Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Intimate Relationships in Cinema, Literature and Visual Culture pp 75–85Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Fellini’s Satyricon: Bacchanalias and Sexual Politics in Imperial Rome and Modern Italy

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 710 Accesses

Abstract

Federico Fellini’s movie Satyricon (1969) demystified the historical film genre, with its oneiric poetics, showing sexualized intimacies in ancient Rome, mediated by contemporary perplexities. Paul Veyne viewed the imperial political system as a communicative process in which private individuals threatened by power in the field of politics and sexuality require a ruler who is lord over his own passions. For Michel Foucault, sex in ancient Rome sought pleasure controlled by aphrodisiac; if love was intended for marriage, stable relations, and procreation, sex was pleasure exercised by man as a performative function. With Satyricon, Fellini employed a political strategy to criticize the violence of the state against Italian Christian democracy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Aldouby, Hava. Federico Fellini: Painting in Film. Toronto: Toronto University Press. 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bondanella, Peter. The Films of Federico Fellini. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2002.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, Pierre. Le pouvoir symbolique. Paris: Éditions du Seuil. 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cardullo, Bert. European Directors and their Films. Essays on Cinema. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Catullus Poesie. Translated by Salvatore Quasimodo. Milan: Oscar Mondadori Editore. 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickson, Sheila K., and Hallett Judith. A Roman Women Reader: Selections from the Second Century BCE through Second Century CE. Mundelein, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, Michel. The Use of Pleasure. Volume 2 of Theory of Sexuality. New York: Vintage. 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hadas, Moses. History of Rome. From its Origins to 529 A. D. As Told by the Roman Historians. New York: Doubleday Anchor Books. 1956.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hallett, Judith P., and Marilyn B. Skinner. Roman Sexualities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  • Houston, Penelope, and Gillett John. “The Theory and Practice of Blockbusting.” Sight and Sound. Vol. 32. 1963. 68–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucretius, Da Natureza. Os Pensadores, São Paulo. Edtora Abril. 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minuz, Andrea. Viaggio al termine dell‘Italia. Fellini politico. Roma: Rubbettino. 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moatti, Claudia La Raison de Rome. Naissance de l ‘esprit critique à la fin de la Renaissance. Paris: Éditions du Seuil. 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, Martha C., and Craig A Williams Roman Homosexuality. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Onfray, Michel Théorie du Corps Amoureux: pour une erotique solaire. Paris: Librairie Générale Francaise. 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scolari, Giovanni. L’Italia di Fellini. Roma: Sabinae. 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan, J.P. “The Social Ambience of Petronius, Satyricon and Fellini Satyricon.” In Classical Myth and Culture in the Cinema. Ed. Martin M. Winkler. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Syme, Ronald. The Roman Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1956.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veyne, Paul. “Vie de Trimalcion. ”Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations. 16e année. Vol. 2. 1961. 213–247.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veyne, Paul. L’individu atteinte au coer par la puissance publique, Sur L’Individu. Paris: Éditions du Seuil. 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vout, Caroline. Power and Eroticism in Imperial Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walters, Jonathan. “Invading the Roman Body: Manliness and Impenetrability in Roman Thought.” In Roman Sexualities. Ed. Judith P. Hallett and Marilyn B. Skinner. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wyke, Maria. “Projecting Ancient Rome. ” In The Historical Film. History and Memory and Media. Ed. Marcia Landy. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, Craig A. Roman Homosexuality. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winke, Maria. Projecting the Past: Ancient Rome, Cinema and History. New York: Routledge. 1997.

    Google Scholar 

Filmography

  • Indagine sotto um citadini al di sopra di ogni sospetto (Investigation of a citizen above suspiction). Director: Elio Petri. Performers: Gian Maria Volonté, Florinda Bolkan, Gianni Santuccio, and Orazio Orlando. Euro International Films. 1970.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prova d’Orquestra. Director: Federico Fellini, Performers: Balduin Bass, Clara Colosimo, and Elizabeth Labi. 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Robe. Director: Henry Koster, Performers: Jay Robinson, Jean Simmons, and Victor Mature, Richard Burton. Fox Movies. 1953.

    Google Scholar 

  • Satyricon. Director: Federico Fellini. Performers: Martin Potter, Hiram Keller, Max Born, Salvo Randone, Magali Noel, Capucine, and Donyale Luna. Produzione Europee Associati. 1969.

    Google Scholar 

  • Touch of Evil. Director: Orson Welles. Performers: Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Akim Tamiroff, and Marlene Dietrich, Universal Studios. 1958.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Brazil

    José Maurício Saldanha-Álvarez

Authors
  1. José Maurício Saldanha-Álvarez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Beit Berl Academic College , Beit Berl, Israel

    Gilad Padva

  2. Beit Berl Academic College , Beit Berl, Israel

    Nurit Buchweitz

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Saldanha-Álvarez, J.M. (2017). Fellini’s Satyricon: Bacchanalias and Sexual Politics in Imperial Rome and Modern Italy. In: Padva, G., Buchweitz, N. (eds) Intimate Relationships in Cinema, Literature and Visual Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55281-1_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation