Italian education’s view of cinema: from suspicion to media education

Abstract

From the outset, Italian education has been interested in the message of films and cinema’s power of persuasion. Prior to the advent of television, education viewed cinema with suspicion for the alleged damage it caused to the minds of young people. Later, it would view cinema as a means of fascist ideological propaganda. From the 1920s onwards, schools would use cinema as a teaching aid through the so-called “educational cinema”. Since 1960, schools have aimed to teach formal analysis and film content. On the threshold of the new millennium, the revolution in school autonomy obliged every educational institution to independently manage the financial resources allocated to them. This involved the arrival in schools of external experts who were entrusted with media education: they were supported by an internal tutor while the school coordinated the professionals who spe-cialized in cinema; meanwhile the subject teacher entered the Internet era with the innovation of the interactive whiteboard, assuming the role of multimedia author. Thus began the training of teachers within schools, who were registered on the national list of Visual Education Workers.