Uccellacci e uccellini: what makes an ideo-comic fable?

The present article analyses Pasolini’s definition of Uccellacci e uccellini as 'ideo-comic fable'. The film has always been considered as an eccentric parenthesis in Pasolini’s work, and the ‘ideo-comic fable’ as a bizarre, short lived, experiment. In fact Uccellacci e uccellini is the only film of its kind, but a detailed analysis of each element of Pasolini’s neologism will show how rooted into Pasolini’s artistic practice they all are: if political ideology has always been at the heart of Pasolini’s work, the film shows a new direction, in which the director’s Marxism crosses Christianity; it will be shown how Pasolini has always been surprisingly familiar with the comic genre, and finally a record will be traced of Pasolini’s competence and use of fables. Such a comprehensive examination will unearth many of Pasolini’s sources and its dialogue with other artists and intellectuals; finally, it aims at contributing a new approach to the critical analysis of the film, and at opening original insights into some other famous or less known works by the author.