La Dolce Vita describe intrusive photographers. As to the origin of the character's name itself, Fellini scholar Peter Bondanella argues that although "it is indeed an Italian family name, the word is probably a corruption of the word "papataceo", a large and bothersome mosquito. Ennio Flaiano, the film's co-screenwriter and creator of Paparazzo, reports that he took the name from a character in a novel by George Gissing." Gissing's character, Signor Paparazzo, is found in his travel book, "By the Ionian Sea" (1901). Marcello is a journalist in Rome during the late 1950s who covers tabloid news of movie stars, religious visions and
La Dolce Vita the movie and his life changes as time passes by, giving this summation in his 1997 "Great Movie" review Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that from 58 reviews, 97% were positive; the consensus states: "An epic, breathtakingly stylish cinematic landmark, "La Dolce Vita" remains riveting in spite of—or perhaps because of—its sprawling length". On Metacritic, the film has a 93/100 rating based on 12 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". The film earned $6 million in North American rentals on original release. The film was re-released in North America in 1966 and earned $1.5 million in rentals. Perceived by the Catholic