Urban Practices, Entertainment, and the Representation of Violence

di Teresa Bertilotti
in Memoria e Ricerca n.s. 38 (2011), p. 41

At the intersection of home and the front, cinemas and theaters serve as places where wounded and mutilated bodies become spectacle, prior to the raising of the curtain on representations of war itself, which, drawing together diverse cultural vectors, are created and consumed there. Working with current historiography on urban practices in times of war, this article investigates the content and reception of such spectacles; the political, moral and artistic discourses that surround them; and the representations of war that they produce. Particular attention is paid to the technologies of theatrical and cinematographic representation with regard to the violated body, be it male or female. Key words: Urban practices, Entertainment, Audiences, Performances, Morality; Violence