The ANNOTICO Report

I thought this TV News piece was "stacked" in favor of Anti Italian Activists. Another "biased" Report. A biased report on Italian bias !!!! :(

Neither does it surprise me that while EVERY other Ethnic group sees the Detrimental Effects of Negative Stereotyping, STILL some our community do not "get it" !!! Is it a "pocket book" issue, stupidity, or "quislings"???

HOLLYWOOD STEREOTYPES

Does What We See On The Screen Affect What We Think Of People?

20/20 ABC News

By John Stossel and Frank Mastropolo

Friday, Sept. 8, 2006 at 9-11 PM

Where do we get our ideas about what groups of people are like? We learn from our parents and friends, of course, but Hollywood has a big influence too.

Most Italian Americans have nothing to do with organized crime. But you wouldn't know that watching movies and TV shows like "The Godfather," "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos." Those depictions of Italians as gangsters anger Italian activist groups like the Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA). Dona De Sanctis, OSIA's Deputy Executive Director says, Italians are "among the few ethnic minorities that it's still okay to make fun of, and that's not right."

Beginning in the silent film era, blacks were mainly portrayed by Hollywood as fools and servants. But movie roles have changed for blacks. Since the 1971 movie "Shaft," starring Richard Roundtree as a private eye, blacks have played most every type of humanity.

Hating Yourself

[ RAA: Here the Asian actor Daniel Dae Kim complains bitterly about that fact that too few Asian actors get to kiss on screen, and it makes him feel less cute, (No, really he said that, poor thing) and that TOO often they are portrayed as doctors!! :) :) Kim has serious problems, or is he just a typical male version of a "mindless" actress?]

B.D. Wong of "Law & Order SVU", growing up, saw white actors playing Asian parts in what they call "yellowface." In "Breakfast at Tiffany's" the fussy Japanese landlord was Mickey Rooney, which he played with a broadly exaggerated Japanese accent while wearing thick round glasses and fake buck teeth.

Some Asians say these images made them hate themselves.

[RAA: I then ask, How do you think it makes Italian kids feel seeing themselves constantly as Mafioso, and being constantly derided for it by insensitive friends, and malicious classmates??]....

Arab American groups, sensitive that they're portrayed too often as terrorists, have picketed theaters and persuaded nervous producers to cast them differently. Hollywood used to make lots of movies about Arab terrorists. But since September 11th, Arabs are much less likely to be cast as terrorists. The Tom Clancy best seller "The Sum of All Fears" is about Palestinian terrorists, but when the movie came out, the bad guys had become neo-Nazis. [RAA: The power of Political Action]

Speaking Out

Now some Italian groups are complaining. In 2004, Italy planned to award Robert De Niro honorary citizenship, but then De Niro voiced the role of gangster Don Lino in the cartoon "Shark Tale," using language peppered with Italian expressions like "agita." Advocacy groups complained, and Italy cancelled its citizenship ceremony.

That's just silly, says Vincent Pastore, who played a mobster on "The Sopranos." Pastore told 20/20, "Italian people are gangsters. That's like saying all black people are slaves. Italian people are gangsters? It's just bizarre."

[RAA: First, Pastore, hardly can be understood he speaks in such a slurred voice, that sound like they come from a muddled mind, Of what value is his opinion on ANYTHING???? Plus, of course he is defending his paycheck. What actor speaks critically of his TV show?

Italian American actor/comedian Pat Cooper says, "The activists don't know what they're talking about."

Cooper played one of Robert De Niro's made men in the film "Analyze This" and says groups like Order Sons of Italy are wrong--mob movies don't make people think Italians are gangsters. He says Hollywood favors Italian gangsters "because we're better gangsters ... But that doesn't mean all Italians are gangsters and all Italians are bad, that's ridiculous."

[Pat Cooper, who changed from his Italian name, is a mere jokester, made a nice movie paycheck playing a mobster, and is Not a Philosopher, or Media Expert, and therefore his view is suspect.Further he's wrong about the Italians being better Gangsters. The Russians, Israeli's, Columbians, etc... have long ago pushed the Italians to the sidelines, and the "Italian social club" penny ante thieves are only getting the headlines.]

[ And obviously Cooper knows nothing of the Media. While everyone else is complaining about the Power of the Media and it's capacity to distort the News, he seems oblivious.]

OSIA's De Sanctis disagrees. "I have to say to people like Pat Cooper & I'm sorry, your portrayals are influencing public opinion."

De Sanctis points out "The popularity of a stereotype doesn't justify it ... Cowboy and Indian movies were wildly popular for generations. But that doesn't make the stereotype right."

Pat Cooper responds, "It's an art form, it's a movie!

[RAA: Pat do I rely on you or the Jewish community. Shylock is just a play/movie, but the Jewish community realizes that ANY negative depictions are disadvantageous, and have encouraged current producers to "modify" his character to make him sympathetic and turn in from a perpetrator to a victim.]

Cooper, the motormouth, then says: "How come nobody comes over to me and says, 'You know, you're making fun of the Italians'? I say, we got a sense of humor, I'm so proud that I'm the first one to let people know we know how to laugh."

[RAA: Only an Idiot would Not know when he was spitting in his own face. And Fortifying NEGATIVE Stereotypes of ANY Ethnicity is low life. Make fun of the "Human Condition", that is funny, and doesn't make people feel ashamed of themselves, and other people think less of them!!!]

For more information, please refer to the sources below, who helped with research for this story:

Show business biographer James Robert Parish, author of "The Encyclopedia of Ethnic Groups in Hollywood" (jamesrobertparish.com).