Giallo in the Anglosphere: Transnational Aesthetics and Evil in a Fragmented World

Abstract

Traditional giallo, commonly regarded as a genre of Italian murder mystery films that gained popularity in Italy during the 1960s and 1970s, is often seen as a uniquely Italian brand that is heavily tied to its cultural and geographic origins. While most of the giallo studies focus on Italy, this thesis aims to fill the gap in existing research by examining how the core themes and features of giallo change when they are set in different cultural contexts. Specifically, I examine giallo films set in the Anglosphere: Perversion Story (Lucio Fulci, 1969), All the Colors of the Dark (Sergio Martino, 1972), and The Pyjama Girl Case (Flavio Mogherini, 1978), in which the main events take place in San Francisco, London, and Sydney, respectively. The objective of this thesis is to explore how the Anglosphere setting influences the core characteristics of giallo, such as the themes of moral decay, loneliness and isolation, personal trauma, and identity crisis, along with giallo’s stylistic elements, including the use of vivid colors, gore and stylized violence, and lush mise-en-scène.

To investigate the influence of the setting, I analyze these films through a cultural lens, examining each setting’s geographical, historical, social, and political contexts of the time. I examine how each film’s location shapes the narrative, themes, and stylistic choices of the film, addressing global anxieties of the time, such as societal fragmentation, identity crisis, and isolation during a time of increasing global interconnection. This research demonstrates that, whether it is San Francisco, London or Sydney, the setting in giallo is not just a physical backdrop for gory events; it is a unique force that influences the cinematic choices of the directors, but also the behavior of the protagonists. Additionally, the specificities of each location contribute to expanding giallo’s thematic and stylistic elements, highlighting its adaptability and potential to reveal multiple layers of meanings conveyed by these films, suggesting that they are more than just B-movies. This thesis argues that giallo may no longer be seen as a purely Italian phenomenon. On the contrary, these films showcase giallo as a fluid and transnational cinematic style that retains its thematic and stylistic integrity despite numerous adaptations to new cultural contexts.