Film at the service of revolution: Bertolucci's use of the rhetoric of the Italian Communist Party in 1900

This dissertation explores the influence of the rhetorical tradition of the Italian Communist Party on Bernardo Bertolucci's 1976 film, 1900. The methodological framework draws from three major areas of scholarship: film studies, Bakhtinian Carnival theory, and symbolic anthropology. The work of David Kertzer on Italy in the 1970s illuminates Bertolucci's appropriation of Communist Party rhetoric.; Chapter 2 uses criteria developed in Victor Stam's 1989 book, Subversive Pleasures to establish 1900 as a Carnival film. The major new claim of this dissertation is that Bertolucci developed Carnival theory in a particular way so as to encompass the discoveries of social historians about the role of the Charivari ritual in early modern Europe. Chapter 3 explains how Bertolucci uses the rhythm of the ritual to move the viewer towards enthusiasm for the socialist utopia presented.; Chapter 4 explores the rhetorical tradition of the Italian Communist Party, both defining the Italian national myth about World War Two and examining Bertolucci's use of that myth. It suggests pressures shaping the film arising from circumstances in Italy during the 1970s. It surveys Italian history, tracing the labor movement in the Red Belt from the early years of the twentieth century, showing how the film endorses a particular interpretation of the Revoltist tradition. Kertzer's research on the Italian Communist Party's attempt to appropriate Roman Catholic ritual into its propaganda is explored.; Chapter 5 relates Charivari ritual to broad themes about the role of social justice in a peasant society, raising two crucial issues about dealing with a historically situated text. The first of these is the war crimes trials held after World War Two. The relationship between the actual trials and their use in the film is explored. Secondly, it addresses the question of historical truth and the ending of the film. It situates these issues within Bertolucci's career, discussing his belief in the power of the peasant culture of the Emilia region as a weapon against the television culture he saw as undermining Italian regional traditions.