The discourse of Italian cinema and beyond
Subtitle: let cinema speak
By: Roberta Piazza
Series: Advances in stylistics; Advances in stylistics
Publisher: Continuum
Published: 2011
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 261
ISBN-13: 9781441136978
Subjects: Motion pictures; Italian Motion picture plays; History and criticism
Description: Roberta Piazza's book is a linguistic investigation of the dialogue of Italian cinema covering a selection of films from the 1950s to the present day. It looks at how speech is dealt with in studies of the cinema and tackles the lack of engagement with dialogue in film studies. It explores the representation of discourse in cinema --  the way particular manifestations of verbal interaction are reproduced in film. Whereas 'representation' generally refers to the language used in texts to assign meaning to a group and its social practices, here discourse representation more directly refers to the relationship between real-life and cinematic discourse. Piazza analyses how fictional dialogue reinterprets authentic interaction in order to construe particular meanings. Beginning by exploring the relationship between discourse and genre, the second half of the book takes a topic-based approach and reflects on the themes of narrative and identity. The analysis carried out takes on board the multi-semiotic and multimodal components of film discourse. The book uses also uses concepts and methodologies from pragmatics, conversation analysis and discourse analysis.
Notes: Includes filmography.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [235]-252) and index.