Stereotypes In Italian American Culture

The Italian mafia has been a large theme in movies and TV shows for decades in America. As a result, the media’s portrayal of the mafia has created stereotypes for Italians that are widely accepted in the American culture. As the mafia grew in the United States throughout the 20th century, the image in the media grew as well. Americans loved mobster films and the film industry capitalized on their obsession of mafia lifestyle. Beginning in the early 1900’s films started being produced about Italians and it was movies like Little Caesar, Public Enemy and Scarface that often casted Italians as mobsters, building a stereotype of Italian Americans which still exists today. Since its origins and a time of unrest in Italy, the Italian mafia has been a cultural sensation. When Southern Italians in Italy were considered uncivil and uneducated by Northern Italians they created bands of rebels to protect what little property they owned. Eventually this led to larger, more organized groups known as the mafia. The most notable mafia group was in Sicily,

One thing that exists today is that there isn’t as much opposition to stereotypes against Italian Americans as there is against other ethnic groups. For example, radio personality Don Imus received a lot of pushback for making derogatory remarks about an African American basketball player which caused him to make several public apologies. However, previous to this happening, Imus’s producer was on record stating that a potential new Supreme Court Justice is a “meatball sucking wop, a God fearing Guido” and also questioned the choice of Justices for President Bush saying “What is he doing? Interpreting the Constitution or mixing concrete?” (DeSanctis). Despite many protests from organizations like the Order Sons of Italy in America, Italian Americans didn’t even acknowledge the