|
|
"Only silence is shame" - Bartolomeo Vanzetti
Why
IAWA? Episode Fifty-Two October 2002 The Dialogue of Viewer A and Viewer B On September 25, with the
cooperation of the Casa Italaiana Zerilli-Marimò at New York
University, IAWA conducted a discussion of Regina Barreca’s A Sitdown with the Sopranos. This
conversation was very satisfying to people who felt that it was about time
Italian American intellectuals started to talk in public about The Sopranos. The conversation was
less satisfying to others, who felt that the thing worth examining was not the
show itself but rather the effect that the show is having on Italian
Americans – on their image in the eyes of others, on their ways of
seeing themselves. People who wanted to talk about
the show itself and people who wanted to talk about its effect only began on that evening to talk to one
another. The producers of The Sopranos are
also taking part in this conversation. Maria Laurino, author of Were You Always an Italian?, co-wrote
(with Michael Imperioli) this season’s third episode (aired September 29). The script places the
gangsters in the position of Italian American activists who protest the
demotion of Christopher Columbus, which they see as an attack on Italian
pride. The script implies that supporters of Italian pride are not much
different from gangsters. This
was a broadside against those who protest The
Sopranos. It is clear that dialogue is
only beginning. With its powerful
position, its wit, and its willingness to take on its critics within the very
texts of its scripts, The Sopranos continues to place itself at the
center of debate about the representation of Italian Americans in the media.
At this point, it seems worthwhile to work a little at trying to improve the
level of communication. We can begin by observing that Viewer A can like
something that Viewer B thinks is awful
De gustibus non
disputandum est. There is no arguing about taste. According to the Roman poet Horace,
this is a basic principle in discussing reactions to any work of art.
Disregarding this principle can produce some very unsatisfactory
conversations, even shouting matches.
A: The Sopranos reminds me of
Shakespeare. Stereotyped characters come to do surprising things. They have
interior realities. This is absorbing drama. B: Oh
please. How can you watch this filth? A: It
is, among other things, a brilliant comedy of manners. It presents parents who grew up in the inner city
but now live in the suburbs and are raising upper middle class children. This
is a situation many of us can recognize from our own lives. B:
Bull. This is a show about the Mafia. All the brilliant comedy of manners
accomplishes is to make these stereotype figures seem like real people.
Studies have shown that Mafia images damage the educational prospects of
Italian American youth. A: What
is so special about Mafia films?
Have you watched any other B: But
these acts of violence, this brutal sex, and these foul-mouthed conversations
are all attributed to Italian Americans. As Italian Americans we feel
dishonored. Our children are damaged by these negative stereotypes. A:
Where is your sense of humor? Have you watched B: This
is not the way we talk in my house. A: You
mustn’t have cable. B: What
does cable have to do with it? A:
Almost everything. The Sopranos
move up from the inner city to the posh suburbs. The viewer moves up from
network TV to Premium Cable.
Watching this show is like becoming a part of the social phenomenon it
displays. B: So
you admit that watching the show makes you in some way an accomplice to all
the damage it does? A: I
never said that. B: What
does it mean if you, as an Italian American, support HBO? If you buy DVDs of The Sopranos and The Godfather? A:
Mafia stories are the most powerful representations of Italian America in
popular culture today. How can we remain part of the American conversation if
we ignore them? B:
Maybe we could change the American conversation if we did that. A: The Sopranos is dismantling the whole
stereotype of the Italian American gangster, Indeed, it is placing the even
larger stereotype of the Italian American family under the icy gaze of
psychoanalysis. How is that for changing the conversation? It is hard to find a
resting-point in this conversation. The fact is that the astonishing success
of Mafia films and series over the past thirty years poses a continuing
challenge to American – and not only Italian American – viewers. This challenge is the subject
of a remarkable book that is this month’s steerage selection. In a thoughtful and valuable new study, Chris
Messenger analyzes the complex and profound relationship between American
culture and the Mafia film. steerage* The Godfather and American Culture: How
the Corleones Became “Our Gang” by Chris Messenger Series in Italian American Culture Edited by Fred Gardaphé $25.95 paperback ISBN 0-7914-5358 Messenger’s
book advances the conversation considerably. There will be a discussion of it
at the Calandra Institute, There will be a discussion with
Chris Messenger at SUNY/Stony Brook on the same day. Details not available at
press time. Call 631-632-7440 for time and place. Copyright
© 2002 Robert Viscusi *Steerage is a
program of the Italian American Writers Association. Those who read this
essay are asked to buy the selected book, to read and discuss it, and to ask
their local, school, and college libraries to buy it. |
