ABSTRACT
When I show 8½ in my lectures at Columbia, most of my students respond to it in probably the way Fellini hoped an audience would: amused by the foibles and weaknesses of an artist attempting to give birth in a world that is quite unsympathetic to his dilemma. (Fellini regarded this fi lm as a comedy and had taped a sign above the eyepiece of the camera: “This is a comedy.”)
Film students are naturally interested in gaining some insight into this specifi c dilemma, in which they hope someday to be embroiled themselves. This dilemma-will Guido make a movie?—is only the McGuffi n (a term coined by Hitchcock, which stands for any object or device that exists solely for initiating the plot). Guido’s problem with fi nding a story for his movie is the vehicle for Fellini to explore the second, the deeper, and the main dilemma of the protagonist: Will he fi nd a way to lead an authentic life? A life without a lie? This is a dilemma that all of us face-it is universal-and thus it raises this fi lm into the category of art. It speaks to all of us.
