Benigni's La vita è bella: Viktor Frankl and the Alchemy of Meaning

More than twenty years after the release of the film, scholarly debate still addresses whether or not Roberto Benigni's La vita è bella made light of the Holocaust. In this study, Viktor Frankl's ontological assertions in Man's Search for Meaning, provide a platform to grasp how even...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Italica (New York, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2019-06, Vol.96 (2), p.303-330
Main Author: Perry, Alan R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Benigni
created meaning
Essays/Research Studies
Frankl
Holocaust
humor
Italian Studies
Languages
Literature
play-frame
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:More than twenty years after the release of the film, scholarly debate still addresses whether or not Roberto Benigni's La vita è bella made light of the Holocaust. In this study, Viktor Frankl's ontological assertions in Man's Search for Meaning, provide a platform to grasp how even concentration life can be experienced as beautiful despite unimaginable horror. As such, the filmmaker's presentation of Nazi abuses as a game need not denigrate the memory of the millions who suffered. A few scholarly studies have linked Frankl and Benigni but not primarily at the level of how humans assign meaning. While focusing on Frankl, this inquiry also considers the ethical dimension of representing the Holocaust through humor.
ISSN:0021-3020
2325-6672
DOI:10.5406/23256672.96.2.06