17/1982, ‘Anselmi law’, was passed to punish any attempt to constitute any secret society which exploits brotherhood to interfere with public functions. The P2 scandal drastically altered Italian public view on the nature of masonry ( Dickie 2020) it contributed to shape a collective representation of masonry as a place where almost everything can be informally or illegally obtained through connections, bribery and blackmailing. Affiliates felt comfortable in an environment where extra-legal and illicit arrangements were reciprocated with favours and immunity ( Della Porta and Vannucci 1999). Under the umbrella of a secret lodge within the main Italian masonic obedience (the Great Orient of Italy), a covert network had developed including hundreds of members of the Italian political and economic elite. Masonry appeared in the Italian public debate as something more worrying than a compensation chamber for informal arrangements of medium class affiliates. Just four years after the release of the movie a huge scandal centred around the activity of the masonic lodge P2 (Propaganda 2), ruled by venerable master Licio Gelli, heavily hit the Italian political-institutional system ( Lollo 2016). The popular representation of masonry that emerges in the movie is noteworthy: a clique of medium-level public functionaries seeking opportunities to provide and reciprocate each other with support, informal help and illicit favours. Significantly, when the leading character needs the solution to a test for his son to access a public office, he is asked by his superior, a mason, to comply to a farcical masonic affiliation ritual. Initially amusing, with a dramatic turn the movie exposes the irredeemable involution of Italian society towards familism, corruption and violence. The 1977 Italian movie ‘An average little man’ 1 is universally considered a masterpiece by director Mario Monicelli and the closing act of the so called ‘Comedy Italian style’.
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