Horror movies have been interpreted differently according to times and places or the filters created by a specific cultural vision. Sometimes they moved along the fine line which separates trash and cult, but somehow we all had to do with them. In the end, exorcising fear is an activity as old as humanity…
Europei di calcio, dalla Guerra Fredda all’edizione condivisa
Nel 1953, con la morte di Stalin e l’avvento di Nikita Kruscev, la Guerra Fredda vede una prima fase di distensione (relativa). Comunque abbastanza per l’organizzazione di un torneo ufficiale per Nazionali sotto l’egida dell’UEFA…
The Third Wave, how to end up conformed
The Sixties had been a time of great social changes, pushed by movements of students, women, blacks, workers or artists. In this political and historical context, professor Ron Jones decides to try an innovative and hazardous experiment. When the chapter on World War II arrives, Jones lingers on the worst aspect for planning, numbers and timing: the holocaust. And on two classic questions: how was it possible to let it happen? How did the German population feel during the Third Reich?
Portugal, european champion in fatalism (2)
The second and last episode of a traveling story between places, stereotypes and legends. Stereotypes are passed down. But how were they formed? Fortunately, every now and then, beyond our conjectures and inferences, there is someone who studies them.
Colleferro, Willy e come tutto cambia dalla realtà alla cronaca
“Colleferro non è un deserto culturale, né un paradiso terrestre”. I cittadini non accettano definizioni distorte, perché è vero che oggi offre molto di più rispetto a pochi anni fa, ma in questo senso non può nemmeno essere descritta come una città che ha tutto e dove è particolarmente piacevole vivere. Colleferro è una città nata intorno all’industria, e come tutte le città che sono nate intorno alle industrie, il “bel vivere” non è stato la priorità. La produzione pare debba richiedere sacrifici e Colleferro ha percorso tutta la strada della floridezza e decadenza, di cui molti si approfittano in termini umani e ambientali… ma 5 anni fa qualcosa era già cambiato. La Colleferro che ha fatto da scenario alla tragica fine di Willy (e nuove cronache) era già una città diversa…
Portugal, european champion in fatalism (1)
“A lot of stereotypes from many European countries come to mind, but I have total emptiness on Portugal and the Portugueses,” an American guy comments on Reddit (social news site). To this a Spaniard replies as someone who knows a lot: “the Portugueses are rather sad, pessimistic and melancholy. These traits are represented in the typical musical style of Portugal, Fado, and in the word ‘saudade’ which has no translation in any other language”. Well, at least in Italian it can be translated into “nostalgia”. On the other hand, you know, another classic is the “clash of opposites”, between Portugal and Spain. (Like Italy with France). So much that the Portugueses says the Spaniards are fun, energetic and proud, with a tendency to raise the voice. While the Spaniards believe that Portuguese are reserved, indecisive and nostalgic, in fact, with a tendency to fatalism. “Fado” comes from the Latin fatum and means “destiny”…
…also because you die! (2)
In recent years, even skeptics are starting to see the effects of global warming. Desertification, floods and hurricanes, diseases, melting ice… Even if, in such a context, denial is still present. In 2015 ¼ of Americans did not believe in climate change. But we could speak of indoctrinated people. They partecipate in conferences organized by the directly “interested in the ‘pollution’, or rather the oil and coal industries. As shown by a Vice investigation into ‘The rising oceans’. Among this minority of “deniers of the obvious”, we also had to resist the former President Trump. In one fell swoop, has made all the efforts by Obama useless. At least ,”most Americans today (62%) say that climate change is affecting their local community either a great deal or some”, but we think that the discussion here is deeper: we are talking about to die or survive…
Environmental issues are not boring… (1)
Over time, environmental issues have been stereotyped a lot. Perceived as very secondary, almost useless. Apart from a few “green” fanatics. In the news they always reach the bottom, in the working world they are seen as marginal occupations, in daily life no weight. The sun, the moon, the sky, everything is still there as we have always seen it. At the end. These themes can attract compassion or mockery. At best a certain boredom… until something has been changed. Or not?
“Provo”, Amsterdam’s 1968 (three years earlier)
When we think about 1968 demonstrations, we got Paris or San Francisco in our minds. Or maybe the Prague spring, when Czechoslovakia tried to rebel against the Soviet Union (unsuccessfully). Someone, though, three years earlier, had already passed through all these requests for a better, fairer, more equal society: Holland. And that’s thanks to Provo…
In guerra per l’acqua
Più di petrolio, religione, ideologia, nazionalismo, materie prime preziose. La guerra è sempre più mirata a controllare la risorsa più importante di tutte, l’acqua…