Comic Dimension of Interaction between Opera and Cinema (Case Study of Federico Fellini’s ‘8 ½’)

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to highlight the comic effect generated by the intertextual connections between opera and cinema in Federico Fellini’s film ‘8 ½’ (1963). The research methodology is based on an interdisciplinary approach that combines semiotic analysis, the theory of intertextuality, and historical-cultural research methods. The scientific novelty lies in revealing the intertextual potential of the interaction between opera and cinema, as well as in identifying the mechanisms through which the comic effect emerges in the course of this interaction, with Fellini’s ‘8 ½’ serving as a case study. Conclusions. The analysis of intertextual correlations represented in Fellini’s film demonstrates the crucial role of the operatic component in shaping the tragicomic aesthetics of the work. The use of music by Richard Wagner and Gioachino Rossini functions as a means of activating key oppositions: reality / dream, real / imaginary, objective / subjective, director / clown, fear / laughter. The comic is embodied in the forms of irony, humour, and farce, which are realised through the synchronisation of musical and visual planes, the release of ‘second-order meanings’, and the play with diegesis. In its interaction with the cinematic frame, operatic music acquires the capacity for semantic transformations that significantly deepen the theme of ‘the artist and creative crisis’ and multiply the complexity of the protagonist’s image.