Dana Renga (Assistant Professor of Italian, Ohio State University)
Pastapocalypse! New York Revisited in the Italian Exploitation Film
The large body of Italian films that make up the “Pastapocalypse” genre have thus far been completely ignored in the Italian critical tradition and given scant and unenthusiastic mention in critical volumes dedicated to apocalyptic cinema. The genre, however, was and still is incredibly popular both in and outside of Italy.
Post apocalyptic films were made between 1982-1984 in Italy, and frequently tap into international anxieties regarding the second cold war, in particular in Western Europe, during a period when the doomsday clock was close to approaching midnight. In a similar manner to the ways in which the “poliziottesco” genre reflects, and then attempts to calm, national fear and paranoia as a result of the “years of lead” (in fact, the genre dies out in 1981,) PA Italian cinema not only embodies the real fear of nuclear war, but points towards a conservative desire to return to a simple society ruled by powerful individuals. In this paper, I will define this genre, position it within the broader history of Italian B-movies, point out how it is indebted to both earlier Italian science fiction (such as Il seme dell’uomo) and the Mad Max series and touch on how it has influenced several American blockbusters (including Children of Men.) In particular, I will look at how we have moved from the desert in the spaghetti western to the metropolis in the police thriller or slasher film, and now subsequently back to the desert in order to discuss this space in terms of a desire to approach, in a mediated fashion, the brutal, violent real of the threat of catastrophe.
