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Fascist Spectacle http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft18700444&chunk.id=0&doc.v... central government. [129] Newsreels also presented the Italian public with images of ― 176 ― Africans' enthusiasm for Italy's moral mission. [130] Entire villages, according to fascism's propaganda, asked Italy for protection. [131] These first signs of recognition of Italy's virtue were harbingers of her final victory in the conflict. As in melodrama, they forecast the triumph of good over evil, an affirmation of ethical values. Thus, when the Italian troops entered Addis Ababa on May 15, 1936, in the final stage of the war, Mussolini hailed their conquest as a moral success: Black Shirts of the Revolution! Men and women of all Italy! Italians and friends of Italy beyond mountains and seas: listen! The General Badoglio cables me: Today, the fifth of May, at four P.M., at the head of the victorious troops, I entered Addis Ababa. During the thirty centuries of her history, Italy lived many memorable hours, but today's is certainly one of the most solemn. I announce to the Italian people and the world that the war is over. I announce to the Italian people and the world that peace is reestablished. [132] In this beginning of his important speech on victory, Mussolini emphasized the end of the war and the establishment of peace. Only later did he announce, "Ethiopia is Italian!" And, he immediately added, "rightly Italian, because with the gladius of Rome it is civilization that triumphs over barbarism, that justice triumphs over cruel will, that poor people's redemption triumphs over millenary slavery." [133] Then he ended his speech: Today's is an unforgettable date for the Revolution of the Black Shirts. And the Italian people, who resisted, who did not bend to the siege and to the League's hostility, deserves, as a protagonist, to live this great day. Black Shirts of the Revolution! Men and women of all Italy! One stage of our march has been reached, let us continue to march in peace. [134] Italy had been mistreated, humiliated, and put under siege and had sacrificed its youth during the conflict. But in the end it had triumphed. Not only had it defeated barbarians and brought them civilization; the "poor" Italians had also shown stamina in front of economic sanctions intended to bend and "starve" them. Through it all, Italy intended to continue and "march in peace." In a sublime way, it represented a new ethical order. Four days after the speech of victory Mussolini proclaimed the foundation of the empire. In a rare night appearance from the balcony of Palazzo Venezia he told the Italians that the fascist empire was one ― 177 ― of peace, because Italy wants peace for herself and for all and decides to war only when commanding, irrepressible necessities force her. Empire of civilization and humanity for all the populations of Ethiopia. [135] The stress on moral victory and virtue was reasserted in this address, as well as in the one Mussolini delivered when the economic sanctions were finally lifted, on July 15, 1936. Today, the fifteenth of July of the year XIV, on the ramparts of world sanctionism the white flag has been raised. . . . [In Italy] nobody trembled, nobody bent: all were ready for any sacrifice, though cultivating in their hearts the certainty that at the end civilization and justice would prevail in Africa and Europe. [136] In the aftermath of the victory, Mussolini continued to present an image of Italy as the defender of justice and ethical order. [137] Nothing and nobody could tarnish the outstanding morality of fascist 104 of 199 7/11/2006 12:54 AM
Fascist Spectacle http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft18700444&chunk.id=0&doc.v... Italy. Images of tractors illustrated the beneficial effects of the Italian occupation, epitomizing the arrival of technology. [138] Newsreels visually conveyed signs of Italy's recognized virtue. In Addis Ababa roads and buildings suddenly appeared—markers of renewal that dignified the Ethiopian capital of the new Italian empire. [139] At the same time, "enthusiastic" welcomings of the indigenous populations took place during the visits of fascist dignitaries in the "liberated" lands. [140] This reality proved once more that the regime had conducted "one of the most just wars that History remembers." [141] The Manichean vision of the world, the dramaturgy of virtue, and the emphasis on victimization composed the referential structure within which fascism, through its leader, Mussolini, interpreted its own actions and presented them to the people. As Peter Brooks writes: "At its most ambitious, the melodramatic mode of conception and representation may appear to be the very process of reaching a fundamental drama of the moral life and finding the terms to express it." [142] References to an ongoing ethical struggle that pitched evil against a morally superior order, the representation of fascist Italy as the virtuous victim, and the belief in the final triumph of justice constituted the main narrative units the regime utilized to tell its tale of the Ethiopian conflict. [143] In the process of being woven and plotted, these narrative elements also participated in the making of fascism's history. The regime's refusal to abide by the League's rules, the Italians' struggle against the sanctions, and the submission of the Ethiopians to fascist law, as a proof of Italy's higher value, marked the unfolding of events in the Italo-Ethiopian ― 178 ― dispute and determined their course. A melodramatic frame encapsulated the regime's deeds and contained its warlike aims. The rules of melodrama also governed Mussolini's acting style and diction. The Duce's public appearances during the Ethiopian conquest were characterized by hyperbolic oratory and spectacular excitement. Mussolini's grandiose phraseology and bombastic speeches highlighted a message of virtue, and his presentations relied upon a peculiar repertoire of exaggerated, excessive facial expressions and bodily postures—a range of performance signs that typically belong to melodramatic acting. [144] Indeed, many of his contemporaries recognized in Mussolini theatrical qualities. Aldo Garosci, recalling a live speech of Mussolini in Turin, reports his mother's disappointed conclusions: "a Neapolitan actor." Although this comment in part shows the traditional antisouthern sentiment of Italian northerners, it also highlights Mussolini's magnified expressiveness, which the Turin lady identified with actors of southern provenance (although Mussolini was from the North). [145] Indeed, the macroscopic character of Mussolini's mimicry often led to a depiction of the dictator as an "opera star." [146] In a country whose popular culture was fully rooted in opera—one of the foremost expressions of melodrama—the narrative construction of the Ethiopian conflict contained all elements able to capture people's imagination. The African story, with its moral drama and its repertoire of clichés, including bombastic solemnity, sentimentalism, and noble passions, appealed to what Antonio Gramsci once called the Italians' "meldoramatic taste," their operatic conception of life. [147] If, as many affirm, the time of the Ethiopian war witnessed the Italians' utmost support for the regime, some of this support can be explained through reference to the narrative structure of the event. Melodrama, in its operatic form, was very popular in Italy, and artistic production of operas was quantitatively significant during the regime, both through films [148] and, more notably, through mobile outdoor theaters, the carri di tespi . [149] These theaters, which could be assembled and disassembled in less than an hour, were originally assigned the goal of bringing live performances to areas lacking show halls. In 1929 the first carro teatrale , which like its successors displayed a fascio littorio on its upper front, was inaugurated for theatrical representations. In 1930, a larger carro for opera (carro lirico ) began touring the Italian peninsula with a repertoire that included Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Mascagni, and Bellini. The carro lirico drew much more popular success than the carro teatrale ; it performed forty-three shows in 1931, eighty-seven in 1932, and in the following years it offered around eighty representations, only to slow down in 1936. [150] In general, the regime's cultural politics favored lyric theaters, and it financed opera in several ways. ― 179 ― The composer and director Pietro Mascagni, for example, was the largest beneficiary of the funds administered by the Ministry of Popular Culture from 1933 to 1943. [151] In 1928, with the aim of establishing a prestigious institution in Rome, the regime preferred opera to theater and created the Teatro Reale dell'Opera. [152] In 1938, during the Italian Musical Summer (EMI) established by the Ministry of Popular Culture, 392 operas were staged, against 52 theatrical shows. [153] 105 of 199 7/11/2006 12:54 AM
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