Women in Italian neorealism
Italian neorealists, with their characteristic use of realism and thematic-driven narrative, used their medium to explore these established ideals of gender and produce a number of filmic representations of women.
As a result, the cultural media produced in this era was realist in nature, reflecting the stories of socio-economic hardship experienced by all classes of Italian society.
The influence of these expectations is considered to be significant enough that the simultaneous appeal and rejection of a sexualised womanly figure, and the implications of this conflict, was reflected in the Neorealists' response to the country's period of socio-economic upheaval.
In response to the moral devastation of World War II and the decline of Mussolini's fascist regime, Italian filmmakers began to reject the traditional cinematic conventions of the preceding filmic era.
However, the films made both these genres, despite their aesthetic differences, generally served the purpose of producing propagandic cultural material for the Fascist regime in Italy.
[4] In addition to this, the progression and eventual conclusion of the Second World War, resulted in the destruction of Cinecittà, the largest Roman studio complex, and the general shortage of production resources like sets, lighting and sound equipment.
Italian Neorealism arose as an artistic response to the combination of these social and economic factors, and as a result, Neorealist mise-en-scene was dependent on actual locales and the use of unprofessional actors.
As a consequence, Italian Neorealism and the artistic endeavours generated from its influence, are considered to be a response from the cultural industries of the era, to the changing moral, economic, social and human values of the time.
"[7] Neorealists' rejection of Fascist stereotypes, such as that of the subjugated woman, is personified in these three tropes, with both the roles being expressed as strong, feminine presences compensating for a weaker, male lead.
[8] Nevertheless, some Neorealist filmmakers, such as Frederico Fellini, despite engaging in the establishment of strong female leads, did also make use of "sexual stereotypes," with many of their explorations into the human experience rooted in socially conventional portrayals of women.
"[8] The germination of this "natural goodness" lies in the historical influence of Catholicism on the values and structure of Italian society, as well as the Neorealists' rejection of the excessive and consumeristic "diva" characters of a pre-war, Fascist Italy.
However, Neorealist filmmakers' introduction of Realism to mainstream cinematic circles and their exploration of complex, female characters did have an impact on the film movements that followed it, in the latter half of the 20th century.
"[11] Similarly to Fellini's "Nights of Cabiria", the complexity of character that arises from the male-female dynamic, and its relationship with a woman's liberated identity, is a marker of the Neorealist influence on this film.
