and punishment that came with it; making them vulnerable to threats of exposure. It is a matter of historical record that many of the most notorious post-war spies were homosexuals. It was; as usual; naked self-interest that drove Parliament to do the right thing; not decency; nobility or compassion; those were side-dishes.On the subject of myth and counter-myth; itrsquo;s said that when Steve Jobs; the founder of Apple; was asked if it was true that he named his company so out of tribute to Turing and his unusual suicide; he replied no; but by God; I wish it was. I love that story.There are two other books of this nature that I know of; Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies; edited by Mark Carnes (Cassell; 1996); and The Hollywood History of the World; by George MacDonald Fraser (Harvell Press; 1996) and both of them are heavy; surprising; fascinating; and useful. But this one is fun; accessible; informative; and breezy; a quick; light; stimulating read. If you love film; love history; or just love a good laugh; this is highly recommended.