Italian guilt

The Sopranos are back tonight, as most of you probably know. I tried for a good two seasons not to watch the show. I didn't want to take part in yet ANOTHER show specializing in negative depictions of Italian-Americans, feeding into the stereotype that all Italians are criminals. It's easily the most well-accepted stereotype out there, to the extent that people are shocked when I am offended by people who assume my grandpa is a mob boss- a criminal (he's not). Imagine meeting a black man and saying, "What was that like? Growing up not knowing who your daddy was?" You wouldn't do that! It would be IGNORANT. Imagine a movie, no a whole GENRE of film, focusing on the drinking problems of the Irish, the math-savvy of the Asians, the taco-eating of Latinos, the self-deprecating wit of the Jews (oh... wait...). Aside from that last one, those things simply would not be acceptable. Yet, we Italians have allowed, and in most cases even encouraged, it to happen that a character in a film cannot be Italian without his affiliation with organized crime becoming an issue. Moonstruck, one of my all-time favorite movies, is one of the only movies I've seen where the realistic (sometimes positive, sometimes negative) side of Italian-American culture is explored: an old married couple who can't stand each other, an old married couple who loves each other, big meals with red wine, curses (not just cursing), Catholicism/Catholic guilt, opera, love, family-owned grocers, bread, dinners with family... In my life, that is what being Italian has meant (except you should replace opera with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin). Not gangsters, men who hit their wives and kill their best friends. Italian-Americans (as are all ethnic groups) are interesting people with quirky and loving families. That should be the subject of a film just once. Hey Sophia Coppola. Why not make a movie like Lost In Translation whose main character has an Italian last name. And that's it. Just use an Italian last name ONCE without that and his criminal history being the focus of the whole damn movie (and inevitably the trilogy that will follow).

Yet . . . yet . . .

I watch it. And I love every second of it. DAMN ME!!!! To atone for my sin of finding pleasure in the perpetuation of the negative stereotyping of my people, I've provided a link that will give the tools to other braver Italian-Americans to fight back against the Sopranos. This link, by the way, is hilarious. You'd be at step one of three for at least a decade. . .

. . . Which gives me hope that these brave freedom fighters won't succeed before we find out if Tony and Carmela are going to stay together.

*This was supposed to be a short post that included only a picture of the Sopranos and one line that explained the guilt I feel for loving the show. I apologize for the rant.