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A farewell to youth: The slippery modernity of Rapsodia satanica and Addio giovinezza!

2017; Intellect; Volume: 5; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1386/jicms.5.3.287_1

2047-7376

Danila Cannamela,

Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism

Abstract Rapsodia satanica (‘Satanic rhapsody)’ by Oxilia (1917) and Addio giovinezza! (‘Goodbye youth!’) by Genina (1918) constitute a cinematographic diptych on the theme of lost youth. While the former is a reinvention of Faust’s deal with the devil with a feminine protagonist, the latter is a homage to the carefree college years. Filmed in an era in which the dream of the Belle Époque clashed with the trauma of World War I, the two films epitomize the challenges of depicting the precariousness of modernity, while experiencing the crisis of Italian silent cinema. Analysing these interrelated questions, the first section of the article compares the marketing strategies through which Rapsodia satanica and Addio giovinezza! affirmed cinema as the catalyst of modernity. The second section examines how the two films adopted different techniques to represent parallel issues, such as the dichotomy of youth– adulthood and the ageing of the diva-model.