Evaluation Formalıst & Realıst Debate ( Bicycle Thıeves)

                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                                      Cihan Altınbaş 

Marmara University, Sociology Department

                  In this article, ı will try to look at Bicycle Thieves and ı will evaluate the formalist and realist debate in cinema by giving references to the movie. We will try to look at the whole details of the movie, formalist and realist debate and the importance of the neo-realist movement.

                
 Bicycle Thieves is an Italian movie which was directed by Vittorio De Sica in 1948. It's a neo-realist film and it's dramatic. It tells a story which belongs to the Ricci Family and it’s happening after WW2. It shows the social, economic situation of the society and it aims to show something to audiences. Antonio Ricci is the hero of the film and the story starts with him having a job. There is unemployment high and our hero found a job but he needs a bicycle for this job. So, he has to find the money for buying a bicycle. His wife sells their bedspreads. After that, he starts his job, everything is going fine but someone steals his bike. He has to have a bicycle to continue to do his job because it's a requirement of this job. So, he went to police but the police didn’t do anything about the bicycle. The rest of the movie is about him trying to find his bike and there are some events while he was searching. Generally, the film shows us the situation of Italy with whole details such as socially, economically, politically and so on. Also, it shows the whole details of society without any fiction. End of the movie, he became a bicycle thief and he lost in society with his shame. Also, we can see the differences between rich and poor, how people act with these economic conditions. Bruno is the son of the hero and how situations shape the children’s life without any asking. He just follows his father and he can’t ask any questions because he knows everything, he can be aware of it. Also, the movie shows how police act at this time and people’s life are shown directly in the movie.

            Italy was suffering with economic and political instability because of WW2. After WW2, there was a huge unemployment in Italy and it took 2 years. At this time, Mussoloni’s fascist government was in power and they controlled the movie environment with propagandas. Nazi Germany used the cinema for propaganda (like Der Sieg Des Glaulbens) and we can see the propaganda movies in Italy at that time. So, the director had two options; showing the reality with whole details or the opposite of it. Formalist cinema says that the reality can not reflect directly and its impossible so we have to change the reality, we have to add comment to the movie. If the movie doesn’t concern society and if it's not related to reality, it's called Telefoni Bianci which is an imitation of American comedy. These kinds of movies open a new way for movie movement in Italy and it’s called Neo-reality. And, Bicycle Thieves is an example for this movement and it’s about the social, economic and political titles with the reality which is coming from society without any change. So, it changed how to tell the story and they started to make movies with minimum tools with causal actors (normal people). So, daily life started to reflect as it was with people who live this life.

            As we said, Bicycle Thieves is a neo-realist movie and its opposite of formalist movement. The first theoretical approach in cinema is the formalist theoretical approach and it started with the silent cinema. In this case, we have to talk about Hugo Munsterberg, Rudolf Arnheim and they both are affected by Gestalt psychology. Munsterberg is Pioneer of formalist movement and he says that cinema shapes by human mind and it change to different something. Also, cinema is not only a technological improvement and people can add different images while they are watching. Arnheim says that if reality is reflected in cinema directly, the cinema loses its feature of being an art and every image can’t have an artistic value so reflection of absolute reality is impossible. Realistic theory is a kind of reaction for formalist theory. And it tries to show the reality without any adding or cutting. And Pioneer of this theory is Siegfried Kracauer says that cinema is perfect tool for reflecting reality. In the movie, we can see the Neo-realist movement perfectly which is part of realist movement. The director show unemployment directly and how people need to work, they can’t work because there is no work at that time. Also, police officers don’t care about people, they can have a problem but there are not enough police officers and enough technology to find thieves. Also, we can see people’s attitudes in real life. They try to help each other and they can protect each other without asking (When hero of movie is searching his bicycle, his friends help him). Also, we can see the differentiation between poor and rich in the restaurant scene, Antonio says that we can’t eat this meal everyday but they can eat. The director chose specific locations like church, police office and these places are a reflection of society. While they are walking, we can hear every noise which are coming from random people so we can feel the reality of movie in that way. We can see every detail of society with this movie and we can understand the situation of society. The political, social, economic issues are given to audiences directly and the movie is a great example for the neo-realist movement in cinema.

            In conclusion, ı tried to evaluate the formalist and realist in cinema by giving references to the movie Bicycle Thieves. Also, I tried to give a summary of the movie and explanation of realist, formalist and neo-realist movements in cinema. At the same time, ı showed the main differences between these movements.