Italian futurism and art: Poetry, theatre, and war

Extract

[...] In this type of poetry, the airplane is usually absent but the focus of the poem gives some indication of airplanes and flying. For instance, Marinetti's poem “Ristorante di aeroporto: aeropoesis futurista” takes place in an airport restaurant but no planes are visible. The reader, through interpreting the poem, discovers that Marinetti is actually referring to the dangers of flying. With the advancement of World War II and Fascist Italy, aeropoetry had a change in appearance in that aeropoets were using images from the war such as warplanes, aerial bombings, and air-to-air combat. [...]

[...] It is no secret that the Futurists were very attracted to the machine and its importance in the modern industrialized world. The machines that interested them the greatest were automobiles and airplanes as they could reach great speeds. In fact, Marinetti viewed a speeding automobile as being more beautiful than the Greek sculpture Victory of Samothrace (MASD 251). However, with the invention of the airplane and flight came new opportunities to view the world in a completely new way. In fact, the Futurists developed a school of poetry specifically developed around flight in which the poet describes the “physical and psychological sensations of flying [ and] not only what they felt but also how it affected them” (Bohn 209). [...]

[...] If Futurism was a naïve, child-like reaction to the new age of modernism, the theatre was that child's doll's house, and the child was at once eager to tinker with the bright new (Gordon 351). This led to the development of the Teatro Sintetico[2] (Synthetic Theatre) in which the audience played an active role in the performance. Also, the Futurists ‘tinker with the toy' through the employment of manichaeistic[3] principles or the “structure of reversal” (Gordon 356) within the theatre. [...]

[...] It is clear from this evidence that the Futurists had very radical approaches to poetry, theatre, and war. Although they have their faults and I vigorously disagree with the Futurists on certain aspects, I do respect what they were out to accomplish. For instance, I agree with the Futurists when they say that we are too focused on the past and that we should concentrate on the future, but I disagree in the complete destruction of the past. If we were to “destroy the museums, libraries, [and] academics of every kind” (MASD 251) then it would totally disconnect us or uproot us from our society. [...]

[...] Also, in her article, Lucia Re explains that the horrors that The Great War produced were celebrated by the Futurists: an avant-garde movement, of course, Futurism exalted, even idealized aesthetic violence and destruction. War - especially in view of the unprecedented scale of World War I represented for the Futurists violence and destruction brought to a transcendent peak” (Re 84). Marinetti, himself, fought and was wounded in the Great War because, to him, the opportunity to fight at the front (which he did) is to take the literal “avant-garde” metaphor to its actuality. [...]