On the Complexity of the Cinepanettone

Abstract

The cinepanettoni are a series of farcical comedies, one or two of which are released annually in Italy for the Christmas period, and attendance at which has come to be an integral part of the festive celebrations for many Italians so that the films are often among the most successful of the year. Though the cinepanettoni date back to 1983, the term itself seems to have been coined in the early 2000s and was certainly intended pejoratively, meant to suggest that these films are a matter of mere consumption (the preferred industry term is ‘film di Natale’ (Christmas film)). My aim is to introduce the history and variety of the cinepanettoni , and analyse a sample of the criticism or parody of the films in scholarship and in popular culture. Through a discussion of history in S.P.Q.R. 2000 and a Half Years Ago/S.P.Q.R. 2000 e ½ anni fa (1994), a satire of contemporary Italian politics and justice set in the classical Roman period, I argue that the film’s satire is directed as much at the pomposity of historical discourse as it is at its explicit targets of political corruption and judicial incompetence. Secondly, I discuss a literal version of ‘toilet humour’ in Natale sul Nilo (2002), directed by Neri Parenti. Parenti’s cinepanettoni from the new century have been the subject of particular derision, and I deliberately focus on what is seen as the irredeemable vulgarity of the Parenti films, in an attempt to better understand their humour of the lower body. My modest aim in this chapter is to argue the complexity and interest of the cinepanettone against its discursive construction in scholarship, criticism and in the wider Italian culture as crude, simplistic and beneath consideration. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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