For those of us sometimes accused of being “oversensitive” vis-à-vis world media coverage of Italy or Italian culture, check out this recent buzz of headlines from the BBC alone:
“Italian PM Splits From Partner After Lewd Remarks”; “Late PM Berlusconi’s Artwork Deemed Worthless”; “Over 20 Die in Bus Crash Near Venice”; “Notorious Italian Mafia Boss Dies in Sicily”; “Newborn Baby Dies on Italy Migrant Boat”; “Gay Families Under Attack in Italy”; “Irish Couple Dies After Being Hit by Car in Italy..”
To this buzz, add the Latin word, “etc.”
So much for “paradise.” Indeed, if Caruso were still alive, he would sing the aria “O Paradiso” with a look of shame on his face. All that’s missing is a story about poisoned gelato.
Likewise, the Brits have a popular new show on American PBS called Hotel Portofino. Though they’ve long loved la bell’italia (cities like Sorrento are still favorites for ex-pats), the Brits seem to still resent the fact that London was founded by the Romans (Londinium). This new show, set in the 1920s, recently featured crude “mafiosi” as antagonists to the la-dolce-vita-loving Anglos. A bullet with your Limoncello, Madame?
Not to be outdone, Hollywood just released Equalizer 3, wherein Denzel Washington’s character finds himself up against crude mafiosi terrorizing the town of Amalfi. (Amalfi?). The film comes a few months after the alleged comedy Mafia Mamma, where Toni Collette finds herself involved with violent mobsters in Calabria. And a “new” Netflix documentary, Get Gotti, uses a real-life thug’s distant history to validate the phony stereotypes in the other two films.
(I put the word “new” in quotes as there was a 1994 made-for-cable feature film called Getting Gotti, starring Lorraine Bracco as Diane Giacolone, the heroic federal prosecutor who went after Gotti and his local gang.)
My point in all of this should be obvious: The travelogue view of Italy and the media’s unceasingly negative view of Italy are both misleading—and false. Reality is in the eye of the bee-holder. And media negativity buzzes very loudly.
Cheer up, though. One major story reflects a true reality: the Italian birth-rate is headed to its all-time lowest point in 2024. In short, Italians aren’t reproducing fast enough. And with its large elderly population (even with the ravages inflicted on them by COVID), this means there will be far fewer Italians to kick around in the future.
What will poor Hollywood and the media do? -BDC
It never ends, and now in Britain. One can hope due to the span of attention these days, that this stupid trend will end. In the meantime, Italians and Italian Americans continue to create and make history. As we have always done. In time even the ignorant will discover what great contributions we have made for the world.
It will end when it hurts their pocketbook. Italian Americans should act with one voice to put economic pressure on the movie makers. If they don’t make money, they won’t make movies. “United we stand divided we fall”.
British/Anglo media routinely publishes negative stories on Serie A (Italian Soccer League), Italian fashion and Italy in general. It is not just anti-Italian bias. There are also economic interests behind, such as redirecting tourism to domestic venues.
For example, The Dolce & Gabbana has banned the fashion critics for The New York Times from their Milan runway shows since 2007, because of the continuous gratuitous bad coverage of the D&G brand.
Ironically, the Stanley Tucci episode of Searching for Italy set in London was, I thought, one of his better ones. He dipped his toe into a bit of history and did make a convincing case that, over the last 30 years, the sudden influx of Italians has revitalized that city.
As for Hollywood: The only other groups whom they have no compunction mocking are southern rednecks and gypsies. And yet, even those two groups have made progress: Hillbilly Elegy and documentaries like Latcho Drom defend their cultures as worthy.
As for economic pressure: An alternative form of that is having uber-wealthy Italian Americans–of whom they are thousands–open their checkbooks and start funding positive films, documentaries, TV series, etc. to combat Hollywood negativity.
Fight fire with fire. But, alas, when it comes to defending our culture, our leaders fizzle.
One exception is Canadian-American producer, Andrea Iervolino (I know it is not Hollywood however). He has been producing movies that promote Italian genius such as Ferrari and Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend. He plans to produce even more such positive movies.
His movies have an international cast which helps with the promotion around the world. For example, Enzo Ferrari character is played by Adam Driver.