Tuesday, March 06,

"Donnellys" are the Irish Sopranos

The ANNOTICO Report

 

Apparently, the Irish have their Testa Duras along with the Italians.

 

This Irish Journalist doesn't mind the "Donnelly's"

 

Two big mistakes he makes.He doesn't Differentiate between :

(1)  Positive, Benign, and NEGATIVE STEREOTYPES

(2)  We don't claim a Negative Fact doesn't Exist!!!

We just Resent the Persistent, Persevering PORTRAYAL of the Group in that ONE WAY.

He would Retort, Well we see those Groups with Some positive Portrayals

And I answer: Look at the Disproportionality. Is THAT Accurate or Truthful !!!!!!

 

What ever happened to not Defaming a Nationality, Race, or Creed?

What ever happened to Treating Everyone Else like you would like to be Treated ?

 

'Donnellys' target of criticism

Commentary

Inland Press Enterprise of Inland Southern Calfornia
From the Albany Times Union                                                                                                                                                                                                 
By Mark McGuire
Monday, March 5, 2007 

I hate all stereotypes. They have no place in literature.

Too much? Must be the cranky Irish side of me. Or the fiery Italian half. But at least I'm not drunk. Or pining for pasta.

I mean, now. Here's the problem: You can't universally denigrate and dismiss characters, plotlines and whole bodies of work simply because some portions could be labeled stereotypical.

Wide swaths of literature and pop culture would be wiped out. No "Sopranos." No "Departed." No "Fiddler on the Roof."

The latest drama to get hit with the S-word is "The Black Donnellys" (10 p.m. Mondays).

The story of four Donnelly brothers' descent into New York's underworld feels dated. But what gets some people's hackles up is the Donnellys own a bar, and drink, and fight and such. You know, the Irish thing.

It's a complicated plot, extremely violent by broadcast TV standards and dark to the point of inky blackness.

Granted, many stereotypical characterizations are lazy, ignorant or simply shameful -- when applied to any group as a whole or when they merely rely on the most trite of chestnuts.

Stereotypes are a problem when they are the sole representation of a group, class, race, whatever. They also make for bad literature when they are embraced as a singular truth. But valid concern over such depictions is taken to the extreme when it's applied to all representations that could be broadly classified as stereotypical.

Hey, I'd be screaming, too, if we only saw blacks as criminals. Or Italians as mobsters. Or Irish as drunks, or cops, or both.

But that's not the case. We see black judges and doctors and felons. And Irish and Italian lawyers and businessmen and, yes, wiseguys. We even have gay mobsters (Vito Spatafore from "The Sopranos"). Any portrayal comes down to context.

Yes, there are aspects of all these stories that seem familiar. And the Irish experience inherent in "The Black Donnellys" has been portrayed before. But to say these "stereotypes" don't exist is dishonest. Dishonesty is something we all can really hate.

 

 

The ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed and are Fully Archived at:

Italia USA: http://www.ItaliaUSA.com (Formerly Italy at St Louis)

 

The ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed at

 

Annotico Email: annotico@earthlink.net