mercoledì 25 novembre 2009

A few days ago, the old movies cable TV channel showed the film 8 ½ conceived and directed by Federico Fellini. I had seen this movie many times since it was first shown in the United States in 1963 (I was then a recent college graduate!), but after seeing it this week I felt a certain identification with its main character played by Marcello Mastroianni. He plays the role of Guido Anselmi, a famous movie director suffering from a kind of “director’s block.” He had begun to work on a new science fiction film that included veiled autobiographical references, only to find himself stalled, that is, without the mental energy to continue the project. He had summoned an entire crew and cast to meet at one of those “thermal bath” resorts, only to find himself unable to tell them the plot of the new movie. As the days go by, all he can think about are images of various characters, without having any idea of how to put them together in a plot.

 

Most of the images that flash by his mind are those of elderly men accompanied by young exotic-looking women, nuns, priests (including a Cardinal), an illusionist, and a preternatural innocent beautiful woman who sparks his fantasies. In fact, images of women dominate his thoughts and revive memories of his childhood.

 

So it was with the news of last week  on the news channels in the USA. Lots of important things happened last week, such as President Obama’s trip to Asia, the growing concern by progressive Democrats about his conservative decisions and the growing concern of conservative Democrats about his liberalism, the health care debate, the war in Afghanistan -Pakistan, etc., but in spite of the important implications of all of these stories, there was no cohesive “plot” to relate them together. All we saw was a series of unrelated images.

 

That is why I felt a certain sympathy for Mastroianni’s character in 8 ½ . Indeed, as in the movie, it was two women who stood out in the news last week: The first one was Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and controversial Republican vice-presidential candidate, promoting her sensationally popular new book (Going Rogue ). The other woman was Oprah Winfrey, the builder of a communications empire and host of a celebrated talk show bearing her name who announced that after next season ends, she will not continue the show and will dedicate herself to directing her own brand-new cable television channel. In fact, the first television show where Sarah Palin began her book promotion was an appearance at Oprah Winfrey’s show.

 

I shall try to keep an open mind about these two ladies, especially because any appearance of criticism immediately sparks vicious accusations from their unconditional supporters. This alone is somewhat revelatory of the mood of the country these days. At least the two ladies are concrete persons and not ideological abstractions.

 

I cannot resist however one observation. I think Palin and Winfrey should exchange roles. I think Oprah should run for president, and Sarah should start her own television channel. Then, maybe, we might begin to be able to imagine a plot that makes sense of what is happening these days in the USA.