‘Voi e il cinema’. Visual culture, gender and cinema consumption in Fascist Italy (1938–43)

Bibliographic Data

ID21136847
AuthorsBarbara Montesi (0000-0002-8439-0493, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume31
Issue1
Pages1-24
Publication date2025-09-12
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueModern Italy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1353-2944 • E-ISSN: 1469-9877
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/mit.2025.10076
OpenAlexW4414261600
LanguageEN
References cited19

This article analyses the agony column ‘Voi e il cinema’, launched in November 1938 in Cine illustrato , one of the most popular film magazines of the time. ‘Voi e il cinema’ invited readers to share their acting aspirations, but also to send in photographs of themselves that might contain the defining feature of a diva: photogenicity. The magazine was flooded with images of ‘ordinary young Italian women’ that created an intermediate visual grammar. Focusing on both the photographs and the editors’ responses, the article reveals how shared consumption practices redefined the relationship between public and private space. It also highlights the distance of the readers’ self-representations from Fascist models and sheds light on the role of American star culture in creating the ‘modern’ subject. Although they were not politically opposed to Fascist models, the photographs reveal a strong desire for social change and the perception of such change, particularly in relation to traditional female roles

Movie theater · Perception · Popular culture · Visual culture · European history and politics · French Historical and Cultural Studies · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society

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