Saints or Sinners? Italian-American Representations from Early Hollywood to the Many Saints

Dennis Barone sums it up well when he states, “The Italian as criminal, Mafioso and sexual predator is a well-established character in American film genres” Baroone makes an excellent argument that the depictions of Italian Americans as gangsters long preceded The Godlfather his article, “Translating identities: the Italian as other in two early American films, ”which appeared in Metro Magazine in June 2007. The idea of stereotyping Italian Americans as mobsters is certainly something we still see in films and television today, perhaps an extension of the success of the Godfather. The release of The Many Saints of Newark released in 2021 exemplifies this stereotype as an extension of The Sopranos, an Italian American family in the “business,” much like The Godfather represented the Corleone family fifty years prior. What is interesting, however, and what Barone points out so eloquently, is this was well established before Hollywood developed as a major player in popular culture thanks to representations in later 1800’s novels as well as early film of the 1910s. We have to delve much more into the past in order to understand how well established this particular stereotype is and why it was created in the first place.

The idea of the Italian mobster is certainly evident in films after the success of The Godfather in 1972. In fact there is a long list of Italian-American gangster films released since 1972 including Capone (1975), Wise Guys (1986), Married to the Mob (1988), Goodfellas (1990), A Bronx Tale (1993), Casino (1995), Donnie Brasco (1997), and of course The Godfather Trilogy (1972, 1974, and 1990, respectively). But the idea of the Italian mobster was well established in early Hollywood, even before the stereotypical “gangster films” of the Depression era when James Cagney made organized crime “cool,” and certainly decades before the Corleone family graced the screen. According to Barone, “the image of the Italian as barbarian was established during the Gilded Age, the years of film's birth, as well as by nineteenth-century literature such as Henry James's Daisy Miller (1878). If the Italian as sexual barbarian has a long history in American culture, so, too, does the Mafia image…..Christian McLeod's 1908 The Heart of the Stranger: A Story of Little Italy and Louis Forgione's Men of Silence of 1928 are novels that capitalized on the scandal of Italian and Italian-American crime--the cultural groundwork, in other words, for the stereotypical image of Italian-Americans in popular culture had been well established before the 'talkies' gave us the harsh sounds of gunfire.” Thus, it is clear that the image of the Italian mobster was well established long before Marlon Brando’s Don Vito Corleone appeared on screen.

Why, then, were Italian immigrants and, later, Italian-Americans, depicted as “mobsters?” Usually we can see a correlation between massive immigration and the perpetuation of stereotypes, typically derived from fear and competition particularly in economics. If there is a massive influx of immigrants, they are competing with lower class Americans for jobs and social and political status. 

We have seen it with Irish immigrants, who were depicted as the “Northern Negro” when there was a mass influx of Irish immigrants fleeing the Irish Potato Famine.

It wasn’t much different for Italians, who fled in droves during the violence of Resurgimiento, or Italian unification under Giuseppe Garibaldi. According to Charles Willis in his piece published on PBS.org entitled Destination America:“By 1870, there were about 25,000 Italian immigrants in America, many of them Northern Italian refugees from the wars that accompanied the Risorgimento—the struggle for Italian unification and independence from foreign rule. Between around 1880 and 1924, more than four million Italians immigrated to the United States, half of them between 1900 and 1910 alone—the majority fleeing grinding rural poverty in Southern Italy and Sicily.” A massive influx of Italian immigrants then coincides with the Gilded Age, typically designated as between 1870 and 1900, and with the rise of Hollywood in the later 1910s and early 1920s. Vilifying “the other” is a byproduct of this mass influx of Italian immigrants. This is certainly something to remember when viewing The Sopranos or The Godfather, or any other film that stereotypes Italian-Americans, as it stems from the idea that these “others” are a threat to America, when in reality, America should be a melting pot, accepting of all ethnicities considering that America was founded on this concept of acceptance of all. In fact, it would be pertinent to remember Lady Liberty’s statement:

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

After all, America is a country built from immigrants.

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Barone, Dennis. "Translating identities: the Italian as other in two early American films." Metro Magazine, no. 153, June 2007, pp. 173+. Gale OneFile: Pop Culture Studies, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A174282262/PPOP?u=edis78478&sid=bookmark-PPOP&xid=cc47e116. Accessed 10 June 2022.


Image 1: (Political cartoons sometimes played on Americans' fears of immigrants. This one, which appeared in a 1896 edition of the Ram's Horn, depicts an immigrant carrying his baggage of poverty, disease, anarchy and sabbath desecration, approaching Uncle Sam.https://www.ushistory.org/us/38c.asp)



Image 2: Engraving of political cartoon drawn by Thomas Nast From Harper's Weekly, 9 December 1876, p. 985.)

Dog: Surprisingly Opening Serious Conversations about Mental Health

 

When the previews for Dog came out, I was honestly expecting a ridiculous film about a dog one-upping a thirtysomething bachelor who likely needed a bit of schooling on relationships. Think Turner and Hooch, but more silly. When I saw Dog, I was pleasantly surprised by the serious message and the appropriately delivered story. When the film opens, we meet Lulu, a Belgian Malinois dog who was trained as a military K-9, and her handler Riley Rodriguez through photos, drawings, and poetry, apparently created by Riley Rodriguez, Lulu’s handler, as he details their day-to-day work and play in the rough terrain of Afghanistan. Through these photos, drawings, poems, and details of the opening montage, we quickly learn of the strong bond between the Lulu and Rodriguez, one that can not easily be replicated should either dog or human cease to exist. It is certainly understandable that this bond would be unbreakable considering the intensity of Rodriguez and Lulu’s career as it is literally a daily life-and-death struggle.

We then meet Army Ranger Jackson Briggs, played by Channing Tatum who also co-directed the film, working in what appears to be a “Subway” style sandwich shop, while trying to reup his enlistment despite a traumatic brain injury from his previous tour in Afghanistan. His calls his former Commanding Officer and attempts to get his former unit to vouch for him but, due to Briggs’ traumatic brain injury (TBI) which is documented in his medical record, neither his CO or his unit will recommend him for service. This is an important detail of our story, as it reveals how Briggs’ sees his self-worth only through his military service, and when he cannot re-enlist, he feels he has no value, which can open discussions not only on veterans returning from combat but also on mental health more generally. Two major world events are relevant here, the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan bringing home veterans who may feel their self-worth is no longer valid as their combat duty came to a sudden end; and the pandemic which contributed to isolation and furthered depression as a result.  According to a March 2, 2022 press release, “In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25%, according to a scientific brief released by the World Health Organization (WHO),” making the mental health issues we see in Briggs even more relevant to our current situation.

We also learn early in our film that Rodriguez died in a car accident, which sets the stage for the road trip storyline…. Briggs must bring Lulu to Rodriguez’s funeral. If he can do this one mission, Briggs’ CO promises to recommend Briggs for service. But, of course, there is a catch. Although Briggs and Rodriguez were close, Lulu has been dubbed “aggressive” as she is not cooperative with any handlers now that Rodriguez is gone, and understandably so since that bond was so strong. So, Lulu will attend the funeral, with Briggs, and then be euthanized as she is not considered adoptable. And so the road trip, and the bonding, begin. Lulu and Briggs find through this long journey that they actually have much in common, dealing with PTSD, TBI, and of course the loss of Rodriguez, which may not have been an accident, lending even more to the important mental health discussions in this film.

Without giving away too much, the film is much more serious and relevant than expected. Of course there are laughs and silly moments, but there are also endearing moments, lessons learned, bonding, and sharing, and tears. Both Briggs and Lulu grow and learn throughout the film. They both suffer from PTSD and TBI, they both feel as though they lost their self-worth after their combat tours ended, they both have to come to terms with loss, and they both need to learn to adjust to civilian life. Even though they do not always get along, this is certainly a pair that need each other, and we get to go along for the ride sharing in their journey while opening conversations about mental health, veteran’s healthcare, and the importance of bonding with a furry friend who may actually understand us better than we do ourselves.