Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Pier Paolo Pasolini’s film Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, has been derided as the most revolting film ever made, and simultaneously lauded as a masterpiece. Because the film depicts youths subjected to intensely graphic violence, relentless sadism, and brutal murder, the film was extremely controversial upon its release, and has remained banned in several countries into the twenty-first century. The confluence of thematic content in the film—ranging from the political and socio-historical, to psychological and sexual—has led to much critical discussion of the film. This paper explores the implications of screening the film in an urban, undergraduate American university course that focuses on the intersection of, and tensions between, art and ethics. How does one prepare students–or should one prepare students–to view such a film in a culture of “saftyism” where emotional safety, fragility, and trigger warnings have become the norm? What do the answers to this question imply about the space of the classroom and the overall role of a university education? Is the university classroom meant to offer a “safe space” or a place to challenge, perhaps even transgress, norms and expectations at the risk of causing offense or even trauma? In addition to addressing these, and related, questions through recent research in social psychology, this paper also reflects on the reactions of actual students, as well as offers possible ways of evaluating the aesthetic merit (and/or demerit) of the film itself.