Celebrity panel examines popular perceptions of Italian-Americans

AP ^

[dfwgator]

They had one in HBO's Band of Brothers. He's always a corporal. And his kill ratio is supernatural when he's plenty pissed. "You call this spaghetti? This is noodles and ketchup. I'm Italian and I know good spaghetti." Band of Brothers

That would be Wild Bill Guarnere. When they showed the real-life members of Easy Company, I immediately knew which one he was without even having to see his name displayed. The actor who portrayed him, nailed him to a "T".

[dfwgator]

BTW Guarnere is from South Philly, not Brooklyn.

[SkyPilot]

When I watch DiNero in the Godfather, I admire his character.

In the movie Godfather II, DeNero's character loves his wife and baby, his friends, his boss, his co-workers. He does murder the crooked neighborhood boss.

Murder cannot be condoned, but I thought the character he played was a great portrayal of a man who protected what he loved.

[HitmanLV]

As an italian-american (a sicilian-american, actually) with a very notorious surname (as well as a pretty ornery look about me), the stereotypes never bothered me much.

Great cooks, wonderful lovers, a bit of a mean side when provoked, values loyalty and is fiercely loyal, vengeful when wronged, and yep, slightly shady gangster.

If that isn't a powerful concoction to attract women and otherwise intimidate people, I don't know what is!!!

Because of my name I am often asked casually by people who even have just met me if I am 'connected' at all to the notorious family. In my earlier years I discouraged it and told the truth, now I firmly but quietly say 'yes, but thats all part of my past now.' The looks of amazement (and even quiet intimidation) I get are priceless and well worth any negative stereotype. Accentuate the positive!

And to be fair, to an extent I live up to the stereotype: I'm a far better cook than most woman I have ever dated (notable exception is a tall, beautiful raven-haired Italian woman who was my master in the kitchen), I am a caring, giving, & attentive lover, I am far more loyal to friends than the average bear, and yes, I am every bit as vengeful and driven as Michael Corleone, when provoked of course. So there is a lot of truth to it all, at least in my case.

There is a lot of upside to it, I wish folks would know it better. I have literally hundreds of examples, but once I was stopped by two beautiful young Mexican women asking for directions/help here in Las Vegas who thought I was Mexican and could speak Spanish (I have a fairly indeterminate look about me, alternately identified as Italian, Greek, Mexican or South American, even Native American, etc). When I replied (in my perfect Midwestern weatherman English) that I was sorry, I am Italian and don't speak Spanish, the taller of the two looked me up and down, slightly bit her lip and purred "Ohhh....Italiano, eh?"

People pay for that kind of treatment!

One of my pet peeves are Italians who whine about the negative stereotype. #1, whining is never a good approach. And the truth is, there is some validity to the stereotype, and historically speaking the Italian organized crime enterprise has been prominent in the USA for a century. The truth is the truth: some of the most notorious gangsters in US history have been Italian. So what? That's not to say that all Italians are gangsters. They should quit being so sensitive.

Italians are loud? I used to say "why would I want to go to the Opera, if I wanted to see a bunch of screaming Italians for 2 hours I would just go to my aunt's house!" And I meant it!

My second peeve is Italians who embrace their Italian culture a bit too much. There is an episode of the Sopranos that illustrated the folly of this mindset. The crew has to go to Italy to broker a deal. Well, these guys who back in NY embrace their Italian legacy and carry themselves off as very Italian men were so hopelessly out of place in Italia. They didn't fit, and with good reason: they are Americans. Recognizing their cultural heritage is fine, but overstating it is silly and immature.

Third peeve is the opposite, Italians with Anglo-envy. I never did figure these out, but my sister is one of those folks. It's a free country, but to me it's wisest to put your cultural background in proper perspective, and neither overstate nor ignore it.

Like I said, as far as stereotypes go, I can live with the Italian or Sicilian image. In fact, I do what I can to encourage it. If anybody here have a problem with that, we can step outside (where my boys will take care of you, I hate soiling my hands in a fight)! :-)

[Cowboy Bob]

I was wondering what happened to Joe Piscopo. I hadn't heard his name in years.

[rcocean]

I'm against ethnic sterotypes, so I applaud Joe.

For example, my mother-in-law is Irish. Is it her fault she likes to eat potato soup and get drunk? I think not.

[sully777]

Everyone sees the Italians as the wise guys. The Godfather's Tom Hayden was Irish.

I had neighbors that were Sicilian (wife) and Irish (husband). Think about that combination.

[HitmanLV]

I dated a buxom, blue-eyed, blonde irish lass for a nice spell of time, once. It is one hell of a combination! :-)

[sully777]

Re: Irish-Sicilian children

Girls? Think Irish lass with a perpetual tan and an even nastier temper. Boys? Law problems. One boy had his entire front teeth knocked out in a rumble. Kid was only 14 and he smiled with pride.

The neighborhood was fun.

[Hardastarboard]

Great cooks, wonderful lovers, a bit of a mean side when provoked, values loyalty and is fiercely loyal, vengeful when wronged, and yep, slightly shady gangster.

Except for the great cook and slightly shady gangster parts, sounds like a Scotsman, part of my own ancestry. Of course, we know Scotsmen can't cook - think of hagis, and the argument's over.

[HitmanLV]

Haha! Awesome! In no way did I suggest that Italians 'own' any of those things, just that they are identified with them. But the tent is big - we can all be wonderful lovers, have a bit of a mean side when provoked, value loyalty and be fiercely loyal, and be vengeful when wronged! It's fun! ;-)

By the way, you just might be interested to see a current film about a great (and one of my fave) Scotsmen, James Barrie, creator of 'Peter Pan.' The film is 'Finding Neverland,' and it's about the development of the Peter Pan story. I was it Friday night and it's one of the best films I have seen in a long time.

[HitmanLV]

Sounds like my kind of people! :-)

[sully777]

Well, I'm thinking the only combination that could replace that would be Puerto Rican, Sicilian, and Irish. Caliente.

[HitmanLV]

Caliente, indeed! Haha!

[Little Bill]

Florence, a good friend of my mother, says there are no Italians south of Rome. My Step Father, Albano, says that everyone South of his family stomping grounds are Greeks and Turks, Brute, and Sicilians are the result of Sodomistic relations between the Turks and the French and everyone North of Pisa are Germans, Italy must be an interesting place.

[discostu]

No we don't. I'm one of the biggest mob movie fans in the world and I can comprehend that there are perfectly normal law abiding Italians. People understand that perfectly normal people don't make interesting inspiration for movie characters. The understand that not all Italians are mobbed up, they understand that most Italians are regular folks and no less law abiding than anybody else. We also understand that most 1800s cowboys never got in a gun fight, most indians never stormed a fort, most Irishmen are neither drunk nor cops, and not every oriental has a blackbelt that's anything other than a fashion accessory. The people that obsess on stereotypes tend to be the people in that group who for whatever reason have decided to allow Hollywood to define them.

[HitmanLV]

Very true. I think a problem with the overly-sensitive mindset on the part of any ethnic background is the inabilit to recognize that most people are sophisticated enough to understand what you just wrote.

And truth be told, it doesn't take remarkable sophistication to know that! :-)

Thanks for the sobering words. As I said in earlier posts, I actually encourage the Italian-American sterotype. Chicks seem to dig it, so who am I to complain?

[discostu]

And actually I think there's kind of a reverse stereotype that is, in some ways highly complimentary to Italians/ Sicilians. When Americans think of organized crime they think of the mafia, we describe the Yakuza as the "Japanese mafia", there's a Jewish mafia, Columbian mobsters, the Russian mob. We all understand that criminals organize, but in the minds of America the "best" organized criminals are the ones that eat a lot of spicey sausage in red sauce. And we all want to be "mobbed up" everybody knows somebody that knows somebody that knew this guy which means we're "connected"... sort of.

Of course chicks dig it, it's dangerous and chicks dig danger. Heck everybody digs danger, in managable and nonthreatening doses ;)

[iconoclast]

Well said, Joe.

[HitmanLV]

You are 100% right. Like I said, people should be a lot less sensitive to stuff like this!