valley views The origins of paparazzi P
aparazzi - love them or hate them, they have become a fixture of our modern world. The word “Paparazzi” evokes images of pushy hordes of photographers crowding celebrities, all angling to get the best shot. While it might feel like this is a normal part of celebrity culture, it hasn’t always been this way. To understand the beginnings of the paparazzi, we’ll need to take a trip back in time to pre-WW2 Italy. The dictator Benito Mussolini was an avid film enthusiast. Inspired by Hollywood, in the 1930s he constructed a grand studio complex on the outskirts of Rome called Cinecitta. While Italy remained under the fascist dictator, the studio was mostly relegated to making nationalist propaganda film, with, at best, mediocre results. The complex was closed in the final days of the war as the Allies bombed Rome. After the war came to an end and Mussolini was removed from power, a new wave of
directors began to create Fellini’s Casanova, and movies about real life. A Cleopatra all came out of new style of film which this era. This golden age of dropped much of the profilmmaking ushered in an paganda polish for a gritti- unprecedented number of er reality of life in post-war famous movie stars to the Italy became eternal city. known as However, “NeorealRome’s new ism.” Unlike glittery the propaglamour ganda that image dispreceded played only them, such one side of films became the story. ben there internationPost-war DONE that ally sucItaly was Ben Stone cessful and extremely Media Production, Valley Journal acclaimed. challenged Rome subeconomsequently claimed its place ically. While movie stars on the global cinema map. painted the eternal city As time went on, the eter- red, the day-to-day reality nal city developed into a for the everyday Italian hot spot for filmmaking, was far less optimistic. resulting in the massive Work was scarce and times Cinecitta complex being were tough. Unable to reopened. find work, an enterprising Soon, Hollywood progroup of unemployed phoductions started to move tographers discovered an more and more large-scale innovative way to pay bills. productions to Rome. They perceived that tourAmbitious and visionary ists and newspapers would directors fulfilled their pay very handsomely for dreams in lower costs and candid photos of the rich large-scale sets. Legendand famous. After a phoary movies like Ben-Hur, tographer captured images
of a particularly scandalous 1958 high-profile party, tabloids and newspapers went wild for the images. Thus, freelance photographers realized that scandal pays. Consequently, they began to search for the most outrageous photos possible, hoping to secure a big payout. If celebs weren’t acting badly, the freelancers would even personally provoke them to do so. This more realistic look into the lives of celebrities stood in sharp contrast to the perfect, glamourous image these stars projected to the world. Prior to this, the stars had been able to portray this polished exterior with little to break the illusion. As a result, such photographers depicted these largerthan-life figures as not so different from you and me. Interesting enough, the shattering of this illusion didn’t quell the public’s interest in celebrities. In fact, the published photos fueled a heightened curiosity. Exposing the flaws and shortcomings of the
famous allowed us to see ourselves in their stories, resulting in a one-way false sense of connection to them. This phenomenon has dramatically intensified in modern times as smartphones brought cameras into the hands of everyone, and social media has given us all a place to publish. The 1950s culture of uninvited photographers hounding famous movie stars on the streets of Rome became so ubiquitous that Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini decided to make a movie about it. In 1960, he released the groundbreaking threehour film “La Dolce Vita,” or in English, “The Sweet Life.” The film was basically an autobiography of the eternal city’s golden age of film. The story also centered around the ravenous photographers who emerged from this era and, to a large degree, documented it. The main photographer of the story was named “Paparazzo.” Fellini once noted that the name was inspired by the
to Seattle. It was a short flight, but long enough to teach me something. During the boarding process, I had switched seats
places. I didn’t want to, but I could see she’d find the aisle more comfortable, so I agreed. Twenty minutes into the flight, I started to regret my act of kindness. I was feeling cramped, and
frustrated that I couldn’t stretch my legs. Regret soon morphed into resentment, and I began to stew. Why had she asked to switch? If I’d wanted the window seat, I’d have
Keep an eye on the bigger picture I
was flying home after facilitating my Difficult Conversations workshop at Idaho State University. It was the first leg of my return journey, a puddle-jump on a small turbo-prop from Pocatello 10 - June 1, 2022
with a fellow traveler. I’d reserved an aisle seat, 14A, but the person Kern Beare who reserved Peacevoice 14B, the window seat, asked if we could switch
Valley Views
Valley Journal
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sound of annoying insects like a fly or mosquito, reflecting the nuisance these photographers were to the stars. “Paparazzi” surfaced as the name for the profession, as we know it today, thanks to the international acclaim of the film.
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