Italy in Early American Cinema: Race, Landscape, and the Picturesque

by Giorgio Bertellini

Giorgio Bertellini traces the origins of American cinema's century-long fascination with Italy and Italian immigrants to the popularity of the pre-photographic aesthetic--the picturesque. Once associated with landscape painting from northern Europe, the picturesque came to symbolize Mediterranean Europe through comforting views of distant landscapes and exotic characters. Taking its cue from a picturesque stage backdrop from The Godfather Part II, Italy in Early American Cinema shows how this aesthetic was traveled from 18th- and 19th-century painters to early 20th-century filmmakers, and from Europe to the U.S. Italy in Early American Cinema offers readings of early films that pay close attention to how landscape representations that were related to narrative settings and filmmaking locations conveyed distinct ideas about racial difference and national destiny.

464 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 2009