La Dolce Vita: Modern Roman Society, Mediated

Marcello is a journalist of a tabloid and has a wonderful night life following the celebrities and aristocrats with media photographers. The movie La Dolce Vita directed by Federico Fellini is a story of Marcello, at the same time it addresses many other issues in the protagonist's journey to find inspirations, stories, love, lust and money. The film was released in 1960 and was a big hit.

The movie is divided into discreet episodes, which normally begin at the evening or late evening and end at the dawn. Different episodes depict different characters and their queer life-style. In the process, we can also see Marcello's relationship with his fiancee and his father. He loves her fiancee but his habit of luring into other women and staying away at nights in parties has made his fiancee, Emma, insecure in the relationship. In the very first scene, Marcello - in the helicopter - asks for phone number to the bikini-clad woman on the roof-top through gestures. From the very first frame Marcello's character is marked by this nature. While in the very first scene, Emma is shown suffering from the overdose and Marcello takes her to the hospital. Thus, very first on-screen presence of the duo indicates the conflict and unhappiness in their relationship. Marcello's father comes to the town to visit him and they spent a night together chatting, dancing, drinking; but early morning father's health deteriorates and he prefers to return. Apart from these two, Marcello seems to have a good bonding with an intellectual friend, Steiner, who later commits suicide after the killing of his two children in the absence of his wife. Paparazzo is his constant companion but they do not seem to have a social and personal bonding; they are professionally connected. 

Marcello, the protagonist, is in an existential dilemma. He is a journalist writing for a tabloid on popular culture, but he aspires to be a writer. He loves intellectual company. Ultimately, he becomes a publicity agent for the rich people. The movie also portrays the moral degradation of the Roman society. I want to concentrate on the media personnel and their impact on the characters and the society at large. 

The very first episode, which is considered to be a prologue, depicts the statue of Jesus taken to the Saint Peter's Square by a helicopter. Following this helicopter, there was another one in which the protagonist Marcello and his photographer Paparazzo were trying to take pictures for the story. The huge statue with its wide-open arms was hanging from the helicopter through wires and it traveled above the ruins and buildings of Rome. This scenarios looked like Jesus was blessing the city which evoked the religious piousness, but the very next frame we see, media persons making suggestive gestures to the bikini-clad ladies on the roof-top of one of the buildings. This behavior signifies the fact that for the media people the arrival of Jesus is nothing but a story to be covered; there is no spiritual or religious attachment involved for them. 

In the first episode, Marcello and his photographer were in a restaurant where a prince was present for dinner. They needed the photographs of the prince for their story. They even bribed one of the waiters so that they get some help from him. Paparazzo clicked few pictures as well, but he was caught and his film was removed from the camera. This small incident implies to the fact that the media persons are corrupt and actively spreading the vice of corruption for their purposes. They can stoop to any level to get what they want. 

In the second episode, Marcello had to cover the arrival of an American actress, Sylvia. He and many other press reporters waited for her at the airport and then followed her in the press conference. Marcello managed to be close to Sylvia and accompanied her to the St. Peter's dome and later at the party dances with her. Sylvia had a slight quarrel with her boy friend and she left the party. Marcello followed her and they spent the night together on the streets of Rome. The next morning, when they reached the hotel, the photographers were waiting for them. They were clicking the pictures of Robert, Sylvia's boy friend, who was sleeping in the car outside the hotel. Photographers woke him up and informed the arrival of Marcello and Sylvia. Here, the photographers were not passively clicking pictures. In fact, they were actively instigating Robert and telling him what to do. First he was told to confront Sylvia, which he did, he slapped her. The photographers were looking forward to a quarrel so that they could have a spicy story. They asked Robert to follow Sylvia in the hotel, which he didn't. Instead he came to Marcello and slapped him, too. Thus, providing a good story to the media. All this while, the photographers were taking pictures of the confrontation. This time the media persons are navigating the characters and in a way ordering to develop a good story for their news. 

Episode four is about sighting of Madonna by two children which is taken as a miracle by the people, and there is a huge gathering of the people. The TV and radio media were also present and giving live coverage of the entire event. There was statement from church which denied any such miracle but media concentrated on covering the euphoria. By listening to news, more and more people gathered at the site. Thus, media is not concern with the truth-value of the event and news; rather they are more into developing titillating and spicy stories. 

In the episode in which Steiner committed suicide, we see another face of media. The police-officer and Marcello were waiting for Steiner's wife at bus-stop to break the sad news. All the photographers were also there waiting for her and as soon as she arrived, they surrounded her and started taking photographs. Unaware of the death of her husband and two children, she was surprised by this sudden attention from media. But nobody cared to inform her. Finally, Marcello and police-officer took her by arm and put her in the car. Interesting thing is, for the photographers death is not important, the story surrounding it, is. They even tried to bribe Marcello and Police to allow them at the suicide spot. This shows their indifference to the reality of life and their selfish nature which cannot respect the death. 

The media, its reporters and photographers, are a characteristic of modern day consumerist society. Consumerism minuses the life of the story. Today's story becomes old tomorrow and hence the media representatives have to be on their toes to grab newer and spicier stories. Marcello's relations with multiple woman is also an example of consumerism. The problem with consumerism is that the consumer gets bored too soon, primarily because s/he has another, probably better, product at his/her exposure. But, in this process, we lose the human essence, emotions, empathy and love.