GENDERED METAPHORS OF TERRITORIAL SUBORDINATION, THEOLOGIES OF INDEPENDENCE AND IMAGES OF A LIBERATED FUTURE: SODARO & DI BELLA’S LÀSSAMI AS A SICILIAN DECOLONIAL ALLEGORY

Abstract

The short film Làssami (“leave me”) was directed by Gianluca Sodaro in 2015, and functions as a music video to the eponymous song by Giuseppe Di Bella, who also acts in the film. In this article, I attempt to decipher Làssami’s encounter of lyrics, music, sound effects and images. In the first part of the article, I discuss the reproduction of stereotypical images of Sicilian masculinity perpetrated by the film, also drawing on recent media releases. I then work my way through the intricate web of trappings associated to the representation of the female characters in the film – as passive, innocent, celestial, and white. In the second part of the article, I attempt to reinterpret the film in light of the decolonial concept of “de-linking”. I argue that Làssami’s symbolical coding, regardless of the authors’ intentions, refers precisely to a silenced desire for sovereignty and independence.

Keywords

• sicily
• independence
• imagery
• allegory
• decoloniality