Pop Culture in La Dolce Vita: A low brow examination of a high browfilm (A critique)

           Part of films ephemeral quality is that its meaning changes with the each observer and as that individual observer changes, evolves, age, their interpretation of the art may also change. Pop culture and meta references in La Dolce Vita (1960) get lost among the over reading and analysis as a piece of art. La Dolce Vita (1960) is one of the most important films by one of the most important directors (I’m not sure but I’m pretty sure I stole that from the back of the Criterion Collection box) so the academic and critical analysis of the film is certainly warranted and I will in no way try to argue against that. Yes La Dolce Vita (1960) is high art but let’s not be so precious that we don’t take notice that Nico having a cameo as Nico is completely pop and delightful. Nico rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar during the 1960s. Contemporary audiences due to time, place, and other factors that add context may miss some of the references, tips of the cap, and winks at the camera a 1960 audience would of immediately caught.

          The casting of Lex Barker as Sylvia’s drunken fiancé in La Dolce Vita (1960) is superb. He is a caricature yet utterly believable as the drunken American oaf. A difference in a 2015 screening from a 1960 screening of the film is many contemporary viewers will not remember Lex Barker as the matinee idol who played Tarzan five times. A contemporary example would be to have Chris Hemsworth the actor who portrays the Norse god Thor in the cinematic adaptation of the Marvel universe. To a certain demographic of the audience in 1960 they would immediately recognize their favorite loincloth wearing, vine swinging, king of the jungle, Tarzan starring in one of the film’s vignettes. The casting of this role is one of many examples of the merger of pop culture, high art, and craftsmanship that permeate La Dolce Vita (1960).

          Nino Rota scored many of Fellini’s films and was a long time collaborator. Nino Rota is also noted for scoring The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974). Nino Rota will forever be immortalized as the composer of The Godfather Waltz. La Dolce Vita (1960) has Rota and Fellini collaborating again. Rota’s score can be heard in the opening and conclusion of the film but the majority of the film uses a pop music soundtrack. The song Patricia by Perez Prado is featured prominently in the film. Billboard ranked Patricia as the #5 song of 1958 and it hit #1 on the billboard charts that same year. Patricia continues to be part of the zeitgeist being used in shows like The Simpsons and HBO’s Real Sex. A contemporary audience may hear Patricia and think it’s ironic, whimsical, or nostalgic. In 1960 this soundtrack was the height of pop culture. At the end of the film as in the beginning the pop soundtrack is replaced by the score. During the string of decedent evenings a fun pop soundtrack is used in the film allowing the viewer to get lost in the charisma of the actors but once the score replaces the soundtrack the viewer knows the dream the party and or dream are over. The pop soundtrack ends just as Marcello’s ambition to be a serious writer ends and Rota’s score begins again book ending the film.

          La Dolce Vita (1960) lampoons the vapid drunken nights of café culture in Rome yet it can’t help being immersed and celebrating what it’s deriding. It’s like stockbrokers who love to watch Wall Street (1987) or criminals who glorify Scarface (1983). All three afore mentioned films are completely self aware that what they are showing you is nothing to be emulated, yet all three are films whose heightened stylized worlds are something audiences fall in love with and glorify. Fellini tells you it’s an empty life yet audiences can’t help but be enraptured by celebrity, sex, fancy clothes, and all the trapping of modern café culture in Rome. Sylvia’s character is a metaphor for the themes of the film. She is shallow and impetuous but she is so sexy you understand why everyone puts up with her nonsense. Fellini represents café culture the same way. It’s vapid and meaningless yet it’s so sexy and decedent it’s hard to resist.

          Nico was a model, anti-Semite, actress, and musician most famous for her collaborations with Andy Warhol and The Velvet Underground. In La Dolce Vita (1960) Nico has a cameo playing herself. Fellini was not only the film’s director but also co-writer and created the part specifically for her. Marcello is a gossip journalist in a chic European city why wouldn’t he know Nico? But isn’t Nico a real person and the movie a work of fiction? This is another example of Fellini using pop culture to create his universe. If Nico is a real person and if she appears in the movie does that make the movie real life or make real life a movie? Something seemingly innocuous like a cameo of a pop star suddenly adds to the surreal quality of the seemingly endless string of decedent evenings followed by repentant dawns.  

          Fellini is one of cinema’s most acclaimed directors. When discussing the great auteur directors Fellini’s name is always mentioned. La Dolce Vita (1960) is such a dense film it can literally be broken down frame by frame and I’m sure it has been by scholars and critics alike. La Dolce Vita (1960) seamlessly synthesizes pop culture in a manner not many films that are considered high art have accomplished. Fellini’s use of pop culture doesn’t diminish his art he uses it to enhance his art. For me this hits a real nostalgic sweet spot. I first began to appreciate film not just as escapism but as an art form during the rise of American independent film during the early to mid 1990’s. Many of the writer directors of that era most notably Quentin Tarantino create a heightened  stylized world peppered with pop culture references to ground their fictionalized universes in realism. It creates a soft focus reflection of our own world where the women are prettier, the dialogue is slicker, and the life is sweeter. 

 By
J. Scott Cohen