"8 1/2" by Federico Fellini

Paper Summary:

This paper is a discussion of the Oedipal structures in Federico Fellini's deeply personal film, 8 1/2. The film is ostensibly autobiographical, but Fellini's reputation for fanciful rewriting of his own history makes it more revealing as a psychological document than as a biography.

From the Paper:

"This paper is a discussion of the Oedipal structures in Federico Fellini's deeply personal film, 8 1/2. The film is ostensibly autobiographical, but Fellini's reputation for fanciful rewriting of his own history makes it more revealing as a psychological document than as a biography. Looked at from the perspective of the Sophoclean model of the Oedipus myth, the film offers some intriguing glimpses into several different kinds of triangular tragedies. Viewed from the Freudian angle, it also offers interesting examples of unconscious drives and murderous impulses. The Oedipal structures include not only the relationship among the main character and his parents but also a number of other father-mother-son relationships, especially that in which the filmmaker becomes parent to his own project. In many of these circumstances, the most challenging task is to..."

More papers on "8 1/2" by Federico Fellini:

• Film Review # 110277 : "8 1/2"
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