Italian Studies Presents
The Italian American Prizefighter: Sport, Film, and Ethnicity
Italian prizefighters entered the world of professional boxing after the mass migration to the United States reached its apex and progressively emerged as second-generation Italian Americans pursued assimilation into mainstream culture. This event will explore cinematic portrayals of Italian American prizefighters. It will include a screening (1:00-2:15 pm) of clips from Robert Wise’s Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980), and John G. Avildsen’s Rocky (1976), and a discussion (2:30-3:45 pm) on how these films address the social and ethnic concerns associated to the realm of boxing.
Dr. Irene Lottini teaches Italian language, literature, and culture at the University of Iowa. Her main research interests focus on Italian silent cinema, contemporary cinema, and the relationship between film and the other arts. Her publications include essays on Italian literature, 1910s cinema, modern and contemporary film. She has presented papers on silent, modern, and contemporary cinema at several national and international conferences.
You can contact the event organizer, Federico Pacchioni at pacchion@chapman.edu.
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