PhD Candidate and Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin in Emmy-Noether Nachwuchsgruppe "Filmische Diskurse des Mangels" (DFG) Supervisors: Dr. Guido Kirsten
Artists and intellectuals living in precarious conditions (or: belonging to the cognitariat), fin... more Artists and intellectuals living in precarious conditions (or: belonging to the cognitariat), find themselves at the crossroad between precarity and privilege. Julian Radlmaier’s Selbstkritik eines bürgerlichen Hundes (Self-Criticism of a Bourgeois Dog GER, 2017) deals with this issue in a very explicit, self-reflexive way. Its protagonist is a filmmaker on the dole who is sent by the German workfare program to work seasonally as an apple picker. Once at the orchard, when the other workers attempt a revolt, he discovers that his attachment to his status as an artist impedes him to join their struggle. The autofictional form of the film, I demonstrate, reflects a subjectivation dynamic that turns into a spiral of perceived debt, guilt, and political paralysis. By internalizing a widespread anti-intellectual bias, the film offers a paradigmatic account of why it is difficult for members of the cognitariat to solidarize with other segments of the precariat or the working class: the dif...
This paper focuses on Non è la Rai, a TV show aired on Silvio Berlusconi’s broadcasting channels ... more This paper focuses on Non è la Rai, a TV show aired on Silvio Berlusconi’s broadcasting channels between 1991 and 1994. Through the analysis of the program a connection emerges between three macro-phenomena: postmodern aesthetics; Berlusconism (as a specific and national embodiment of larger concepts like capitalism and neoliberalism) and the fundamental role of “girlhood” in the first two. In particular, it proves that the neoliberal strategy could not have been effective without an unprecedented increase in the importance of the symbolic category of girlhood in Italian society, both in terms of an exploitation of the category of “girl” in cultural and entertainment production, and of an increasing “girlification” of the cultural and social landscape.
Artists and intellectuals living in precarious conditions (or: belonging to the cognitariat), fin... more Artists and intellectuals living in precarious conditions (or: belonging to the cognitariat), find themselves at the crossroad between precarity and privilege. Julian Radlmaier’s Selbstkritik eines bürgerlichen Hundes (Self-Criticism of a Bourgeois Dog GER, 2017) deals with this issue in a very explicit, self-reflexive way. Its protagonist is a filmmaker on the dole who is sent by the German workfare program to work seasonally as an apple picker. Once at the orchard, when the other workers attempt a revolt, he discovers that his attachment to his status as an artist impedes him to join their struggle. The autofictional form of the film, I demonstrate, reflects a subjectivation dynamic that turns into a spiral of perceived debt, guilt, and political paralysis. By internalizing a widespread anti-intellectual bias, the film offers a paradigmatic account of why it is difficult for members of the cognitariat to solidarize with other segments of the precariat or the working class: the dif...
This paper focuses on Non è la Rai, a TV show aired on Silvio Berlusconi’s broadcasting channels ... more This paper focuses on Non è la Rai, a TV show aired on Silvio Berlusconi’s broadcasting channels between 1991 and 1994. Through the analysis of the program a connection emerges between three macro-phenomena: postmodern aesthetics; Berlusconism (as a specific and national embodiment of larger concepts like capitalism and neoliberalism) and the fundamental role of “girlhood” in the first two. In particular, it proves that the neoliberal strategy could not have been effective without an unprecedented increase in the importance of the symbolic category of girlhood in Italian society, both in terms of an exploitation of the category of “girl” in cultural and entertainment production, and of an increasing “girlification” of the cultural and social landscape.
In Daniela Persico and Alessandro Stellino (Eds.) Cinema is not dead. We are., Milan: Agenzia X, ... more In Daniela Persico and Alessandro Stellino (Eds.) Cinema is not dead. We are., Milan: Agenzia X, (2015), 193-198.
È possibile raccontare le avventurose storie del femminismo attraverso le immagini in movimento? ... more È possibile raccontare le avventurose storie del femminismo attraverso le immagini in movimento? Quello della macchina da presa è un occhio sufficientemente perspicace per vedere e mostrare la politica delle donne di ieri e di oggi senza tradurla in apparato ideologico, senza cadere nello stereotipo? I pensieri elaborati dal femminismo hanno in qualche misura intercettato lo schermo e segnato la produzione audiovisiva? Le non poche donne attive in ambito cinematografico e, in senso più ampio, mediale, hanno fatto la differenza?
Da qui sono partite le autrici del volume, ciascuna nel proprio ambito di ricerca, per tratteggiare un paesaggio nuovo e in divenire, abitato dalle pioniere del cinema, dalle donne dell’audiovisivo, dalle spettatrici e dalle artiste contemporanee.
Con contributi di:
Claudia Barolo, Maria Pia Brancadori, Lucia Cardone, Alice Cati, Elisa Cuter, Ilaria A. De Pascalis, Giovanna Faleschini Lerner, Giulia Fanara, Mariagrazia Fanchi, Sara Filippelli, Cristina Jandelli, Bernadette Luciano, Elena Marcheschi, Sara Martin, Elena Mosconi, Francesca Parmeggiani, Marta Perrotta, Mariapaola Pierini, Susanna Scarparo, Giulia Simi, Chiara Tognolotti, Deborah Toschi, Lucia Tralli, Micaela Veronesi, Federica Villa.
In Daniela Persico and Alessandro Stellino (Eds.) To the Wonder. Gli ultimi visionari., Milan: Ag... more In Daniela Persico and Alessandro Stellino (Eds.) To the Wonder. Gli ultimi visionari., Milan: Agenzia X (2016), 143-147.
The symposium assembles European scholars and researchers to discuss the representation of precar... more The symposium assembles European scholars and researchers to discuss the representation of precarity in contemporary and recent European cinema. The discussion will focus on both the differences in the diverse countries and regions, and on shared tendencies and structural similarities. We will investigate prevalent topics and the recurring use of some character-types or roles; we will take a closer look at narrative and formal tendencies as well as prevailing genres; we will consider the diversity of national or regional cinematographic traditions (in the representation of poverty and precarity) in which the new films are positioned; finally, we will debate the extent to which productions refer to broader recent social change and political debates. Admission is open and free. Due to limited space, we kindly request that you register by sending an email to josefine.knuth-pollok@filmuniversitaet.de. The symposium will be held in English.
Precarity in European Film (De Gruyter, 2022) – Table of Contents & Preface, 2022
This volume brings together renowned scholars and early career-researchers in mapping the ways in... more This volume brings together renowned scholars and early career-researchers in mapping the ways in which European cinema —whether arthouse or mainstream, fictional or documentary, working with traditional or new media— engages with phenomena of precarity, poverty, and social exclusion. It compares how the filmic traditions of different countries reflect the socioeconomic conditions associated with precarity, and illuminates similarities in the iconography of precarious lives across cultures. While some of the contributions deal with the representations of marginalized minorities, others focus on work-related precarity or the depictions of downward mobility. Among other topics, the volume looks at how films grapple with gender inequality, intersectional struggle, discriminatory housing policies, and the specific problems of precarious youth. With its comparative approach to filmic representations of European precarity, this volume makes a major contribution to scholarship on precarity and the representation of social class in contemporary visual culture.
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Conference Presentations by Elisa Cuter
Papers by Elisa Cuter
Da qui sono partite le autrici del volume, ciascuna nel proprio ambito di ricerca, per tratteggiare un paesaggio nuovo e in divenire, abitato dalle pioniere del cinema, dalle donne dell’audiovisivo, dalle spettatrici e dalle artiste contemporanee.
Con contributi di:
Claudia Barolo, Maria Pia Brancadori, Lucia Cardone, Alice Cati, Elisa Cuter, Ilaria A. De Pascalis, Giovanna Faleschini Lerner, Giulia Fanara, Mariagrazia Fanchi, Sara Filippelli, Cristina Jandelli, Bernadette Luciano, Elena Marcheschi, Sara Martin, Elena Mosconi, Francesca Parmeggiani, Marta Perrotta, Mariapaola Pierini, Susanna Scarparo, Giulia Simi, Chiara Tognolotti, Deborah Toschi, Lucia Tralli, Micaela Veronesi, Federica Villa.