The research methods are based on the combination of several disciplinary perspectives, in particular between cultural and visual studies, film and animation studies, production and audience studies. In fact, it is impossible to study the “golden age” of Italian animation without considering the latter as one of the central phenomena that accompanied, described and interpreted (sometimes in a more symptomatic way than live action cinema) the crucial historical period marked in Italy by the advent of the “economic miracle” first, then by the “conjuncture” and finally by the onset of that dramatic season of economic and social crisis represented by the “years of lead”. Therefore, the research will focus on the comparison between animation and the live action film characterising, also in this case, a crucial phase in the history of Italian cinema. In fact, in the Italian cinema the moment in which modern animation arose was characterised by a great expressive and productive effervescence: our “nouvelle vague” was affirmed. The great authors of the past continued to pursue the path of innovation and stylistic experimentation; Italian-style comedy enjoyed its most intense season; “political cinema” began to spread; spaghetti westerns, horrors and “poliziottesco” (Italian cop films) emerged within an extremely diversified landscape of genres. Animation and live action cinema moved within an increasingly intermediate perspective and shared common imaginaries, genres and experiments. For example, the satirical revisitation of the American westerns’ lore involved cartoons, Sergio Leone’s films and Bruno Bozzetto’s animated films. An entire line of animation addressed social topics, in tune with the political cinema of the time, or reflected on progress, modernisation, technology, depersonalisation, objects, legends and lifestyles of affluent society, intertwining deep thematic and cultural connections with Italian-style comedy or with the art films of the period. Animation also touched on key themes of history and national identity and addressed the popular heritage of fairy tales, opera and theatre, moving within an always inter-artistic and intercultural environment. On a more strictly textual level, collaboration with live action cinema involved cartoonists who worked on the opening credits of several films, especially in episodes, which were a very popular formula in the 1960s. There were, albeit to a limited extent, “mixed feature films” which alternated live action sequences with animated sequences, or short films that mixed photography and drawing. Beyond the advertising sphere, mainly in television, animation registered significant growth at an amateur level and constant application in the educational and scientific fields according to a tradition that had already begun in the pre-war period. The “short” measure of most of the production prevented its diffusion in the cinema, among the general public, mainly incorporating the imaginary offered by television and the world of comics, always in close correlation with that of animation.
Consequently, it would be impossible to analyse the Italian animation of the 20-year period in question without putting it in close contact with a broader visual context that involves, on the one hand, the main artistic phenomena of the time, and on the other, the graphic horizon of illustration and comics (in both cases, moreover, the protagonists were often also authors of works in animation). Considering the particular relationship that was legitimately established between sound and image in animated production, the research will always keep a guideline in mind aimed at investigating the sound aspects of the analysed works, from the musical and dubbing point of view.
In addition, it will be important to examine legislative issues on the one hand (the establishment of the Institute for the Study and Dissemination of Animated Cinema in 1970), along with the ministerial financing systems for animated short films and the production modes that characterised the studios (mostly located in Milan) most active in the sector in that period. On the other hand, it will be equally useful to verify how the Italian animation of the 20 years considered, between industrial production and artistic creation, between advertising product and feature film for the cinema, was received by the audience of the time.
Contemporaneously, research will have to be carried out on the promotion and critical reception of Italian animation on two fronts: that of the daily press, weekly newspapers, specialist magazines and that of national and international festivals.