Word: berlusconi
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There's nothing new about breasts, thighs and silliness on Italian TV. They have bedazzled viewers since the 1980s, when the television stations of Silvio Berlusconi, a mere media mogul before entering politics, revolutionized the airwaves by putting Italians on a diet of American soap operas, football and sex all over his Mediaset empire. But the formula was about more than TV ratings; it also boosted Berlusconi's political fortunes. (See pictures of Berlusconi and the politics...
More than 20 years after he transformed Italian TV, Berlusconi is Prime Minister for the third time; he has already served longer in the office than anyone since 1946. Of late, to be sure, he's taken some lumps. Italy's Constitutional Court overturned a law granting Berlusconi immunity from prosecution while in office, clearing obstructions to trials in which he is accused of bribery and illicit accounting at Mediaset. But even were he to be turfed out tomorrow, Berlusconi would leave a lasting legacy. His TV shows have seen to that. "Berlusconi changed the culture of Italy before...
...heart of Berlusconi's culture is the velina, or showgirl, who is served up to Italians every day, like pasta. Some veline merely stand mute while male presenters talk. Some give on-air lap dances to chat-show guests, as did one earlier this year to Inter Milan coach José Mourinho. Others play the funny little games producers devise, posing as table legs, or braving cold showers in tight dresses. Some simply strip: Mediaset's homepage recently featured a clip of a blonde clad in a black garbage bag, slowly lowering it to reveal her breasts. Degrading? Undoubtedly...
...their own. As a sociological phenomenon, Caputo, wonders if the growing power of women in contemporary life and relationships pushes certain men to seek what he calls a "neo-woman," who is hormonally and behaviorally quite feminine and protective, even while possessing the male sex organ. (Read: "How Silvio Berlusconi Uses Women...
...resignation of Marrazzo, a member of the center-left, serves the conservative Berlusconi politically. The Prime Minister can argue that he is hardly the only politician guilty of peccadilloes. Opposition supporters point out that Marrazzo rather quickly pulled out of politics after the revelations while the Prime Minister has never shown an ounce of contrition. But Vittorio Zincone, who writes on politics and culture for the weekly magazine of the Milan daily Corriere della Sera, says there is an unconscious effect on the body politic. "The Marrazzo affair solidifies for many Berlusconi's reputation as the real ladies man," says...