UNIVERSIDADE DE SO PAULO

FACULDADE DE FILOSOFIA LETRAS E CINCIAS HUMANAS

DEPARTAMENTO DE LETRAS MODERNAS

Literatura e Cinema
Prof. Dr. Marcos Csar de Paula Soares

ART, ARTIST AND PUBLIC IN

TO ROME WITH LOVE

Carlos Henrique Francisco de Amorim Santos

Nmero USP: 7190962

In this text I intend to discuss some aspects of Woody Allens film To Rome with Love
(2012). Allens film is set in Rome (as the title suggests), counting with four different
stories. Although they have independent plots, all of them at some level bring up ideas
related to the production of art, artists and their relations with the public, themes and aspects
we shall discuss in this text.
Antonio and Millys plot is the first we can analyze. The newlywed couple goes to Rome
for their honeymoon with plans to settle there, according to the voice-over that introduces
the characters. The story is a reference to Frederico Fellinis film The White Sheik, a story
about a newlywed couple Ivan and Wanda. As Ivan, Antonio needs to keep up appearances
with his relatives in a situation in which their wives are not present. In this plot we can see
the cinema and its relation with the public being portrayed by Milly that finds herself in a
film set after getting lost in Rome. We can highlight Millys astonishment when meeting her
favorite actors and her unconventional behavior of deciding to cheat on her husband with her
idol Luca Salta. Giving up of the marriage values she is committed to (just a few time after
getting marriage), seems to be consequence of the processes related to the cult of the movie
star, mentioned by Adorno and Horkheimer1, when people become as or more relevant than
the works they are involved with, they become a product, a celebrity the public idolizes and
sometimes dream about being one, as the cinema seems to offer the possibility to anyone to
become an artist, a different person. Such possibility is line with Antonio and Millys desire
to be part of the bella gente, as Antonio says.
Beyond that, in this bloc we can see Luca Saltas relations with his roles in the cinema.
Milly says I believe that you are an amazing actor. When you play an Arab or terrorist or a
divorced father Looking at Luca Saltas features we are able to guess his ethnicity.
When connecting his physical features with Millys speech it is possible to point out one of
the characteristics of the cinema industry: that is creating types which actors are attached to
according to their characteristics. Having the same actor portraying an Arab and a terrorist is
not a random case, such choice is based on stereotypes putting both figures on the same
level, leading the man from the Arab origin to be chosen to portray the terrorist, the same
character in the collective imaginary. This phenomenon exposes not only the typification
actors are subjected to, but the interpretation of these two different figures by the western
society and its industry.
1

Benjamin, W, 1936. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Available at:
https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm [Accessed 27 August
2015]

Another plot counts with a couple, Hayley and Michelangenlo, and also portrays interesting
questions concerning the artistic sphere. Hayleys father, Jerry, that used to work for a
classical music record company finds out Michelangelos father have a great voice and
insists on the idea of making him sing professionally. But... his voice is great, / somebody's
got to do something with this, because he's... he's. / He seems to be (). Giancarlo,
however, can only sing in the shower.
Michelangelo opposes to the idea of his father singing on a stage. Sentences like He sings
for pleasure, not for money or he's our own private Caruso, together with the fact that
Giancarlo is only able to sing in the shower reminds the idea of aura present in Walter
Benjamins2 work: To pry an object from its shell, to destroy its aura, is the mark of a
perception whose sense of the universal equality of things has increased to such a degree
that it extracts it even from a unique object by means of reproduction.. Considering that, it
is possible to think that even the uniqueness of simple acts, like singing in the shower is
subjected to become a product and be reproduced.
Jerry, by his turn, although representing this cultural industry that transforms everything into
a product, doesnt seem to fit properly in it, constantly saying he is ahead of his time. Jerry
couldnt make any mark or achieve his objectives concerning his career, that is probably
related to the innovative aspect of his productions, like the Rigoletto with everyone
dressed as white mice, or even Giancarlos performance in the shower. Repetition is a
crucial element of cultural industry in the phase of mass culture, which explains the rejection
of any innovation, as Benjamin3 says:
What is new about the phase of mass culture compared with the
late liberal stage is the exclusion of the new. The machine rotates
on the same spot. While determining consumption it excludes the
untried as a risk.
John and Jacks plot (apparently the same person) counts with an actress, Monica. It is
interesting to note how Monica seems to be acting all the time. We can see how she
interposes herself when she is telling a story or saying something, ignoring what other
characters are saying, like she is just reproducing lines and a role. However we should
remember that we cannot be sure if her fake and strange way to act is just Johns
2

Idem.
Adorno, T. & Horkheimer, M., 1944. The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception, p.9,
Available at: http://www.your-ad-here.de/downloads/Horkheimer%26Adorno_The%20Culture%20
Industry_Enlightenment%20as%20Mass%20Deception.pdf (PDF). [Accessed 27 August 2015]
3

impressions, seeing Monica as a fake person, since Jack, Sally and Monica seems to be just
a memory he has, composed by his subjective experiences and feelings about them. John
keeps making comments to Jack about Monica, telling how she deliberately creates stories,
like the one she is seduced by a lingerie model. Monica answers to that: It was true, most of
it. OK? / I... I exaggerated a little. I like to embellish. / It's part of my creative charm..
Monica then is presented as an actress that is constantly acting. We could relate that to
Walter Benjamins4 idea about the cinema actor who, at some level, is always representing
himself to the camera compared to the theater actor in relation to the public. As in the
cinema where the character is composed by different shots, Monica uses different strategies
to build her character, creating stories and giving references. John says: She knows names,
/ she knows buzzwords/ she knows certain cultural phrases that imply she knows more than
she does. In this way, Monica seems to be representing herself all the time. As Jack says,
she is a con artist.
Leopoldo Pisanellos plot, by its turn, seems to be a representation of this personal autorepresentation taken to the next level and in another direction. Leopoldos day-to-day life is
invaded by journalists and paparazzi interested in his daily habits without any special reason.
We can think about the phenomenon of being famous for being famous, a consequence of
the cult of the personality. A phenomenon allowed mainly by the cinema industry, as
Benjamin5 states:
The film responds to the shriveling of the aura with an artificial
build-up of the personality outside the studio. The cult of the
movie star, fostered by the money of the film industry, preserves
not the unique aura of the person but the spell of the
personality, is the phony spell of a commodity.
In conclusion, although Allens film presents four plots with independent stories, we could
see that all of them are, at some level, connected with ideas related to art, the artist and their
relations with the public, exposing how the cultural industry explores all the possibilities it
has to transform anything into a product, obeying, of course, its own logic, rules, and
ideology.

4
5

Benjamin, W, Op.Cit.
Idem

BIBLIOGRAPHY

To Rome with Love. Direction: Woody Allen., USA, Italy, Spain (2012) 112min
ADORNO, T. & HORKHEIMER, M., 1944. The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass
Deception.

Available

at:

http://www.your-ad-

here.de/downloads/Horkheimer%26Adorno_The%20Culture%20Industry_Enlightenment%
20as%20Mass%20Deception.pdf (PDF).
BENJAMIN. W., 1936. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Available
at: https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm