The volume does not impose a ‘one size fits all’ interpretation, but opens new spaces for debate on the connection between the visual arts and mass-culture in totalitarian societies. From the Mediterranean to Scandinavia, from Western Europe to Latin America, from the fascism of the early 20th century to contemporary forms of totalitarian control, and from cinema to architecture, the chapters included in TotArt bring expertise, historical sensibility and political awareness to bear on this varied range of phenomena.
This collection offers international contributions on visual, performing and plastic arts. The chapters range from examination of comics to study of YouTube videos and American newsreels, from Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Uruguayan cinemas to more contemporary American films and TV series, from painters and sculptors to the study of urban spaces.
Fulvio Orsitto is Associate Professor and Director of the Italian and Italian American Program at California State University, USA. He has published extensively on Italian literature and on Italian and Italian American cinema.
Andrea Righi is Assistant Professor of Italian and Coordinator of the Italian Studies Program at Miami University, USA. He is the author of Italian Reactionary Thought and Critical Theory: An Inquiry into Savage Modernities (2015).