The Virtues of Vice

The temptations and paradoxical world explored in both Boccaccio’s Decameron and Pasolini’s 1971 film resonate today more than ever. In our 21st Century world of instant gratification, incredible excess, celebrity worship, porn, drugs, and narcissism, the sweetness of temptation seemingly overpowers morality at every turn. The hypocrisies touched on by Boccaccio still exist today – religion versus atheism, virtue versus debauchery, greed versus benevolence – with 660 years of technology and progress compounding the dilemma a hundredfold.