IL DIPARTIMENTO
Modernity is often, erroneously, conflated with poor quality. I’m
not trying to get anything created after the Sacking of Constantinople banned from the University of Bristol curriculum. Of
course, it’s important to study Renaissance Italian poets to see
the way that the literature and language we know today has
grown, but each generation has its share of great artists. I firmly
believe that anyone’s lives would be enriched by reading Hilary
Mantel, Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Leonardo Sciascia, all of
whom lived and wrote in the 20th century. The same applies to
film, which is often snobbishly rejected as a lesser art because
of its relatively recent invention. For every dire Michael Bay
explosion-fest, there is a beautifully-crafted piece of genuine art,
like Roberto Benigni’s heart-breaking classic La vita è bella.
The point of educating ourselves through the arts is to pick out
the gems among the mass of commercialised, soulless drivel that
was created simply to make money. Do we want future generations to look back on our civilisation and define us with the
films of Steven Spielberg, Lars Von Trier and Paolo Sorrentino,
or Cats and Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore?
“
The reasons why we study Dante, Boccaccio, Ariosto and
Petrarch are clear. So are the reasons why we study Sciascia,
Pasolini, Saviano and Bertolucci. Why anyone has ever been
forced to endure the God-awful Natale sul Nilo continues to
elude me. For me and for many others, the study of great art
will always be prioritised over the study of popular culture. It
will always be more rewarding to absorb something created to
express and to educate rather than something created to take
money from as many pockets as possible. Poetry will always be
better than push-pin.
Can you imagine taking a 12 week Stephanie Meyer course and having to write a commentary on
the passage in which Edward Cullen steps into direct sunlight for the first time and it turns out
his dark secret is that he’s glittery?