Thursday, February 3, 2011
Entry #2
La Dolce Vita was a very interesting film. The first scene starts off with a helicopter transporting a huge Jesus Statue and another news helicopter that is reporting this event. The news helicopter gets side track when they spot a group of women sun bathing on the roof top of an apartment. At first I was very confused I thought this scene was kind of hypocritical " A Jesus statue then a roof top full of women in bikinies weird!!!" However in the end I guess it finally made since. The message they were trying to portray was Jesus with his hands out extending his grace and blessing over the slums of rome "very cool". Already you can start identifying religious themes and motifs that are going to be presented throughtout the film. This movie explain the life of Marcello a journalist living in Rome in the late 1950's searching for a more meaningful and happier way of life. Marcello never actually finds true happiness and fufillment. What is true happiness and fufillment? What was Marcello really looking for? Some questions i would like to discuss. But on a personal note will I ever find true happiness? Or is fufillment be comfortable and acceptable with what you have and continue to live life day by day. Thats how I see it and I could be very happy that way.
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I'm not sure if there was any theme to this movie; religiously I mean, and if there was then I don't think that it was positive, because they had Jesus flying over Rome and women in bikinis, and then the children were pretending to see the Madonna- it's like the movie was poking fun at religion, rather than endorsing it.
ReplyDeleteSorry Russell, but I agree with Ashlee. The scene with the children making a mockery of the wild crowds' faith by running around pretending to see the Madonna, the scene with the Jesus statue and the helicopter, and the scene with Stiener playing inappropriate organ music in the church are all examples that religion isn't being taken seriously at that time.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you and Ashlee are saying.I was just explaining my thoughts as I was watching the movie. I dont actually thing the movie had any religious meaning. What I was saying from that first scene I started thinking if there was going to be a big religious theme developed through out the movie. I apologize if I didnt make that very clear
ReplyDeleteWhat the Jesus seen got me thinking about in my mind was the abundance of the population's religious views to be that of catholicism. In a country where many of the citizens are catholic it's interesting to see men following Jesus in a helicopter stop to talk to bikini-clad women. Are these women more important to them than their lord and savior? Marcello always seemed like a bit of an atheist and I think this scene sort of helped jump-start that train of thought (at least to me) and made me wonder whether or not Marcello's deeds could be thought of as some sort of an allegory for the twentieth century Italian man's battle with finding religion and god in the modern world (just a thought).
ReplyDeleteThat scene with the children seeing the Madonna reminds me so much of 14th century Italian short story writer Giovanni Boccaccio. In his Decameron, there is the story of Ser Ciapelletto (day one story one). A very bad man lies so well in his final confession to the priest that he is taken for a saint and some people are so convinced of his sanctity that God grants them miracles after they pray to him. Underlying is an atheistic viewpoint, but the sense that some people may have faith and may indeed experience God's grace. Boccaccio does not ridicule those believers, but is rather impressed that faith can somehow overcome the ugliness of real life.
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