Italians

In the last part of my analysis I want to focus on people. As I wrote above, the main characters are not Italians and have their experience together as if Rome and Roman people were in the background. However nothing could have been possible without the contribution of the Romans.

The first character we meet is the Nunzio Apostolico Monsignor Altomonte: what interests us is the fact that he, as the Italian representative in front of the foreign princess, is a typical Italian priest. Rome is universally known as the City of the Pope, and it is peculiar that it doesn’t seem to be the country's capital: this leads to the differentiation between our representative and those of the other countries, who are mostly married couples or public functionaries. The so-called “normal people” are heavily stereotyped: we meet the gesticulating taxi driver, with his moustaches and strong accent, who does nothing to hide his curiosity toward the strange girl with the journalist; Giovanni, Joe’s man of the house, who wears large pants and always checks from the windows to see what is happening in his house and out in the street; the fat, old and chatty cleaner, who cannot accept the presence of a girl all alone in a man’s room and treats her uncouthly; and finally the fascinating hairdresser, with his perfect moustaches and curly hair, who will invite Anna to the party at Castel Sant’Angelo.

In conclusion, Roman Holiday surely is a movie full of positive stereotypes that conveys an atmosphere of familiarity, welcoming climate and romanticism and, at the same time, gives a good and also faithful representation of Rome in the 50s. 

The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola

Main theme

Francis Ford Coppola directed The Godfather in 1972 after having written the screenplay with Mario Puzo, author of a novel entitled ‘The Godfather’. Both the film and the novel are about a Mafia family, the Corleones, which lived in the boroughs of New York City in the mid 1940s. Don Vito Corleone is the head of one of the five Italian American ‘families’ (Mafia organizations) that operate in the area. Even though the fight between Mafia families is the central theme of The Godfather, the film highlights many other aspects of Italian American culture.

• First, the close-knit Mafia family is the mainstay of social relations;
• second, Mafia is not considered organized crime, but rather a sort of business;
• third, violence is accepted as commonplace;
• fourth, Italian Americans are seen as incredible food lovers;
• fifth, they are hot-headed and unable to integrate.

Don Corleone and his 'offers'

Don Corleone, ‘the honorable’  godfather, is one of the most well-developed personifications of the typical Italian-American mobster and he plays the role of the patriarch of his family. ‘His face has a bulldog appearance with padded cheeks, and he speaks with a high-pitched, hoarse, raspy, guttural mumbling accent. On his lap is a cat whose head he lovingly and gently strokes. Although he moves stiffly, he wields enormous lethal power as he determines the dispensation of real justice – who will be punished and who will be favoured’^[2]. Actually, Don Corleone is the man who presides over the organization of the ‘family’. He decides to award prizes to the members of the family who guarantee loyalty and respect the blood ties; he plans revenge against people who refuse to collaborate with him and to accept his offers. The phrase ‘I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse’ has become one of the most popular expression to identify the system of coercion practised by gangsters. Thus, Don Vito Corleone and the other characters of the saga have become the universal stereotype of Italian American mobster.

Don Corleone's and Bonasera's deal

In the opening shots, we see the ritual cheek-to-cheek kiss between Don Corleone and Bonasera, a man who asks the godfather to punish the boys who raped his daughter. The Justice didn’t protect the girl and didn’t condemn the offenders. Thus Bonasera, in return for ‘justice’, performs a ‘quasi-papal pledging of fealty to the Godfather’s ring’^[3].

'Corleone: Why did you go to the police? Why didn't you come to me first?

Bonasera: What do you want of me? Tell me anything, but do what I beg you to do.

Corleone: What is that? (Bonasera whispers his request in the Don's ear.) That I cannot do.

Bonasera: I will give you anything you ask.

Corleone: We've known each other many years, but this is the first time you ever came to me for counsel or for help. I can't remember the last time that you invited me to your house for a cup of coffee, even though my wife is godmother to your only child. But let's be frank here. You never wanted my friendship. And uh, you were afraid to be in my debt.

Bonasera: I didn't want to get into trouble.

Corleone: I understand. You found paradise in America, you had a good trade, you made a good living. The police protected you and there were courts of law. And you didn't need a friend like me. But uh, now you come to me and you say - 'Don Corleone, give me justice.' But you don't ask with respect. You don't offer friendship. You don't even think to call me Godfather. Instead, you come into my house on the day my daughter is to be married, and you, uh, ask me to do murder for money.

Bonasera: I ask you for justice.

Corleone: That is not justice. Your daughter is still alive.

Bonasera: Let them suffer then, as she suffers. How much shall I pay you?

Corleone (after standing and turning his back): Bonasera, Bonasera. What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully? If you'd come to me in friendship, then this scum that ruined your daughter would be suffering this very day. And if by chance an honest man like yourself should make enemies, then they would become my enemies. And then they would fear you.

Bonasera: Be my friend - - Godfather. (The Don shrugs. Bonasera bows toward the Don and kisses the Don's hand.)

Corleone: Good. (The Don puts his hand on Bonasera's shoulder.) Someday, and that day may never come, I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But uh, until that day - accept this justice as a gift on my daughter's wedding day.

Bonasera: Grazie, Godfather.

Corleone: Prego.' ^[4] 

In this scene, we see how the complex implications of friendship, honour, respect, and loyalty are very subtle. The dialogue between Don Corleone and Bonasera is quite self-explanatory because the two characters clearly play the roles of the landlord and the vassal, the master and the henchmen, the leader and the proselyte. Mobsters do services in return for services, but sooner or later one’s interests clash with someone else’s interests and so the fight become inevitable.

The Italian American Mobster

The Godfather has been defined as 'an insightful sociological study of violence, power, honour and obligation, corruption, justice and crime in America'^[5]. This is undoubtedly true, but this film has also had a strong cultural impact on stereotyping Italian Americans. ‘Romanticized scenes of the domestic home life of members of the family – a family wedding, shopping, a baptism, kitchen cooking, etc., are intertwined with scenes of horrific violence and murder contracts- a total of 23 deaths litter the film. Over 50 scenes involve food and drink’^[6]. According to the critic survey conducted by the Italic Studies Institute of America, most films portray Italian American in a very negative light and contribute to perpetuate the stereotype of the Italian American mobster. These are the study of Italian Culture on Film conducted from 1996 to 2001^[7]:

 (table taken from 'The Godfather: Stereotype or Reality?’^[8])

Positive and negative stereotypes

As we can see in these data, Italian Americans are portrayed in a very negative and stereotypical light:

1. they commit brutal crimes and murders;
2. they are manipulative and disloyal liars; 
3. they often act arrogantly or like an imbecile;  
4. they survive by engaging in gambling and other illegal activities.

However, the Italian American stereotype is not completely negative because Italian Americans enjoy life and are capable of great sentiments: they organize great parties and lavish celebrations, they are happy and hilarious, they love good food and quality wine, they take care of their relations (the women are devoted to their husbands and the men defend the honor of their wives and daughters).

Family ties and business interests

Mobsters are very proud of their Italian roots, so it seems like they have never left Italy. When Michael commits his first murder he must leave the US and spend some time in Italy. There, he finds a girlfriend and he someway experiences a sort of rebirth. Before leaving for Italy, he was the only member of the Corleone family who was not involved in the mafia affairs; but now that he has settled down in Corleone (a tiny village in Sicily), he seems to finally embrace his destiny and become aware of his roots and his complex cultural heritage.

Mafia is somehow so strictly connected to the family ties that no one can escape his obligation towards the ‘family’. But when the business interests are too strictly interwoven with family relations, the logic of profit prevails over the bonds of the family. Under these constraints, Michael is obliged to murder his brother-in-law in order to revenge the murder of his brother Sonny. Overall, The Godfather traces the history of a mafia family which is not only the dramatic core of criminal activities but also the quintessence of the Italian American stereotype.

Mac by John Turturro

The movie deals with the life of the Vitelli brothers, the three sons of an Italian immigrant, focusing on their attempts to pursue the American dream and the difficulties they encounter when starting their own business. The older brother Mac (played by Turturro himself) is the main character. The setting is suburban New York in the ‘50s. It’s one of the very few American movies about Italians not dealing with mafia-related issues.

The father, the funeral, the melodramma

The story begins with a tipically Italian stereotype, the exceedingly melodramatic funeral of old man Vitelli. Throughout the funeral wake the presence of a ‘choir’ of wailing female voices in the background becomes more and more oppressive. As the three brothers pay their respect to their dead father, who lies in an open coffin, the only words we hear are the piercing cries of the grieving women. Only in the final moments of the sequence the source of such cries is revealed: it is mama Vitelli, leading voice in the traditional group of donne dolenti. All clad in black, they express their grief through prolonged cries and emphatic prayers in the widespread codes of Southern Italian popular tradition.

The pushy Italian mama

The presence of the mother is very interesting in the movie. Apart for a brief glimpse during the initial funeral scene, she is never shown. But she is heard every time a scene takes place in the Vitelli house. The omnipresent, pushy Italian mother is always there, screaming from her bedroom to her sons gathered in the kitchen. She complains about her poor health and the fact that nobody cares about her and goes on displaying the redundant rhetoric of the grieving Italian widow. It is somehow funny how each character sooner or later in the movie is caught in a close shot while talking to old mama Vitelli screaming from another room.

The brothers Vitelli: three Italian stereotypes

The central action and the most relevant character study is dedicated to the brothers. They somehow represent three different steriotypical images of the Italian as seen from an American’s point of view. They are all dark-haired, big-nosed, physically tough and very quick-tempered, but they are different from each other in many ways as well.

The two-timing artist

The younger brother, Bruno, is the only one who is not depicted right from the start as a worker. He is a student with a keen inclination for arts, drawing and painting. In a flashback he is seen as a little boy while learning how to paint under the affectionate but severe tutelage of his father. Bruno will be the first of the brothers to question the worthiness of their efforts and eventually Mac’s leadership as the true heir of their father in the total dedication to hard work. (this sentence would be clearer if you break it up into two-- just a suggestion) He somehow represents the Italian taste for art but also the selfish, disloyal side within the Italian stereotype.

The tough paisano

Vico, on the other hand, is definitely the stereotypical tough, squat, sturdy, hard working Italian. He’s strong as an ox and just as bright. He lacks enterprise but will work hard if lead by someone he considers trustworthy. He will turn out to be quite pusillanimous ( I am unfamiliar with this word, a much too difficult word for any audience reading the wiki!), though. He prefers to slack if possible and wishes to ‘live the good life’ even if he clearly doesn’t fit in any crowd apart from his family and his fellow-man, the other paisani with whom he bands in his comic nights out. He will follow Bruno when he decides to leave the new family business, showing how the lack of personal opinion comes from a deeper moral ambiguity and general untrustworthiness. He’s also shown in the act of stealing a tool from an hardware store, an act he considers just a prank, a stupid thing to do just for fun.

Mac: the good, loyal, hard-working craftsman

Niccolò ‘Mac’ Vitelli is the oldest brother, the real heir of their father for many reasons including his dedication to hard work. Just like him, he’s a bricklayer. To him his job is his religion. He decides to quit working under a Pole boss because he feels constantly forced to do a sloppy job in the name of easy profit. What pains Mac and is unacceptable to him even more than the clear treachery is the horrible prospect of doing a job less than perfectly. To his Irish and Pole fellow workers this is not an issue at all but to him it’s a matter of personal pride and self-respect. Towing his brothers along, Mac will start working by himself building houses ‘the right way’ according to the strict principles taught to him by his father. Clearly Mac represents the only good stereotype about Italians: he is an artisan, a craftsman who knows every little thing about his job. He finds real beauty in doing his job in the proper way. He doesn’t work for the money but because creating something well done actually makes him happy. He has total dedication, he’s strong and very focused and doesn’t mind the hardship he has to endure. His work ethic is his faith. But he somehow shows a weakness in assuming that his brothers share his own unselfish involvement in their common project and his deep sense of family. He will be left alone because he is the only true believer in the principles the old man taught them, which are actually values and codes belonging to an Italian immigrant who was not willing to ‘sell out’ but who kept the faith instead, in this case the faith in the beauty of a job well done. In the very last scene Mac himself will transmit such values to his kid, showing him the houses he and his brother built and talking about the happiness coming from being loyal to one’s moral code.

Music

Another stereotype  is connected to the presence of music in the film. Frequently the characters sing tunes in Italian, specifically popular Sicilian songs. It is interesting to notice that only Mac doesn’t ever take part in the singing, while Vico, who represents the ‘negative’ stereotype of the untrustworthy Italian, is often seen while working with a sentimental and often stereotypical canzonetta on his lips.

 La Trama

Tanino (Corrado Fortuna) è un giovane italiano della Sicilia. Durante l'estate, lui incontra Sally (Rachel McAdams), una giovane americana in vacanza con un'amica. Sally e Tanino si innamorano, ma quando l'estate finisce, Sally deve ritornare a casa a Rhode Island negli Stati Uniti. Quando lei ritorna a casa, lei dimentica Tanino e non si aspetta che Tanino rimanga devoto a lei. Infatti, nella sua scuola, Sally trova un nuovo ragazzo. In Sicilia, Tanino trova il videoregistratore che Sally aveva dimenticato quando lei aveva lasciato il paese.

Dopo aver mandato un'email a Sally, Tanino decide partire per gli Stati Uniti in modo da potergliel. In realtà la moglie lo tradiva da anni con un collega !! Tanino e la madre di Sally non avevano un rapporto; il padre sapeva che sua moglie non era fedele, ma lui non sapeva chi era l'adultero. Minacciando Tanino con un fucile, il padre di Sally gli fa paura fino alla notte quando Tanino scappa dalla casa!

Tanino trasloca con una famiglia italo-americana che lui incontra nel viaggio. Comunque, presto Tanino  si fidanza con la figlia del sindaco italo-americano della citta', Angelica! Ma questo sindaco e' molto traviato e Angelica e' molto grassa (lei mangia molti gelati!). Dopo Tanino spinge Angelica dentro nel porto e i telegiornali presentano Tanino come un ragazzo molto violento e offensivo (quando infatti lui e' solo confuso a causa delle differenze tra gli italo-americani e lui che si considera cento per cento italiano).

In fuga, Tanino salta un treno in modo che lui possa scappare, ma quando lui si sveglia, Tanino  si trova a New York City, una grande citta' con milioni di persone appartenenti a molte culture piu' diverse.Tanino ha l'opportunita'  di lavorare con Chinawsky come produttore cinematografico, ma sfortunatamente, Chinawsky viene ricoverato d'urgenza all'ospedale, dove lui muore.A quest'ora, la polizia scopre che quest' uomo che era con Chinawsky e' Tanino, il ragazzo che ha flirtato con Angelica a Rhode Island!

Poiche' lui ha delle accuse contro lui, la polizia lo vuole deportare. Quindi, Tanino ritorna a casa in Sicilia e anche da sua madre, dopo lui aveva imparato molte cose sugli americani, sugli italo-americani,  e sulla vita negli Stati Uniti. Non e' simile alla vita in Sicilia!

Conclusion/ Conclusione

The stereotypes we encountered in our three movies by American directors are very diverse from each other, both due to the different topics they deal with and the time the movies were shot.

In Roman Holiday Italy is perceived as a sunny, wonderful, warm country, with happy and welcoming people. This reflects the positive attitude of many American directors of the 50's, who were living the post-war period as an age of rebirth. Italy is seen as an idealized place of beauty and leisure, which is not the real and faithful portrait of Italy in that period.

On the other hand, in the 70's the stereotype of Italians had dramatically changed for the worst. Coppola's The Godfather is the archetypical  Mafia movie, depicting Italian immigrants as mobsters, no matter how elegant and smart they might appear. Nevertheless the relevance the director gives to the issue of family and ties of blood clearly gives the idea of how important family values and traditional heritage are to the Italian immigrants.

In the 90's, after years of predominancy of the Italian mobster icon, Turturro's Mac gives comprehensive insights into the life of honest, hard-working Italians pursuing the American dream despite the difficulties related to their Italian heritage. Instead of mobsters, Turturro's heros are bricklayers, craftsmen, common guys who put their family and the dedication to their honest job before everything else.

Siccome ho analizzato un film solamente, non conosco le differenze tra gli anni riguardo agli stereotipi. Comunque gli stereotipi del film "My Name is Tanino" presentano un'immagine falsa della vita americana: per gli italiani, gli americani sono obesi, ignoranti, ossessionati con il sensuale, imperfetti, che girano con la pistola, ecc. I personaggi americani del film presentano un'idea dell'America che non e' vera.

Group 2: Allyson Glazier, Anna Bordignon, Enrico Stanic, Martina Urbani