High and mass culture in Italy between 1950 and 1970 are intertwined, in that the latter often cited, translated, and/or discussed the former for commercial, educational, and cultural reasons. This is what Barron cogently illustrates in her combined qualitative and quantitative analyses of representations of high culture in mass culture in Italy during the boom economico – the period that changed the peninsula in two decades from a rural society into an industrialised nation state. The author defines ‘high culture’ as ‘the art, music, theatre and literature that … commercial and state cultural institutions … deemed to be historically and artistically significant’ (p. 4), such as literature by Joyce, artworks by Picasso, operas by Rossini, and ‘mass culture’ as ‘the material produced by the cultural industry intended for mass audiences’ (p. 4), i.e. television programmes, illustrated news magazines, and the like.
The volume is divided into four parts, consisting of two chapters each, and an introduction and a conclusion. In the first section, the author focuses on magazine reading in the 1950s and 1960s, in particular on the ‘cultural advice columns’. Chapter 2 discusses Italia domanda, the advice column in Epoca that came to life in 1950 and was reduced to one page in 1959–1960, covering the first decade of this study. The magazine's logo and cover layout ‘perfectly emulated’ the American illustrated news magazine Life (p. 3). With this remark, made in the introduction, the author alludes to a thread that can be found throughout the volume: the increasing fascination (and sometimes repulsion) for American popular culture in Italy during the period between 1950 and 1970. Indeed, while chapter 2 discusses letters written in the 1950s to intellectuals such as Moravia, De Chirico, and Ungaretti, and their responses, which predominantly advocate or celebrate (Italian) ‘culture’, chapter 3 focuses on Pasolini and Quasimodo's responses to letters written in the 1960s by readers of several illustrated news magazines, which contain more urgent social commentary, critiquing more explicitly consumerism, mass culture, and ‘bourgeois conformism’ (p. 82). Although these processes are not simply reducible to ‘Americanisation’, magazine reading and television programmes together played a crucial role in creating ‘the image of modern Italy’, and both media were strongly influenced by American predecessors – of which Epoca’s design is an illustration.
Part II of the volume examines the early years of Italian television, introduced in 1954. Chapter 4 explores the first popular television programme in Italy, the quiz show Lascia o raddoppia? (1955–1959), an Italian version of the American $64,000 Question. Questions often included ‘high culture subjects’ (p. 104) such as Dante and Shakespeare. The programme was immensely popular, and was believed to bring high culture to mass audiences, but was critiqued for its shallowness by the likes of Fellini (pp. 105–106) and Eco (pp. 108–110). Born in the US and raised in Italy, quiz host Mike Bongiorno, described by Eco as ‘banal and mediocre’, embodied the Americanisation of Italy. However, as Barron points out, audiences were also critical, as the appearance of a Hollywood star did not guarantee the mass enjoyment of a particular episode, while the appearance of Maria Luisa Garoppo, condemned for her physical appearance by the Catholic Church, was widely celebrated (pp. 119–123). This underlines the significance of audiences’ perceptions for the study of these cultural phenomena.
Chapter 5 discusses the early opera television broadcasts, intended to find audiences ‘outside the traditional opera theatre’ (p. 140). Indeed, the author describes how in the 1950s and 1960s, opera existed both as mass and elite culture. While theatre-going remained for the elite, early television productions and broadcasts of operas attracted and reached millions of visitors and viewers. By the late 1960s, opera house performances were televised, which allowed both the theatre patrons and home audiences to enjoy the same productions.
The third part of the volume focuses on the representation of ‘high culture icons’ in magazine and television advertising, emphasising the products’ quality, and, in some cases, parodying cultural hierarchies and pretensions. Chapter 6 examines Italian mass magazine advertising, while chapter 7 analyses the short evening programme of advertisements, Carosello. The high culture celebrity endorsements of the likes of Puccini (Odol mouthwash, pp. 177–178), Rossini (food producer Cirio, p. 189), but also Shakespearean actor Vittorio Gassman (Vespa, pp. 190–191), and painter De Chirico (Punt e Mes, pp. 189–190) illustrate an ironic undertone, combining American mass culture with Italian high culture, while references to the famous artworks of Botticelli (p. 192) and Manet (p. 195) indicate that advertisers assumed a shared knowledge in its target audience. Barron concludes that this type of advertisement illustrates a new kind of social hierarchy – an economic one (are you able to afford high culture?, p. 206). Similarly, analyses of Carosello episodes with, among other things, Dante readings and Shakespearean monologues to sell chocolates or biscuits, show that cultural literacy was considered to fit a ‘modern and affluent lifestyle’ (p. 236), with differentiation as the purpose of the advertisements. However, Barron once again points out that while Carosello advertising suggests passive viewers, eager to adopt an ‘American’ lifestyle, audience research indicates that advertisements were quickly forgotten, responses to them varied, and viewers were often ‘in on the joke’ (p. 237), appreciative of the ironic undertones.
The fourth and final section explores the representation of literary classics in mass culture for audiences ‘without a strong book-reading tradition’ (p. 13). Central in this part is Alessandro Manzoni's I promessi sposi (The Betrothed). Chapter 8 explores translations of this novel into magazine formats, including fotoromanzo and comic book adaptations, while chapter 9 discusses the impact of RAI's televised adaptation of Manzoni's classic on 19 million viewers. What becomes apparent from this section is that literary adaptations might have entertained viewers and made them aware of the plots of literary classics, but it did not encourage them to read these classics as a consequence. The educational purpose of these adaptations, therefore, was less successful than the entertainment purpose, and viewers often enjoyed less faithful adaptations.
The volume provides a very insightful overview of some case-studies of high culture reflected in mass culture. An exploration of popular/mass culture influences in high culture would have been an interesting addition. America's classless society (or rather, a hierarchy based on economic capacity), the higher education levels of lower-class Italians and women, and the increasing wealth of the middle class, all stimulated the developments described in the volume. It is an excellent and nuanced study that can be regarded as an informative work on its own, a study at the intersection of history, cultural analysis, and Italian studies. It should also provide a stimulus for further studies on, among other things, the boom economico, audience perceptions, and the impact of high culture and mass media on societal structures.
