Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Film History - Italian Neorealism in Bicycle Thieves - Extra Credit

Write a blog post exploring how The Bicycle Thief (aka Bicycle Thieves) exemplifies Italian Neorealism in its content and aesthetic (cinematic style). If you need a reminder about the principles of Neorealism you can find the Prezi Here, or check out this resource.

Make sure that you are specific with your points and fully explain any examples from the film. You are not required to do any further research but certainly can - if you do, again be sure to cite accordingly and list your sources at the bottom of your post. You may also want to include a brief synopsis to the film as part of your introduction. Visual images or any kind of extra media that will help to illustrate your points and make your blog post more visually interesting are welcome but not required, though you certainly should be sure to make your blog visually easy to read and understand.

This is an extra credit blog post.


1 comment:

  1. The film "The Bicycle Thief" otherwise known as "Bicycle Thieves" is a very unique and different piece and fits perfectly into the movement of Italian Neorealism due to it's many characteristics.

    This film was made in 1948 and then released soon after internationally. It was made in Italy and was said to be an incredible film. This film is different that other Italian films as the films after this movement were very different in the culture and the stories were different. The movement, Italian Neorealism, lasted for about a decade and was mainly due to the causes of the second World War and was also due to the major cultural and economic changes in the country and the citizens.

    Some examples of why this film was part of this movement would be that the main central aspect of the Italian Neorealism movement was the idea of poverty and wealth unequally distributed. Mainly hi-lighting poverty and poor societies in Italy. The film "The Bicycle Thief" is mainly focused on a father and his son, they are trying to find a bike so that the father can continue to work and to feed his family. If they don't find the bike in time, it could be gone forever and then the entire family could suffer. This is obviously one of the central ideas of the Italian Neorealism movement.

    Another central idea is that the overwhelming majority of the film is filmed on location, which is one of the characteristics of the movement. Some others were the use of non-actors as main roles in films, the lack of three point practical lighting, the grainy raw look, the lack of stock footage, and even the syncing of sound in the editing process.

    All of these element of the film "The Bicycle Thief" show that this was definitely part of the Italian Neorealism movement due to the different characteristics and that it is so unique. Just a few years later, Italian audiences wanted to escape rather than to see the spotlight on a hidden world of poverty. So, in other words, this is a film that has an entirely different genre than the movements and films made afterwards in Italy. These elements give this film the character and special traits that make this film the way that it is.

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