OCA: Project 10: The Society of the Spectacle – Guy Debord

The Open College of the Arts – Visual Studies 1: Understanding Visual Culture - Part 2: Ways of Seeing.

“The present age... prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to the original, fancy to reality, the appearance to the essence... for in these days illusion only is sacred, truth profane... the highest degree of illusion comes to be the highest degree of sacredness”

-          Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach, the Essence of Christianity (1843), Preface to Second Edition.

In The Society of the Spectacle (1967), Guy Debord, leader of the Situationist International, declared that “the entire life of societies in which modern conditions of production prevail announces itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles”.  The inseparability of spectacle from the state allows for the reproduction of social divisions and class formations.  Both state capitalism in the former Socialist Bloc and the market capitalism of the West alienated workers through the unity of passively consumed ‘spectacle’.

Debord’s ideas about contemporary society can be seen in context of the political and cultural movements of 1968, especially in France. While Situationist International challenged the art system itself – not wanting a “critique of revolutionary art” but rather a “revolutionary critique of all art” –, The Society of Spectacle  anticipates postmodernism, especially the work of  Baudrillard, through the idea that everything that had once been lived had in the contemporary world transmuted into a representation. Debord shifts away from Marxist Cultural theory’s attention on political economy and into the specturalisation of everyday life. 

Guy Debord

This project was to read Debord’s ‘Separation Perfected’ in the Visual Culture: The Reader (ed. Hall and Evans:  1999) and make notes relating to key themes within the text.

Debord initially addresses the Spectacle as a Weltanschauung; the image has become materially translated and objectified into a world view. The concept of Weltanschauung could be seen as a comprehensive philosophy of the world as it provides frameworks that contribute to a sense of existence through generating various dimensions of human perception and experience. As a paradigm it allows for the broadening of the concept of ideology, as it explains how people order their lives in accordance to their presuppositions about the nature of things. Though this would suggest cultural relativism due to cultural differences of perspective, it does help support the idea of the Spectacle being used an over encompassing state apparatus. This is used not just by national governments but also multinational conglomerates in an increasingly globalised world.  Would digitlisation and media convergence be an extension of this?

As Debord proposes that in modern society “all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into representation”, images become detached thus reality only partially unfolds.  The Specitcalisation of images leads to a world constructed of autonomous images. Spectacle inverts life, not just because it is a collection of images but it is a form of social mediation by images. As a product of the capitalist mode of production, Spectacle doesn’t supplement reality but is central to the unrealism within it.

I believe that the passage of time, since 1967, has confirmed Debord’s view. If the ‘mass media’ is Spectacle in its most limited sense, then would its dominance in modern society show the relevance of Debord’s concepts. Digitlisation is an ideal form which allows for the Society of Spectacle to choose its own technical content; evident in the accumulation and unilateral concentration of communication by conglomerates. Media convergence allows it to invade the function of everyday society, for example the correlation between social networking and corporate interests. Public relations involvement, through censorship and self-promotion, with objective news demonstrates Spectacles’ own aim of self-movement.

By seeing “the world by means of various specialised mediations” means that we have our view of the world controlled. Propaganda is evident in the converging of news and public relations, thus we are unable to distinguish it from reality and truth. This adds to its own subversive nature. Generally we don’t question the mediated representation of reality presented when we see it in the context of news. The stasis of dominant ideology is needed because of the over encompassing nature - strengthened by globalisation - of capitalism and the reciprocal dependence of the masses as consumers. It subjugates individuals to itself in extent of the economy subjugating them thus due to the mutual nature of the base and superstructure; the economic sector shapes image-objects. It is evident in the forms of Spectacle we experience – including advertisements and direct entertainment for consumption – contain elements of propaganda: to sell us objects we don’t really need to satisfy a desire. We are interpellated as the omnipresent affirmation of choices are already made and determined.

It demands passive acceptance because it has, through the consolidation of communication, the monopoly of appearance. As a product of modern production, Spectacle is artificial though its self presentation is positive and indisputable: “That which appears is good, that which is good appears”. Its construction may invades lived reality but spectators contemplate it with positive cohesiveness. Reality seeps through the Spectacle, resulting in this illusion being considered reality. Its perpetuation allows for the satisfied mediation of the social needs of this epoch. The form and content of the Spectacle is justified by the systems goal as our leisure time is occupied by Spectacle, we are never entirely separated from modern production.

Spectacle is related to the Marxist concept of Reification; a process of viewing the abstract as real. Spectacle is an extreme reification as concrete life degraded into speculative the universe, images are detached from their original meaning and social relations. Spectacle allows for when an image is placed in another context it lacks its original connections and is seen to have attributes which it does not. Independent representation allows Spectacle to reconstitutes itself. The fetishistic and purely objective appearance of the Spectacular thus conceals real social relations.

Ideas for Further Research:

• Guy Debord and the Situationist International.

• Postmodernism, Intertextuality and the Spectacle.

• Postmodernist form to facilitating Spectacle in both film and television. For example in ‘MTV’ aesthetics and High Concept films, especially through the use of intensified continuity. Further reading about action and spectacle in the Hollywood blockbuster include:

Jose Arroyo (ed.). 2000.  Action/Spectacle: A Sight and Sound Reader (BFI),   Introduction pp. vii-xv;
David Bordwell.  “Intensified Continuity: Visual Style in Contemporary American Film” in Film Quarterly, Vol 55, No. 3, Spring 2002, pp. 16-28;
Sheldon Hall and Steve Neale. 2010.  ‘Introduction’ In Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History (Wayne State UP), pp. 1-15;
Geoff King. 2000. ‘Introduction.’ In Spectacular Narratives: Hollywood in the Age of the Blockbuster (IB Tauris), pp. 1-18;
Janet Staiger, ‘Announcing Wares, Winning Patrons, Voicing Ideals: Thinking about the History and Theory of Film Advertising’ in Cinema Journal,  Vol 29, No. 3, Spring 1990, pp. 3-31.

• The cult of the personality and celebrity culture in the modern society. Could there be a correlation between glamour and the Spectacle?

• The relationship between propaganda and public relations. Separate perspectives explored through the work of Edward Bernays and extended through an investigation into the writings of Noam Chomsky.

• ‘Form and Discipline’ in V.F Perkins, 1972, Film as Film (London: Penguin), pp. 59-70.

Bibliography

D’Alleva, Anne. 2005. Methods & Theories of Art History. London: Laurence King Publishing.

Debord, Guy. 1967. ‘Separation perfected, taken from Society of Spectacle, Chapter 1’.  In: Jessica Evans and Stuart Hall (eds.)  London: Sage Publications.  1999, pp. 95-98.

Debord, Guy. 1992. Society of Spectacle. Rebel Press: London.

Packard, Vance. 1967. The Hidden Persuaders. London: Pelican.

Stam, Robert.  1999. Film Theory: An Introduction. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell., Chapter: ‘1968 and the Leftish Turn’, pp. 130-139. ‘The Poetics and Politics of Postmodernism’, pp. 298-307.

Image Source

'Guy Debord’ [online] Available at: http://www.redemmas.org/event/1926/> [Accessed 11 December 2010]

A Selection of Cultural Activities (22/11/10 – 06/12/10)

Films

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Terry Gilliam, Allied Filmmakers/Columbia Pictures Corporation/Laura Film, UK/West Germany, 1988)

Der Blaue Engel(‘The Blue Angel’) (Josef von Sternberg, Universum Film,  Germany, 1930)

Blanche Fury (Marc Allégret, Independent Producers, UK, 1948)

The Boy Friend (Ken Russell, MGM/Russflix, US/UK 1971)

Carmen Jones (Otto Preminger, Carlyle Productions, USA, 1954)

Carne trémula (‘Live Flesh) (Pedro Almodóvar, CiBy 2000/El Deseo S.A./France 3 Cinéma, France/Spain, 1997)

Il Casanova di Federico Fellini (‘Fellini’s Cassanova’) (Federico Fellini, Produzioni Europee Associati, Fast Film, Italy/USA, 1976)

Dèmoni (‘Demons’) (Lamberto Bava, DACFILM Rome, Italy, 1985)

Jubilee (Derek Jarman, Megalovision, Whaley-Malin Productions, USA, 1978)

A Kid for Two Farthings (Carol Reed, London Film Productions, UK, 1955)

Look Back in Anger (Tony Richardson, Orion/Woodfall Film Productions, UK, 1959)

Milk (Gus Van Sant, Focus Features/Axon Films/Groundswell Productions, USA, 2008)

Night of the Demon (Jacques Tourneur, Sabre Film Production, Columbia Pictures Corporation, UK, 1957)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Milos Forman, Fantasy Films, USA, 1975)

Propespero’s Books (Peter Greenaway, Allarts/Cinéa/Caméra One, Netherlands/France/UK/Italy/Japan, 1985)

Sabetour (Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Lloyd Productions/Universal Pictures, USA, 1942)

Sanatorium pod klepsydra (‘The Hour Glass Sanotorium’) (Wojciech Has, Zespól Filmowy "Silesia", Poland, 1973)

Song of Summer: Frederick Delius (Ken Russell, British Broadcasting Corporation, UK, 1968)

L'uccello dalle Piume di Cristallo (‘The Bird with the Crystal Plumage’) (Dario Argento, Central Cinema Company Film (CCC)/ Glazier/Seda Spettacoli, Italy/West Germany, 1970)

Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot (‘Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday) (Jacques Tati, Discina Film/Cady Films/Specta Films, France, 1953)

Les valseuses (Bertrand Blier, C.A.P.A.C./S.N. Prodis/ Universal Pictures France, France, 1974)

De Vierde Man (‘The Fourth man’) (Paul Verhoeven, Rob Houwer Productions, Verenigde Nederlandsche Filmcompagnie (VNF), Netherlands, 1983)

Les Yeux sans Visage (‘Eyes without a face’) (Georges Franju, Champs-Élysées Productions/Lux Film, Fance/Italy, 1960)

 

Television Programmes

‘A Dream Denied’, episode two, The American Dream, UK, BBC2, tx. 27.11.2010.

‘One Nation Under God’, episode three, The American Dream, UK, BBC2, tx. 04.11.2010.

‘The Engineering of Consent’, episode two, The Century of the Self, UK, BBC4, tx. 30.04.2002.

‘There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed’, episode three, The Century of the Self, UK, BBC4, tx. 02.05.2002.

Episode fifteen, The Culture Show, UK, BBC, tx. 25.11.2010

Episode Sixteen, The Culture Show, UK, BBC, tx. 02.12.2010

Film 2010, UK, BBCHD, tx. 24.11.2010.

Film 2010, UK, BBCHD, tx. 01.12.2010.

Episode five, Getting On, second series, UK, BBC4, tx. 23.11.2010.

Episode six, Getting On, second series, UK, BBC4, tx. 30.11.2010.

‘Ron Galella - Smash His Camera’, Imagine, UK, BBC1, tx. 23.11.2010

The Weird World of Edweard Muybridge’, Imagine, UK, BBC1 tx. 30.11.2010.

‘Blowing Smoke’, episode twelve, Mad Men, fourth series, USA, BBCHD, tx. 24.11.2010.

‘Tmorrowland’, episode thirteen, Mad Men, fourth series, USA, BBCHD, tx. 01.10.2010.

The Review Show, UK, BBC2, tx. 26.11.2010.

The Review Show, UK, BBC2, tx. 03.11.2010.

Radio Programmes

The Film Programme, 2010. [Radio programme] BBC, BBC Radio 4, 19 October 2010 16.30.

Coming attractions…

Once again it seems I have disappeared. I can assure you I haven’t. The Eisenstein essay coupled with a cold and another case of papilledema has meant I’ve been preoccupied. 

I’m just waiting to submit the essay so as soon as it’s done I won’t be continuing the Open Studies Certificate on January 15^th. That does not mean I am going to be inactive. This gives me time to focus on my OCA work while continuing my further reading and lets me revise my way through film form.  Hopefully, in the following week I will post:

• OCA Project 11: The Society and the Spectacle – Guy Debord

• OCA Project 12: The thorny subject of taste – Dick Hebdige

• Cultural Activities for 22/11/10 to 05/12/10

• Warwick Open Studies Certificate: Researching Eisenstein

• Amendments made to previous Open Studies and OCA posts.

Next I am looking forward to my visit to Southampton University and am anticipating to begin my further reading.  Though sometime in December I would like to post some analytical points about Brazil (Terry Gilliam, Embassy International Pictures, UK, 19985) and The Girl Can’t Help It (Frank Tashlin, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, USA, 1956).

A Selection of Cultural Activities (15/11/10 – 21/11/10)

Films

Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, Carlyle Productions, USA, 1959)

The Devil is a Woman (Josef von Sternberg, Paramount Pictures, USA, 1935)

L'enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot (‘Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno’) (Serge Bromberg/Ruxandra Medrea, Lobster Films/France 2 Cinéma/Canal+, France, 2009)

Hable Con Ella (‘Talk To Her’) (Pedro Almodóvar, El Deseo S.A./Antena 3 Televisión/Good Machine, Spain, 2002)

 

Il Gatto a Nove Code (‘The Cat O’ Nine Tails’) (Dario Argento, Labrador Films/Seda Spetacoli/Terra-Filmkunst, Italy, 1971)

I Shot Andy Warhol (Mary Harron, BBC Arena/Playhouse International Pictures/The Samuel Goldwyn Company, UK/USA, 1996)

My Dad is 100 Years Old (Guy Maddin, Documentary Channel/Spanky Productions, Canada, 2005)

Nine (Rob Marshall, Marc Platt Productions/Relativity Media/The Weinstein Company, Italy/USA, 2009)

Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, Paramount Pictures/Patron Inc., USA, 1954)

Reazione a Catena (‘Bay of Blood’) (Mario Bava, Nouva Linea Cinematografica, 1971)

Savage Messiah (Ken Russell, Russ-Arts, UK, 1972)

Soldaat van Oranje (‘Soldiers of Orange’) (Paul Verhoeven, Excelsior Films/Film Holland/The Rank Organisation, Belgium/Netherlands, 1977)

Le Sceicco Bianco (‘The White Sheik’) (Federico Fellini, OFI/P.D.C, Italy, 1952)

A Zed and Two Noughts (Peter Greenaway, British Film Institute (BFI)/Allarts Enterprises/Artificial Eye, Netherlands/UK, 1985)

Preliminary Notes: The Devil is a Woman

The female masquerade, 'Concha' (Marlene Dietrich) performs in The Devil is a Woman (Josef von Sternberg, USA, 1935)

‘Concha’ represents different figures of woman and truth throughout the film; this is combined with Sternberg’s themes of ambiguity and sexuality. Performance is important to the film, not just Dietrich’s but also ‘Concha’s’. The ‘Three Sweethearts Have I’ cabaret performance is a reflection of the narrative and the relationships ‘Concha’ has with the male characters. The female chorus, obscured in the above screenshot, could be said to represent ‘Concha’s’ conscious, or the female psyche. 

Sternberg’s visual motif of equating females with birds and feathers is evident in this scene; the stuffed gulls at the front of the stage. This could have significance to the presentation of ‘Concha’ throughout the film.

Will have to do further research on feminist film theory and gender; maybe this could be tied in with the study of semiotics with a look into the work of Mary Anne Doane.

Television Programmes

‘Plenty and Paranoid’, episode one, The American Dream, UK, BBC2, tx. 20.11.2010.

Episode one, Any Human Heart, UK, Channel 4, tx. 21.11.10.

‘Happiness Machines’, episode one, The Century of the Self, UK, BBC4, tx. 29.04.2002.

Episode fourteen, The Culture Show, UK, BBC, tx. 18.11.2010

Film 2010, UK, BBCHD, tx. 17.11.2010.

Episode four, Getting On, second series, UK, BBC4, tx. 16.11.2010.

‘Chinese Wall’, episode eleven, Mad Men, fourth series, USA, BBCHD, tx. 17.11.2010.

The Mike Wallace Interview: Diana Dors, USA, tx. 09.11.1957.

The Review Show, UK, BBC2, tx. 19.11.2010.

Radio Programmes

The Film Programme, 2010. [Radio programme] BBC, BBC Radio 4, 19 October 2010 16.30.

Italian Neo-Realism (20/11/10)

The University of Warwick Open Studies Certificate: ‘Introduction to Film and Cinema Studies’; Term 1 “1895-1950: The Birth and Development of Narrative Film"; Week 8 (20/11/10)

A father and son relationship: 'Antonio', 'Bruno' and the Fido Bicycle in The Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1948).

This week’s session consisted of a combined lecture and screening of The Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1948). As this was my introduction to the Neo-Realist movement, it was refreshing to discuss both its conventions and context. Broadly, the movement can be seen as an alternative to the classical Hollywood mode of storytelling which helped the discussion the social and political context of the movement.

We initially examined the social importance of the concept ‘Realism’. This was in relation to both the realistic and the “reality” of everyday life. We considered the Classic Realist Novel of 19^th Century Literature in relation to the presentation of social issues and the criticism of perspective. The issue of perspective presents a different argument when applied to moving-image media and the representation of reality due to society’s conventional concept that photography is objective; the audio-visual nature aiding the illusion of “truth” and the social commentary. We considered this “New” kind of realism between 1943 and 1947.  

Accordingly, we discussed Neo-Realist filmmakers (Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini, De Scia and Luchino Visconti), the importance of Cesare Zavattini in the establishment of the movement and, in relation to the aesthetics of Neo-Realism and the language of cinema, the theoretical work of the French film critic André Bazin. Although it may be seen as the antipathy of the Neo-Realist movement, we were able to compare, both thematically and aesthetic, the movement to Film Noir. There was also discussion of the genesis and the conventions of Neo-Realism.

The session itself was too brief to consider the full extent of the political context of the movement and although we were able to touch on the movement’s aesthetic and technical innovation, we were not able to regard the philosophical nature of Neo-Realism. In the second term we will have the opportunity to refer back to Neo-Realism in our study of new wave cinema, especially in week 3 – which may be moved to week 4 – as we look at Italian cinema through La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1960) and my private study of Michelangelo Antonioni’s work.

Although the module was not made available, I am aware that the Neo-Realism as both National and an International could be studied during A2 Film Studies (WJEC). I was also hoping that I would be able to explore the movement during my time at University. As this is not yet the case, I will have to look into this movement in greater depth through private research.

Some areas I would like to further explore are: cinematography, verisimilitude and objectivity in Neo-Realism; Neo-Realism as a National Cinema; Italian National Cinema before Neo-realism; and in a broader context, Fascism, the implications of spectacle and film aesthetics.  

Further Research to be conducted in relation to Italian Neo-Realism:

• A.Bazin. 1997. Bazin at work: essays and reviews from the Forties and Fifties.
• R.Armes. 1971. Patterns of Realism.
• B.Cardullo. 2002. Vittorio De Sica: director, actor, screenwriter.
• H.Curle, & S.Snyder, (eds.). 2000.  Vittorio De Sica: Contemporary Perspectives.
• J.Dunnage. 2002. Twentieth Century Italy: A Social History.
• D.Forgacs, & S.Gundle. 2008. Mass Culture and Italian Society from Fascism to the Cold War.
• D.Forgacs. 1990.  Italian Culture in the Industrial Era 1880 -1980.
• P.Ginsborg. 2003. A History of Contemporary Italy, 1943-2001.
• S. Gundle. 1992. ‘From Neo-Realism to Luci Rosse: Cinema, Politics and Society, 1945-85’ in Z.Baranski and R.Lumley (eds.), Culture and Conflict in Postwar Italy, pp.195-224; extract from D.Forgacs and S.Gundle. 2008. Mass Culture and Italian Society from Fascism to the Cold War, pp.124-45
• S.Gundle, `Visions of Prosperity: Consumerism and Popular Culture in Italy from the 1920s to the 1950s' in C.Levy and M.Roseman, (eds.). 2002. Three Postwar Eras in Comparison: Western Europe 1918 – 1945 – 1989.
• Mira Liehm, “Lacrimae Rerum (1944-1948),” in Passion and Defiance: Film in Italy from 1942 to the Present (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), pp. 60-89
• D.Overbey, (ed.). 1967.  Springtime in Italy: A Reader on Neo-realism.
• C.Wagstaff. 2007. Italian Neorealist Cinema, 2007

Bibliography

Bazin, André. 1948. ‘An Aesthetic of Reality: Cinematic Realism and the Italian School of the Liberation’. From: What is Cinema? Volume 2. 1972. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 16-40.

Bazin, André. 1949. ‘Bicycle Thief’. From: What is Cinema? Volume 2. 1972. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 47-60.

Bazin, André. ‘The Evolution of the Language of Cinema’. From: What is Cinema? Volume 1. 1967. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 23-40.

Bazin, André. 1951. ‘De Sica, Metteur en Scène’. From: What is Cinema? Volume 2. 1972. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 61-78.

Bondanella, Peter. 2007. Italian Cinema: from Neo-Realism to the Present. 3^rd ed. London: Continuum International Publishing.

Bordwell, David., Thompson, Kristin. 2006. Film Art: An Introduction. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. pp. 459-461.

Bordwell, David., Thompson, Kristin. 2009. Film History: An Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. pp. 330-340.

Casey Benyahia, Sarah. Gaffney, Freddie and White, .John., 2009. A2 Film Studies: The Essential Introduction. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge. pp.201-228.

Cook, Pam., ed., 2008. The Cinema Book. London: BFI Publishing. pp. 83-84; pp. 97-98; pp. 233-237.

Corrigan, Timothy., White, Patricia. 2009. The Film Experience. 2^nd ed. London: Palgrave Macmillian, pp. 90-92; pp. 253-357.

Gordon, Robert S.C.2008. Bicycle Thieves. London: BFI Publishing.

Hayward, Susan. 1996. Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 227-229.

Marcus, Millicent. 1992. Italian film in the Light of Neo-Realism. Princeton: Princeton University press, ‘Chapter 2 – De Sica’s Bicycle Thief: Casting Shadows on the Visionary City’ pp. 54-75.

Monticelli, Simona. 1998. ‘Italian Postwar Cinema and Neorealism’. In: J.Hill and P.Church Gibson, (eds.), Oxford Guide to Film Studies.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 455-460.

Perkins, V.F. 1972. Film as Film. London: Penguin Books, pp. 31-32; pp. 172-173.

Shiel, Mark. 2005. Italian Neorealism: Rebuilding the Cinematic City. Short Cuts. London: Wallflower Press.

Ruberto , Laura E., Wilson Kristi M. 2007.Italian Neo-Realism and Global Cinema. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.

Sorlin, Pierre. 1991. European Cinemas, European Societies: 1939-1990. Abingdon: Routledge.

Walford, Michael. 2007. Italian Neorealism: An Introduction. [online] April 24th 2007. Available at: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/michaelwalford/entry/italian_neorealism_an . [Accessed 19 November 2010]


Walford, Michael. 2007. Italian Neorealism: Rebuilding the Cinematic City. [online] September 6th 2007. Available at: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/michaelwalford/entry/italian_neorealism_rebuilding .[Accessed 19 November 2010]

Wallis, Tom., Pramaggiore, Maria. 2007. Film: A Critical Introduction. London:Laurence King. pp. 325-327.

Zavattini, Cesare. 1953. ‘Some Ideas on the Cinema’. In: R. Dyer MacCann ed. Film: A Montage of Theories. 1966. New York: Dutton,  pp. 216-228.

Filmography                  

The Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, Produzioni De Sica, Italy, 1948)


Image Source:

‘’A father and son relationship: 'Antonio', 'Bruno' and the Fido Bicycle in The Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1948)” [online] Available at: http://gracchii.blogspot.com/2007/04/double-indemnity.html> [Accessed 20 November 2010].