Has all the anti-Italian imagery we've seen on TV of late actually been a response to the churlish behavior of Silvio Berlusconi, the most visible Italian of all? Probably not. Italian-Americans need no help in making themselves look terrible. Still, something to think about!
First let me apologise for my plagiarism, as I have unashamedly stolen the title of this post from the NIAF newsletter I got only this morning.
Stolen Headline: "Italian Americans are Under Attack!"
Oh boy, that whole article is a piece of gold.
everyone's just pissed about Amanda Knox.
also: is it even possible for Italian-Americans to be 'under attack' if there are no negative repercussions, other than negative media imagery, for being Italian-American?
Real Question! Was there some notion that being Italian was cool and/or naughtily transgressive in the 50s? Or at least the 50s as retrieved by the creators of imaginative literature in the 70s? Maybe ethnic but not too-too? Arthur Fonzarelli, Carmine "The Big Ragu," Danny Zucco . . .
First it was the blacks and now Italians. Seriously, guys. You're just one ethnicity or race away from a mob of torch-wielding Jezebel commenters beating down The Awl doors.
The Jezzies don't get riled unless negative body imagery is invoked, or maybe ageism.
They'll call it race and ethnicity dysmorphic disease.
I think it's because of that coke addled Italian mayor with the thing for the Brazilian trannies, one of which woke up dead about a month ago.
Which one? There's like a thousand of those mayors.
One of the many fascinating and intriguing things about the movie 2012 was the portrayal of the Italian Prime Minister, who manages to come across as some sort of carefully crafted anti-Berlusconi despite only being on screen a few moments. In one of the opening sequences, as the powerful are discussing the end of the world, someone makes a very mild joke and the Italian PM admonishes them for their levity. Later, (SPOILERS I guess, if you really haven't seen the movie yet and yet still care about not being spoiled), we learn that instead of going to the escape arcs with all the other world leaders, he has decided to stay and pray in St. Peter's Square with his non-glamorous wife instead. Obviously Silvio would have been on board that boat in a heartbeat, along with a bevy of 19-year-old mistresses.
In fact, many of the world leaders in that movie were weird fun-house ennobled versions of their real-world counterparts: the US president is black, but instead of being young and controversial like Obama he's old and revered. Germany also has a lady Chancellor, but she's significantly foxier than Angela Merkel. Etc.
Mayor Cianci is the destitute man's Berlusconi.
We gotta pick who we're talking about because in my experience Italians and Italian-Americans are just so completely separated by culture and language and culture that you just can't refer to either group at the same time, the Italians I've know have always been very happy to make this very, very clear. Now in light of Italy's current image issues I'm sure Italian-Americans are now the ones highlighting the world of differences between Folk and their 'Old Country' cousins.
You know what IROC stands for?
I'm not going there.