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Hollywood Glamour in Postwar Italy
conveniences. In this context certain important changes occurred. In the first place
the body ceased to be perceived in terms of the Catholic flesh/spirit dichotomy, or
the left’s idea of it as a tool of work, and became the object of care and attention. 47
The shift was reflected in a more modern idea of beauty and eroticism that no
longer arose from the fixed relations of a static, rural society, but was to some
extent free-floating in an American way. In the 1960s it became common to see
images of glamorous women in advertisements in Italy and for Italian products.
Many of these, however, referred directly to an American lexicon. The “blondes”
of Perroni beer and the elegant illustrated glamour girls of Vespa scooters (replaced
by actresses and live models in the mid-1960s) both stand witness to this. It was
the American way of life that provided the framework of Italy’s boom and which
helped integrate the country in terms of a national cross-class imagined realm.
Combined with this shift there was a tendential move away from archaic ideas
of honor, shame and sin. In the 1950s many films were made which featured the
word “peccato” (sin) in the title, suggesting simultaneously condemnation and
titillation. La Dolce Vita was intensely controversial and in many ways a watershed.
48 On the one hand, the film was severely condemned by established and
conservative opinion. The presentation of elite life in the eternal city as hedonistic
was perceived as subversive and dangerous. But also the hedonism itself was
condemned, particularly by religious spokesmen, as being wasteful, immoral, and
dissolute. Consumerism was not yet fully accepted as the predominant ethos in
society although it was rapidly becoming the economic motor of the country.
On the other hand, the portrayal of the “sweet life” in magazines and then its
further mythologization on film provoked widespread fascination. Although it had
nothing to do with the way most Italians lived and it had no direct effect on them,
it did provoke interest as a spectacle of style, beauty, and consumption. Even small
businesspeople, whose wealth was growing in the boom years, aspired to participate
in night life, build Hollywood-style villas, and acquire expensive sports cars.
The emphasis on fashion in the film (in particular Anita Ekberg’s costumes, based
on the Fontana sisters’ outfits for Ava Gardner including her costumes for The
Barefoot Contessa) dovetailed with a growing interest in fashion among women
and also men. From as early as 1953 Oggi increased its fashion coverage, although
still most space was given to Paris. However, not all the interest was of this type.
Many rushed to see the film because of the strong air of scandal that was associated
with it. There is a brief episode in Pietro Germi’s satirical comedy Divorzio
all’italiana (Divorce Italian Style) that depicts the rush in provincial Sicily to see
a film reputed to contain “orgies worthy of Emperor Tiberius.”
The impact of the film signaled the end of the aristocracy as a class with a
meaningful role in Italy. Instead of the aristocratic woman and her surrogate, the
“aristocratic type,” a more clearly modern image took shape of the elegant woman.
Elsa Martinelli passed seamlessly from one type to the other, since it required
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