8 1/2 Assignment

Guido, the main character, is a film director who is unable to decide how to finish his current film. He has lost his way and cannot rekindle his creativity. His exploration of the past, the dreamworld, and his relationships with people are the means to finding a path out of his moral wilderness. While this film explores the fickle nature of the creative process, it also serves to present a broader theme: everyone, at times, loses his or her way in life because of adversity. While this is part of the human condition, the film poses the question of how one picks up the pieces of a crumbling life to find a fresh vision and a renewed purpose.

Here are some throughts to consider for your blog:

What are some themes the film explores? Does Fellini use both "subjective" and "objective" camera? Give an example. Is it sometimes difficult to differentiate between the two? What is his purpose for this? Discuss his relationships with women. Why are so many perspectives presented? Discuss some of the explorations of his past. How do they influence his creativity or his character? Describe his relationship to the Church. What issues about this relationship does he present? How does the Church influence his character or his creativity? Discuss Fellini's use of music and sound. Discuss Fellini's use of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkeries" that is heard during the procession of people at the health spa. This music comes from Wagner's opera "Die Walkure" and is played when female messengers of the god Odin, the Valkerie, ride on their flying horses into battle and take the souls of the dead soldiers to Valhalla (heaven). Do you think it is a satire? What visual textures, motifs, and camera angles are used in the film? Do they serve a thematic purpose? How does Fellini distort the "objective" camera perspective? Why?