C H A P T E R 17
FEDERICO FELLINI’S 8½
A Masterpiece?
When I show 8½ in my lectures at Columbia, most of my students respond to it in probably the way Fellini hoped an audience would: amused by the foibles and weaknesses of an artist attempting to give birth in a world that is quite unsympathetic to his dilemma. (Fellini regarded this film as a comedy and had taped a sign above the eyepiece of the camera: “This is a comedy.”)
Film students are naturally interested in gaining some insight into this specific dilemma, in which they hope someday to be embroiled themselves. This dilemma—will Guido make a movie?—is only the McGuffin (a term coined by Hitchcock, which stands for any object or device that exists solely for initiating the plot). Guido’s ...
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