{"59123":{"#nid":"59123","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Dalle Vacche\\\u0027s \\\u0022Diva\\\u0022 Wins Prestigious Choice Award","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAngela Dalle Vacche, Professor in the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture and an internationally renowned film scholar has been honored with the prestigious Choice award for her book, \u003Cem\u003EDiva: Defiance and Passion in Early Italian Cinema \u003C\/em\u003E(University of Texas Press, 2008).  Choice is the official publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries in the United States and bestows the award annually in recognition of an exceptional scholarly work. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe culmination of 15 years of research and work at premier film archives in Bologna and Amsterdam, \u003Cem\u003EDiva\u003C\/em\u003E offers the first authoritative study of an important pre-WWI (1913-1918) film genre.  Dalle Vacche analyzed some seventy films and developed a seminal iconography.  \u0022Animated by a luminous goddess at its center, the diva film provided a forum for denouncing social evils and exploring new models of behavior among the sexes. These melodramas of themes including courtship, seduction, marriage, betrayal, abandonment, child custody, and public reputation offered women a vision of\u0022\u0022if not always a realistic hope for\u0022\u0022emancipation and self-discovery\u0022  at the dawn of the mechanistic age.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDalle Vacche examined the work of actresses such as Francesca Bertini, Lyda Borelli, and Pina Menichelli to establish what the diva film contributed to the modernist development of the \u0022new woman.\u0022 Contrasting the Italian diva with the Hollywood vamp Theda Bara and the famous Danish star Asta Nielsen, Dalle Vacche shows how the diva oscillates between articulating Henri Bergson\u0027s vibrant life-force (  lan vital) and representing the suffering figure of the Catholic mater dolorosa.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA fascinating tour that includes the Ballets Russes, orientalism, art nouveau, Futurism, fashion, prostitution, stunt women in the circus, aviation, anti-Semitism, colonialism, and censorship, \u003Cem\u003EDiva\u003C\/em\u003E sheds light on the eccentric implantation of modernity in Italy, as well as on how, before World War I, the filmic image was associated with the powers of the occult (rather than Freudian unconscious, as had been previously argued).  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EPerhaps a highlight of the book for technology-focused readers is the chapter on aviation, \u003Cem\u003EWings of Desire\u003C\/em\u003E.  \u0022The invention of the airplane marked the twinning of modern technology with visual vertigo,\u0022  writes Dalle Vacche. \u0022The airplane\u0027s ability to move between ground and sky matched the diva\u0027s oscillation between historical change and personal ruin.\u0022  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe book is accompanied by a DVD of archival film clips \u003Cem\u003EDiva Dolorosa.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"Angela Dalle Vacche, Professor in the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture and an internationally renowned film scholar has been honored with the prestigious Choice award for her book, \u0022Diva: Defiance and Passion in Early Italian Cinema\u0022 (University of Texas Press, 2008).  Choice is the official publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries in the United States and bestows the award annually in recognition of an exceptional scholarly work.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Film study illuminates early Italian cinema"}],"uid":"27167","created_gmt":"2009-11-06 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:06:47","author":"Rebecca Keane","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2009-11-06T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2009-11-06T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"59124":{"id":"59124","type":"image","title":"tqp74008.jpg","body":null,"created":"1449176217","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:56:57","changed":"1475894512","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:52","alt":"","file":{"fid":"190863","name":"tqp74008.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tqp74008_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tqp74008_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":25791,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tqp74008_0.jpg?itok=1tBuJok9"}},"59125":{"id":"59125","type":"image","title":"tux74008.jpg","body":null,"created":"1449176217","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:56:57","changed":"1475894512","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:52","alt":"","file":{"fid":"190862","name":"tux74008.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tux74008_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tux74008_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":38438,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tux74008_0.jpg?itok=4rptdmHe"}}},"media_ids":["59124","59125"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.lcc.gatech.edu\/~dallevacche\/","title":"More about Dalle Vacche"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.utexas.edu\/utpress\/books\/daldiv.html","title":"Diva: Defiance and Passion in Early Italian Cinema"}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"}],"keywords":[{"id":"10053","name":"Choice award"},{"id":"10051","name":"Dalle Vacche"},{"id":"10050","name":"Diva"},{"id":"2402","name":"film"},{"id":"10052","name":"Italian Cinema"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003ERebecca Keane\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=rkeane3\u0022\u003EContact Rebecca Keane\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-1720\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["rebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}