Dear Earthlings:
As promised, the intro to my UCHI project presented on September 12, 2012. Check it out an watch the three beautiful clips, with a finale of a "bisexual kiss."
I'll stay tuned for your comments.
Introduction
Amorous Visions: Fluid
Sexual Moments in Italian Cinema
Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio, PhD
Anna
and Giulia in Bertolucci’s The Conformist, 1970
Intent
Providing evidence for the argument that "sexual fluidity" and "amorous inclusiveness" are natural elements in the human expression of love.
Using Italian cinema as an art form that bears witness to that truth.
Abstract
This
study articulates a new interpretation of pivotal scenes in selected classics
of Italian cinema based on the cultural constructs of “amorous inclusiveness”
and “sexual fluidity” elaborated in recent cultural analyses of human sexual,
erotic, and amorous behavior (Ryan and Jetha 2010, Diamond 2009). These
classics include Pasolini’s Teorema
(1968), where a mysterious guest awakens the erotic libido of all members in a
nuclear family, and Bertolucci's The
Conformist (1970), where a charming hostess similarly awakens both members
of a newlywed couple. Based on these new interpretive paradigms, these scenes
acquire a new meaning that discloses the bisexual and polyamorous content
therein. This enables more positive and complete understandings of the films as
projects that artistically express love for love, or erotophilia. As an
experienced scholar who charted new research fields that study love as the art
of crossing beyond sexual divides and exclusivity (BiTopia, 2011), I am uniquely prepared to articulate these
interpretations.
Research and Contribution
Based on Deleuze's
postmodern philosophy of cinema (1986), a film scene is a “movement-image” that
stills time for future generations of viewers and can inspire transforming
practices and movements. In many classics of Italian film, these scenes reflect
pre-modern belief systems that precede monogamy and hetero/homo-normativities. As the expression of a 20th century
cinematic culture and tradition, Italian film encodes many of the contrasting
beliefs that have historically characterized the multiple cultures that have
inhabited the peninsula. For example, the notion that love is an art and desire
is fluid was common in antiquity, when the modern concept of sexuality did not
exist. This situation provides a fertile context for the study of a film’s
diegetic structure that pivots on scenes where the socio-sexual conventions of
monogamy and monosexuality are momentarily suspended. Are these cinematic
moments “bisexual”? Are they “polyamorous”? In this cinematic culture a
director is considered the “author” (or auteur)
of a film. What do the scenes reveal about this author? Is the director’s gaze
coded in them? Why do the films appear so “queer” even though they are not part
of an LGBTQ film tradition? To what extent do new generations of viewers get to
redefine what these moments mean?
Interpretive Perspective
The interpretive
perspective I propose is authorized by numerous recent studies of human sexual
fluidity and amorous inclusiveness that converge in assessing its biological
and cultural roots. Lisa Diamond’s longitudinal study of women’s sexual desire
proves that sexual orientation exists alongside with variable degrees of sexual
fluidity (2009). Matthew Ripley (et al.)’s study of bisexual men registers an
increasing degree of comfort with this practice and identity at least in the
secular world. Based on recent findings in Clinical Psychology at Northwestern
University and from the Human Rights Commission, bisexual behavior turns out to
be natural and healthy for a large number of humans (Rosenthal, LGBT Advisory
Committee, 2011). Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha’s study of the prehistoric
origins of human sexuality proves that inclusive behavior in both sexual and
parental love has been prevalent in human cultures and communities over the
course of the prehistoric life of our species (2010). Monogamy is a social
construct that becomes normative with history. Our species is not biologically
programmed for it, which explains why so many people have trouble adjusting to
it.
Revisiting the "Fluid," "Inclusive" Scenes
If sexual fluidity and
amorous inclusiveness are “natural” for humans, then it is a good idea to look
again at classics of Italian cinema for scenes of “sexual fluidity” and
“amorous inclusiveness.” What do these scenes mean? Why are they significant?
What new visions do they authorize if interpreted as cinematic moments that
establish an early legitimacy for behaviors subsequently found to be natural
for our species? Why do we still so often perceive these behaviors as “queer”?
Can our vision of what is natural transform to include these behaviors too? How does the authority of new science about sexual
fluidity and amorous inclusiveness in humans legitimate these new visions? These are questions in my mind as I plan to
revisit the erotic awakening of Francesca and Silvana in Riso amaro (1948); the one the guest bestows on the frigid nuclear
family members of Pasolini’s Teorema
(1968). The charming French
hostess, in Bertolucci's The Conformist
(1970) similarly awakens the newlywed Italian couple writhing with erotophobia
from the Fascist regime; and a number of other similar scenes.
Silvana and Francesca bond as confidantes in Riso Amaro
Anna and Giulia dance together in The Conformist
As the new
paradigms of “sexual fluidity” and “amorous inclusiveness” are put to work
toward interpretations of classics of Italian cinema whose world fame exceeds
their original cultural location, these interpretations will bring up
unsuspected continuities. Binaries around which human sexual, erotic, and
amorous behaviors have been organized include homosexuality and
heterosexuality, monogamy and polyamory, modernity and antiquity. The cultural
polarizations these binaries produce are in the way of envisaging worlds beyond
these binaries. Directors whose key scenes represent “fluid” and “inclusive”
moments produce visions of worlds possible beyond these binaries, were love for
love, or erotophilia, prevails over erotophobia, or fear of love. A recent example of this is the fluid,
inclusive kiss scene in Ferzan Ozpetek The
Ignorant Fairies (2001).
Antonia and Michele exchange a "bisexual kiss" in The Ignorant Fairies
The Million Dollar Question:
How can we create a world where Massimo, the shared lover who binds Michele and Antonia erotically, wouldn't have to be dead for Michele and Antonia to kiss?
How can humanities-based interdisciplinary research help to make this happen?
Thank you!
Work Cited List
Primary Sources
Bertolucci, Bernardo. Il conformista/The
Conformist. Rome: Green Film,
1970.
De
Santis, Giuseppe. Riso amaro/Bitter Rice. Rome: Lux, 1948.
Ozpetek, Ferzan. Le fate ignoranti/His Secret Life. Rome: Medusa, 2001.
Pasolini, Pier Paolo. Teorema. Rome: Aetos Film, 1968.
Secondary
Sources
Anderlini-D’Onofrio,
Serena. “Bisexual Games and
Emotional Sustainability in Ferzan Ozpetek’s Queer Films.” New
Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film: 2: 3 (2004): 163-174.
Anderlini-D’Onofrio,
Serena. Gaia and the New Politics of Love: Notes for a Poly Planet. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 2009.
______ ed. BiTopia: Selected
Proceedings from BiReCon 2010. Routledge, 2011.
Deleuze,
Gilles. Cinema 1: The Movement-Image. Tomlinson, Hugh, tr. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
Press, 1986.
______ .
Cinema 2: The Time-Image. Tomlinson, Hugh, tr. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota
press, 1989.
LGBT
Advisory Committee. Bisexual Invisibility: Impacts and
Recommendations. San
Francisco: Human Rights Commission, 2011.
Ripley, Matthew,
Adrian Adams, Robin Pitts, Eric Anderson.
“The
Decreasing Significance of Stigma in the Lives of Bisexual Men: Keynote
Address.” In BiTopia: Selected Proceedings from BiReCon. New York: Routledge, 2011.
Ryan,
Christopher and Cacilda Jetha. Sex
at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality. New York: Harper, 2010. Kindle Edition.
Dear Earthlings,
 |
| Courtesy of Poliamore Italia |
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Education is the heart of democracy, education to love. Come back for more wonders.
Namaste,
Namaste,
Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD
Professor of Humanities
Professor of Humanities
University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez
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