The Creation Of The Italian Stereotype

The Creation Of The Italian StereotypeThe Italian maffia has been a prominent them in the media for centuries. The portrayal of gangsters and the mafia in the U.S.s operation picture assiduity has pass waterd a stereotype for Italians that is very well accepted in the Ameri female genital organ gloss. In this paper I will discuss various films and TV that address the topic of the Italian mafia and the way in which these raises depict citizens of Italian origin. More specific ally I will try to state how characterizations such as The Goodfather, Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, and more recent works such as HBOs take a crap The Sopranos create a negative stereotype for Italian American man and women, glorifying them by their flashy demeanorstyles and relations to nonionic criminal activi constipates. Movies of such sort acquire reached such popular supremacy because they appeal to the unexclusive and, unfortunately, umteen Italian American citizens embrace these accusations and consider them part of their heritage, thus reinforcing the stereotype make by the movie industry in the warmnesss of citizens with diametric ethnical backgrounds.Since the very beginning, the Italian mafia, in the eyes of Americans has been a very wide spread cultural phenomena. The origin of the mafia is very hard to investigate and report, umteen experts have dated its origin back to a time of instability for the Italian nation. The cause of this dread was the instable relationship between the northern and southern regions of Italy. Southern Italy was often insulted and considered rural and uncivilized by the wealthinessier man of affairs of the North. This un unsloped treatment ca utilise the southern citizens, especially the Sicilians, to resort to violent gangs for protection of the little land and wealth they owned. As time progressed, and the demand for these bands increased, these rebel groups united into larger, and very much more organized, groups that lead to th e creation of the mafia. The intimately famous of these groups, and perhaps the first, originated in Sicily and later became known as Cosa Nosta which more often use the bourn incorrectly referring it to the Italian mafia overall and not just as one of its sects. These groups prospered and grew on to the Italian people, infiltrating the unstable government after the unification of Italy in 1861. The mafia made its first appearance in the US between the 19th and 20th century, as this cultural phenomenon grew in America, the mafias portrayal in the media grew with it. The media created a name for the mafia in America. The people loved gangster movies, and the film industry capitalized on this assumption. In order to give their work a more echtistic feel, directors, would often cast Italians as consortiumster characters thus building a stereotype of Italian Americans. As time evolved however, the simple stereotype morphed bygone the simple gangster image in more recent works, Ita lian women were also effect existence viewed as old housewives or young bimbos. Men became viewed as lazy and unskilled equal in the 1995 movie To Die For. In this example from the Italic Institute of Americas website, Nicole Kidmans character tricks three teens into killing her artless Italian husband. The development between the Italian mafia and its presence in popular American culture could have not been possible without the five million Italians who left their home country for hope in a new life and a chance at a new beginning, (Wikipedia).Prior to the fig up of the fascist regime to power, America was a prime destination for many Italians during the late 19th century. This transport grew exponentially in the early 20th century when it was recorded that over 800,000 Sicilians immigrated to the joined States. During this time however, the Italian mafia was under attack by their own government, especially thanks to the works of Cesare Mori who made life impossible for many Mafiosi. Because of the anti mafia war imposed Mussolinis regime in the southern provinces of Italy, many of the members of Cosa Nostra and similar organizations fled to America. The American press immediately attacked this movement publishing headlines such as The boot unloads its criminals upon the United States. galore(postnominal) of these Sicilians in fact had societys to the mafia but, in the most part, they were regular people just look for a better life. Italian Mafiosi and regular citizens traveled to America to escape fascism, to escape persecution from criminal charges, and to out over. Many where thrown into a society already filed with criminal gangs. Purchasing fire weapons in the US at that time was a piece of cake. Add these two together and its simple to understand how the Italian mafia succeeded in America.Just as the mafia began to take power in America, the movie industry noticed an opportunity to make some profit as well. Americans became obsessed with the mafian lifestyle the danger associated with the mafia and their disrespect for the law managed to frighten and keep Americans glued to their TV screen at the same time. Films wish Little Cesar(1931), Public Enemy(1931), and Scarface(1932) were the very beginning to a brand new genre of films. As reference George De Stefano points out in his book An Offer We Cant Refuse, the Italian mobster guessmed to bring a antithetical image to the mobster lifestyle, however, and this image of a more powerful, organized criminal system caught the public eye and has stuck every since., (De Stefano 70-94). Some of the early movies of this genre were produced during the silent motion picture time period. Producers however, did not have a hard time looking for a plot that would capture their auditory modality they just used whatever the print gave them. The earliest account of a gangster film that exists is the film The Black hit (1906). The Black Hand was a silent movie which story line pictur ed Italian Americans victimisation kidnapping and extortion to gain money, known as il pizzo, from a butcher they were protecting. The movie shows the Italian agonists were not only shown as violent, but the Italian Americans in the film are shown to speak little to no English and drinking wine as if it were water. It was not until the 1930s with the release of Little Cesar and Scarface that the stereotype was created and united Italian Americans with the gangster image. With the introduction of these films one can clearly see that with the changing image of the gangster, the American ______ towards Italian Americans was changing as well. These new characters were no spaciouser drunk illiterates, these Italians dressed in warmheartedness suits, spoke better English in a sense, they were following the American dream. Still violent and reckless.Organizations favoring the remainder of this stereotype took the subject to heart and managed to abolish violence and crime in movies. H owever in 1968, the work Code was dropped and replaced by the same MPAA system still out in that respect today. Only four long time after this change, came the first of a trilogy that would change the image of Italian Americans forever. The Godfather (1972), based on Mario Puzos novel was the hit success of the considerable American director Ford Francis Coppola. His work was such a success for the public that it won three Oscar nominations out of the ten categories it was voted for. The American people were literally obsessed with the violent, vulgar and true gangster films. Francis Ford Coppola in an interview with author Peter Bondonella explained his clear reasons for pursuing this movieI always wanted to use the Mafia as a metaphor for America. If you loo at the film, you see that its focused that way. The first line is I believe in America. I feel that the mafia is an dumfounding metaphor for this country. Both are totally capitalistic phenomena and basically have a profi t motive, (Bondonella 239).Many critics argue, with merit, that The Godfather was the first film that really started the stereotype of Italian Americans. The film established a permanent connection in the minds of Americans between the mafia and Italian Americans. De Stefano describes his own experience after the release of the film strangers would supplicate me if I knew the godfather whenever they red my last name. It was this film that reallycemented the stereotype into American culture., (De Stefano 105-106). Predictably enough, after the tremendous success of The Godfather, many more films, as long as commercial products, relating to its theme followed. Today The Godfather, both the films and the novel, prevent to sell as if they were new releases, and the films can still be seen, by popular demand, on characterless television.Martin Scorseses Goodfellas (1990), showed the mafia in New York in an extremely realistic way. Based on the life of real mobster Henry Hill, it shows the process of going from a nonentity to a success in the mafia organization. The film depicts brutal murder scenes, vulgar language, and vile treatment of women. However, a particularly different instalment is that it also shows the consequences of creation too wrapped up in the mafia life and what it is like to blend in the rat. This film showed a much less glorified portrayal of the mafia, and yet, it appealed greatly to society. The most recent of Hollywoods submit winning creation evoking the mafia is HBOs hit series The Sopranos first airing in 1999. The show takes great inspiration from Scorseses work and Coppolas masterpiece, characters in the show are often viewed idolizing Mafiosi from these directors respective films, reciting lines, copying stunts, and even analyze themselves. This idolization showed that Italian Americans not only identify themselves with these gangsters but also look up to them. Tony Soprano, the protagonist of the show, is of Italian American de scent and part of the mafia. Besides his connection to the gangster life, he lives in a typical residential neighborhood for the average white American male, he is a family man just like everyone else. In the book Tony Sopranos America, David Simon, states that the viewer is always reminded that the one thing that stands Tony Soprano apart from the symmetricalness of society is that he is mobster. The TV series successfully brought the mafia to the 21st Century, renewed the use of mafia as a household word, and took one step further in fusing the image of Italians and Italian Americans. The media has led to this stereotyped image of Italian immigrants as gangsters. This stereotype is still very much alive today. However, it is noticeable that there does not seem to be as much controversial propaganda to the use of this negative connotation against Italian Americans as stereotypical use against other ethnic groups.Going back to the stereotype against Italian American women, these mo vies depicted the mafia wives as enabling and looking the other way in their husbands business affair. The nonplus in The Godfather plays the role of the housewife. Carmela Corleone never reacts to the actions of her husband and sons, always turning a blind eye. She is shown caring for her grandchildren and providing the family with a traditional Italian meal. She is essentially the stereotypical enabling Italian mother and wife in the mafia family. On the contrary, the character Kay in The Godfather is a complete juxtaposition to the character of Carmela. For a while, she acts just like Carmela, enabling her husband activities, but eventually she can no longer accept her husband as a cold blooded killer, as Michael Corleones sister, Connie, calls him after he murders her own husband. Kay represents the American wife who marries into an Italian family not knowing what she is about to face. She is victimized. This way, the audience, feels bad for her, torn between her love for her h usband and her morals that can no longer tolerate the criminal activities of the family. The third major feminine character, Connie Corleone, is a completely different character. She is the stereotypical Italian relative that cannot escape the horrors of her own family. She starts out as a princess to her father, the godfather himself. After her brother, Michael, kills her husband she goes through a brief grieving period distancing her family from her family only to realize that she cannot escape her destiny. She eventually becomes an enabler of the appearance of the rest of the family and takes on the role of the matriarch.Just like her, Karen Hill, also plays the enabler who puts up with her husband, Henry Hills pursuit as a Mafioso in Goodfellas. One scene in particular comes to mind that depicts her as the typical mob wife. In a scene she narrates herself, Karen attends a party with the other mob wives during a drug scene, she tells the audience that all the women look beat up in fact, they do all wear too much makeup and overdone hair. Throughout the party, these mistreated wives, discuss the horrible tribulations of being married to a mobster as if it were typical housewife gossip. Most of the women in these movies are unemployed house makers who take the events as part of the package of marrying a mob.The show The Sopranos isnt the only example of the stereotype of Italian American being represented in more recent TV production. Characters like Arthur the Fonz Fonzarelli from Happy Days, Tony the taxi driver of Taxi, and Joey the all around dimwit of Friends all represent demeaning images of Italian Americans. All appear to be uneducated womanizers, and yet most may not even realize they are stereotypes of the Italian American male. These examples show that, sadly, our culture still finds humor in stereotyping ethnical groups.In 2002, The Italic institute of America conducted a study to analyze the movie industry and its relation to Italian-American ba sed movies and the post Godfather movie industry. Their studies showed that out of the 1233 movies made about Italian Americans, 69% of them present Italian-American characters under a negative light, against 31% that show Italian-Americans as good human beings. Moreover, out of the movies made since the sound era that deal with mob characters, 88% were revolved around fictional characters, 293 of which came out after the Godfather. The Godfather is and will always remain the most important tie between Hollywood and the Italian-American stereotype.There is much research out there that show that the Italian immigration to the US didnt only bring so called Mafiosi but also great people who beneficially influenced the United States politically and economically. This research, however, does not eliminate the fact the entertainment industry will continue to pursue the stereotype. As for the mafia, this marrow that it will only continue to be a part of Americas favorite entertainment as long as the culture of violence persists.