This course will introduce students to the cinematic depictions of European fascism, starting with films produced during the early 20th century and continuing into the 21st. Our discussions will focus on two main questions. How did fascism use the medium of film to claim its own legitimacy? Film studios were highly skilled producers of propaganda, creating narratives and imagery designed to evoke nationalism and loyalty to a totalitarian leader. We will explore how fascist mass media promulgated attitudes towards race and gender that justified their ideologies and atrocities. Another focus will be historiography?how is the relationship between past and present presented to film viewers? Fascist cinema specialized in creating legitimating backstories for their respective regimes. Italian Fascism, for example, claimed to be a revival of the Ancient Roman Empire and therefore had the right to colonize territory and instate totalitarian rule. After WWII and the fall of fascism, cinema again became a crucial medium to persuade people to accept certain versions of recent history. Were most citizens fascist collaborators or did they resist? We will also consider the phenomenon of ?alternate history? in which different imaginary historical outcomes are explored in the American context. In addition to films, the course will include relevant literary texts and some consideration of public art and architecture. We will also look at other aspects of fascist popular culture, including comic books, postcards, colonial travel guides and different kinds of historical ephemera. We will investigate how different media interact within in the larger culture.
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