These two films rely upon two contemporary visions of womanhood that formed part of German and Italian Fascism’s propaganda. These prevailing images divide women into two possible camps, one is cosmopolitan, urbane, skinny, hysterical, decadent, and sterile while the other is national, rural, floridly robust, tranquil, and prolific. The former, symbolic of modernity, was an obvious threat to the regime’s efforts to enfold women in the economic and social strictures demanded by Italian Fascism. The latter, however, encapsulated the regime’s efforts to boost population growth and to remove the women from competition with the men in the labor force. In Wunschkonzert I find strong resonance with the latter camp not in the Fascist women,
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Though she is a member of the urban working-class, Inge is representative of the rural idealized by the regime. She is robust, plain, simple, and fertile; the quintessential donna-madre and a counterpoint to the vain, sophisticated, and childless donna-crisi vilified by the regime. She is dedicated to hearth and home, which is never so fervently expressed as in her unwavering devotion to her lover. She herself has no political or military role in the Resistance other than to provide support for Francesco and his associates. Instead, her politicization is secondary to her more traditional status within the patriarchal structure of the family body. Inge’s act of resistance at the bakery, in fact, is just an extension of the maternal prerogative, indicating that her transgressive behaviors are but a response to the crisis of the German occupation, implying that in peacetime she will revert to a Catholic version of the status quo. After all, Inge remains a religious believer who still hopes to marry in the Church, and as a proud Italian she slaps away the hand of the German soldier who attempts to caress her, defending the honor of Italian womanhood against the foreign invader. Inge is thus the latter picture repurposed as antifascist
Though she is a member of the urban working-class, Inge is representative of the rural idealized by the regime. She is robust, plain, simple, and fertile; the quintessential donna-madre and a counterpoint to the vain, sophisticated, and childless donna-crisi vilified by the regime. She is dedicated to hearth and home, which is never so fervently expressed as in her unwavering devotion to her lover. She herself has no political or military role in the Resistance other than to provide support for Francesco and his associates. Instead, her politicization is secondary to her more traditional status within the patriarchal structure of the family body. Inge’s act of resistance at the bakery, in fact, is just an extension of the maternal prerogative, indicating that her transgressive behaviors are but a response to the crisis of the German occupation, implying that in peacetime she will revert to a Catholic version of the status quo. After all, Inge remains a religious believer who still hopes to marry in the Church, and as a proud Italian she slaps away the hand of the German soldier who attempts to caress her, defending the honor of Italian womanhood against the foreign invader. Inge is thus the latter picture repurposed as antifascist