
Spectacle, myth, fable - these words instantly leap to mind when considering director Sergio Leone's celebrated films. His popularization of the Spaghetti Western genre, through works like A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), continues to have a profound impact on filmmakers worldwide. In this exciting new study, Italian film scholar Christian Uva explores a side of Leone's works rarely before discussed: the political. Grappling with the contradictions between Leone's politically critical cinematic eye and his aversion to ideological classification, Sergio Leone: Cinema as Political Fable makes sense of how the director's internal political tensions shaped the radical themes of his Western fables.Looking at Leone and his films through a number of lenses, the book examines the elements of Italian history and identity interwoven in the director's stories, provides cultural context for a career spanning from Italy's fascist regime to Leone's death in 1989, and discusses the influences that formed Leone's directorial identity. Uva focuses in particular on the postmodernist theory behind Leone's works, revealing the critical basis of his stylistic and narrative innovations and newly analyzing the most iconic sequences from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1967), Duck, You Sucker (1971), and Once Upon a Time in America (1984). An admirably thorough take on the man and his works, Sergio Leone: Cinema as Political Fable provides fresh perspective on a director long-established in cinema canon.
This study investigates the intersection of Sergio Leone’s cinematic style and his underlying political consciousness, questioning how his films function as political fables despite his personal rejection of ideological labels. Christian Uva, an Italian film scholar, utilizes a framework of postmodernist theory to reconcile the director's stylistic innovations with the historical and social tensions of 20th-century Italy. By examining Leone’s career from the fascist era through the late 1980s, the author argues that the director’s internal contradictions are the primary drivers of his radical narrative themes.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Scholars and film critics recognize this work as a significant contribution to the study of Leone, specifically for its departure from purely aesthetic analyses of his films. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is well-suited for students of film theory and European cinema history.
Page Count:
152
Publication Date:
2020-02-07
ISBN-10:
019094269X
ISBN-13:
9780190942694
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