Pier Paolo Pasolini: Aesthetics, Politics, Sexuality

Catalog description

Pier Paolo Pasolini—poet, filmmaker, and radical intellectual—created some of the most provocative and influential films of the 20th century, blending insights from Freudian psychoanalysis, Marxism and religious mysticism. This course, marking the 50th anniversary of Pasolini’s death, explores his groundbreaking cinematic work in dialogue with the ideological struggles and artistic movements of the 20th century. We will trace Pasolini’s evolution from his representation of the Rome’s peripheries in Accattone (1961) through his mythological (Oedipus Rex, 1967; Medea, 1969) and experimental works (Teorema, 1968), culminating in his controversial Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975). In addition to his feature films, we will examine his documentary work, including Notes for an African Orestes (1970) and Love Meetings (1964), which offer key insights into his views on sexuality, political struggle, and the postcolonial world. At the core of our exploration will be Pasolini’s radical vision of sexuality and desire, which challenged social norms while positioning him within a broader network of queer and avant-garde filmmakers such as Agnès Varda, Andy Warhol, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, among others. Students will engage with his work through key theoretical frameworks—Gramsci, Freud, Lacan, Barthes—alongside contemporary approaches from queer theory, critical race studies, and ecocriticism. We will also examine his enduring influence on radical philosophy and feminist film criticism in the works of Teresa de Lauretis, Judith Mayne, Giorgio Agamben and Slavoj Zizek. This course is taught in English; no prior knowledge of Italian cinema or language is required.