<b>Island Hopping, Liquid Materiality, and the Mediterranean Cinema of Emanuele Crialese</b> // Saltando de isla en isla, materialidad líquida y el cine mediterráneo de Emanuele Crialese

Authors

  • Elena Margarita Past Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Wayne State University, Detroit

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2013.4.2.528

Keywords:

Emanuele Crialese, Respiro, Nuovomondo, Terraferma, Italian cinema, Mediterranean cinema, Material ecocriticism, Lampedusa e Linosa, Nuevo Mundo, cine italiano, cine mediterráneo, ecocrítica material, Lampedusa

Abstract

The history of the “mare nostrum” is a long history of the entanglement of human and more-than-human actors.  Three films directed by the Italian Emanuele Crialese, Respiro: Grazia’s Island (2002), Golden Door (2006), and Terraferma (2011), recount stories of encounters and collisions on Mediterranean islands, where the challenges of political, cultural, and ecological cohabitation are intensified.  Drawing on theories of material ecocriticism, this article argues that in this trio of films, the Mediterranean sea is not simply a picturesque liquid border. It is instead a generative space that participates in the very process of constituting the narratives, even while the films add another layer to the rich geo-archaeological palimpsest of the region.

 

Resumen

 

La historia del “mare nostrum” es una larga historia la implicación de actores humanos y más-que-humanos.  Tres películas dirigidas por el italiano Emanuele Crialese, Respiro (2002), Nuovomondo (2006, Nuevo mundo), y Terraferma (2011), cuentan historias de encuentros y colisiones en islas mediterráneas, donde las dificultades de la convivencia política, cultural, y ecológica se intensifican.  Apelando las teorías de la ecocrítica material, este artículo sostiene que en estas tres películas el mar Mediterráneo no es solamente una frontera líquida pintoresca, sino un espacio generativo que participa en el proceso de constituir las narrativas. Por su parte, las películas añaden una capa al palimpsesto geo-arqueológico de la región. 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Elena Margarita Past, Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Wayne State University, Detroit

Wayne State University, United States

elenapast@wayne.edu

Elena Past is Associate Professor of Italian at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. Her research focuses on contemporary Italian literature and film, including crime fiction, posthumanism, and ecocriticism. Her book, Methods of Murder: Beccarian Introspection and Lombrosian Vivisection in Italian Crime Fiction, was published by University of Toronto Press in 2012, and her articles have appeared in Cinema Journal, Italica, Quaderni d’italianistica, and ISLE, among other places. Current projects include a book on ecology and Italian cinema and a co-edited volume (with Deborah Amberson) on animals and the posthuman in Italian literature and film.

Downloads

Published

2013-09-30

Issue

Section

Mediterranean Ecocriticism