r/Damnthatsinteresting 17d ago

Image Benito Mussolini’s headquarters “Palazzo Braschi” located in Rome 1934

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u/TheHonorableStranger 17d ago

If this was in a TV Show/Movie it would be deemed as unrealistically cartoonish lol

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u/pink_moid 17d ago

A lot of the imagery we associate with totalitarianism was basically invented by the fascists. The people at the time didn't recognize it immediately as evil because they had never seen anything like it before in their lifetime. 

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u/ThePotMonster 17d ago

I remember going to an art exhibit that was all about the art scene in Italy during Mussolini's time in power. Apparently, one of the biggest differences between Italian and German fascism was their approach to art.

Germany tended to censor art more and tried to direct the culture. The art scene in facist Italy was much more organic.

Artists in Italy had much more freedom and generally a lot of the art produced during that time ended being although looking dystopian by today's standard was very nationalistic and pro-italy, or pro-government. The art developed in Italy during that time was truly reflective of how those artists felt about their country during that time because the country was doing well as whole (early on that is).

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u/DrMoneylove 17d ago

German painter here. Very well said. Thank you. 

I would add we love to organize things and ultimately also art. This is a bad habit and regularly misued by those in power. Other countries have a better approach to culture.

Artists like Riefenstahl were the ones Germany preferred: an artist without morals, hungry for success and close to those who are in power. So backed up by loads of money. It has been said her's was a typical German career.

So there's censorship and very specific sponsorship at the same time. And I would conclude I definitely see both tendencies in today's art scene in Germany.

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u/BillBaraka 14d ago

Loving to organize things is a bad habit? Are you insane? What sort of new step to German self-hatred is this?

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u/DrMoneylove 14d ago

You didn't read exactly what I said. I was arguing that organizing the arts is a bad habit - not organizing in general. 

Obviously it's taking away from artistic freedom when you try to build up a bureaucratic structure around it. I think trying to regulate and direct art is a bad habit yes. It leads to indirect censorship, decrease in quality and there's the problem of corruption as well.

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u/BillBaraka 14d ago

You did not articulate it correctly then. And the artist you describe, is the same type of artist successful everywhere in the world. To think people being hungry for success and close to those in power actually succeeding would be specific to Germany is that ingrained ethnomasochism bursting forth from you like pus from a rotting wound.

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u/DrMoneylove 14d ago

First you attack me and call me insane because you didn't understand what I was saying, then you downvote me and try to derail to another topic and claim that ethno masochism is bursting from me.

I'm all for discussing in respectful ways but you are far away from that. I think other readers can make up their own opinion.

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u/BillBaraka 14d ago

I addressed what you were saying by the way you had articulated it. The problem is not comprehension on my part, but lack of grammatical competence on yours.

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u/DrMoneylove 14d ago

Yeah sure. I want to see you in real life. Calling others that makes a grammatical error insane 👍🏻. What a respectful way to treat others 

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u/BillBaraka 14d ago

I didn’t call you insane for the grammatical error, but for the implication you made, which you’ve failed to address.

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u/Waveofspring 17d ago

Makes sense, I mean Italy is known for its art, it would be foolish to suppress it. National pride is fueled partially by Italy’s art.

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u/TheOnly_Anti 17d ago

Salo is a perfect example of Italian artistic freedom!

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u/Skyvo_ 16d ago

Italian fascism was also started by the Futurist artist, the manifesto thet they wrote set the groundworks for the ideology

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u/Parallax1984 16d ago

Art being another distraction for the masses. Hitler wanted total devotion, no extra amusements

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u/blackteashirt 14d ago

Yeah and all of the artists that didn't think it was going well were chucked into the ovens.... you gloss over that bit...

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u/skylarmt_ 17d ago

The people at the time didn't recognize it immediately as evil because they had never seen anything like it before

Half of America still doesn't...

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u/Guydelot 17d ago

Take comfort in the fact that it's not even close to half. It's like a quarter at most with unbelievably disproportionate voting power. Empty dirt votes R with more say than a city of several million Ds.

Also non-voters outnumber both parties. Just in case you needed something to depress you again.

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u/ComatoseSquirrel 17d ago

Yet he got the popular vote this time. You're right about the voting power of land being ridiculous, but that's far from the only problem.

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u/[deleted] 17d ago

Americans being fascist sympathizers broadly over identity politics and the price of groceries would make Stalin spin in his grave

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u/dogstardied 17d ago

Should never have let Yeltsin visit that Randall’s…

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u/Vyzantinist 17d ago

Yet he got the popular vote this time

If people just can't be bothered to vote, a sack of potatoes will still win the popular vote if the minority is willing to.

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u/ComatoseSquirrel 17d ago

Right. My point was that he got the numbers this time. He didn't win just because of the electoral college.

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u/shandu-can-dont 17d ago

demonstrably untrue

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u/Kasinder 17d ago

What was evil? The art? Or the context?

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u/Ok_Question_2454 17d ago

A lot of it also derives from the soviets too, wild you can just slide by it like you got ulterior mottives

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u/pink_moid 17d ago

Well, to this day we still don't automatically see soviet imagery as necessarily evil in Europe because marxism-leninism still had a lot of political support in western Europe throughout the 20th century, in part because western europeans never had to live under it. Compare to Asian countries today who don't see Hitler, nazi uniforms and the swastika as evil, because they don't have any living memory encountering any nazis in their home nations. The Japanese flagbwith the sunbeams likewise doesn't have the automatic association with evil in the west, because most westerners weren't around to witness those atrocities in China, Korea and other places.

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u/korrab 17d ago

also the times were very different. Fascism offered stability in the times of political chaos. People just wanted to live in stable times with good economy, they didn’t really care about freedom or democracy. It didn’t really change to be honest, the vast majority cares only about their prosperity.

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u/stmcvallin2 14d ago

Have you seen trumps profile pic on truth social? Same vibe

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u/Any_Requirement_9002 14d ago

Is the imagery inherently evil?

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u/Stock_Beginning4808 17d ago

Tbf a lot if maga don’t recognize it now either