The Lesson of America

A visual artist of contemporary art won the Oscar for Best Picture – the first, I believe. But this is not exactly news. The news is that it took 86 years for Hollywood to give an award to a film by a director of color.

Racism is a hard monster to kill. Director Steve McQueen, as he accepted the golden statuette, reminded us that to this day, slavery is a tragedy that afflicts 30 million people. “12 Years a Slave” not only made Hollywood history, but it has also made history in American schools, where it has become a required “text” in the curriculum of students in the U.S. Without wanting to take away from the joy of Sorrentino and our pride as Italians, [I’d say that] all this must make us reflect on the fact that if “La Grande Bellezza” was the equivalent for our students as part of the school curriculum, there would not be a great lesson to learn. There would not be a great lesson in it because it shows a world that does not change, while “12 Years a Slave” does [show a world that changes]. Therefore, even if we are elated about the success of an Italian film at the Oscars after many years of waiting, we should be a little bit ashamed that even though Hollywood has rectified an inexcusable delay, here at home, the government, which on paper was supposed to be the most innovative that could have been, has not only removed the Ministry for Integration, but has also gotten rid of the first black minister in the history of our republic. A great evil. Because symbols count in social and cultural change, and Cecile Kyenge was a symbol against the racism of the Lega Nord’s extremism and also an invisible respectability that succeeded in muddying the waters by mixing social relativism and racism. If this is not enough to prove that Italy has a problem with the tragedies and problems of the contemporary world, just take a look at the first showings of McQueen’s film that were used to promote it into our movie theaters. First, there was Brad Pitt in the spotlight, although he did not play the protagonist, and then Michael Fassbender. The real subject and the real protagonist of the film, slavery and the actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, took a back seat. The distributors clearly were afraid or are still afraid that Italians would not go see a film that was marketed as being about black people. A sadly true fear, confirmed also by the new government’s decision, superficial in the best case scenario and concerning in the worst, to regard a ministry that deals with integration as a low priority, if not useless.

As if it were not fundamental for our country’s future to confront integration and racism as key points in our development, which is not always and only economic, but also cultural and moral. Yet again, America shows us how elements of popular culture, in this case cinema, can become tools for educating the citizens of the future. A country like the U.S., always looking ahead, uses memory to construct the conscience of future generations. Italy, on the other hand, uses the present as an excuse to melancholically and eternally forget to celebrate the past, a subconscious reflex to an unlikely future. “La Grande Belleza” won an Oscar because even if it did so in an exquisite way, it nonetheless knew how to represent yet again an irreducible stereotype of a decadent Italy, indulgent and useless, which Americans like a lot. “12 Years a Slave” won an Oscar because in the 21st century, it figured out how to find a past tragedy capable of representing and making us think about today’s tragedies. American students are required to learn the culture of freedom through all means possible. Our students, slaves to beauty, could partake in a comparable folk lesson if all goes well for them.