L’influenza degli audiovisivi sull’immagine femminile

Dai cinegiornali Luce alle pubblicità di Carosello (1930-1970)

Abstract

In contemporary times, audiovisual heritage is considered historical proof of the reconstruction of political events, social events, and lifestyles, especially in the twentieth century. In addition to the restitution of facts, the study of visual and sound testimonies allows us to identify clues from the recent past related to public and domestic spaces, object systems, communication, and behaviours. The paper questions the influence of audiovisual media on the status and image of Italian women, considering time segments to which particularly persuasive language corresponds. The first period covers the years of fascism, from 1930 to 1943, with a selection of Luce newsreels dedicated to women, from which it is clear that the most powerful propaganda machine of the regime shaped the figures of wife, mother and ardent patriot, Documenting activities in home schools, activism in party associations, participation in large gatherings. In the post-war period, with La Pagina della donna of La Settimana Incom, the atmosphere of reconstruction corresponded to an attractive narrative of the feminine, far from the sufferings of war, open to consumption, especially to new fashion standards. In the second part, Carosello’s advertisements from 1958 to 1970 are analysed with the diffusion of television in the homes. The selection of advertisements is conducted by highlighting the conditioning brought by the economic boom where the central and most satisfying role for women is that of the housewife, who becomes a mediator in the promotion of domestic products. The evolution of the status of women after the 1960s is also considered the years in which the first changes began to be felt in the sign of emancipation.