Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Italic Institute Critiques "Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans and the Movies"

The ANNOTICO Report

 

I Reported on Roseanne De Luca Braun's documentary "Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans and the Movies" on January 13, 2008.

 

Rosario A. Iaconis, VC  of the Italic Institute, had similar doubts, and expressed it in a Letter to Editor, below. 

 

Here are excerpts from my  prefacing remarks in my  Report of January 13, 2008:

I commend  De Luca Braun's efforts, but I have no high expectations, since Ms Braun, is unable to accept the source of Negative Stereotyping, the torrent of "mob" movies, which she acknowledges, YET she states "I relate to the characters. And in the case of a great work of art, I don’t view it as Italian-American " it’s American.".

 

That's absurd!!!!! How you view it is of no consequence, it is how 300 million Americans view it. And we KNOW the answer to that. "Mob" = "Italian"

 

I am also concerned about the fact that the greatest contributors to "our problem" are deeply involved with this Documentary.

People like David Chase, Spike Lee, and Mr. Chianese.

 

How Not To Honor Italian-Americans

 

Newsday, Long Island,NY,USA

January 31, 2008

Letters to Editor



Film producer Roseanne De Luca Braun's documentary effort to transcend the lurid stereotype of Italian-Americans as a semi-literate criminal underclass is undercut by her embrace of the very actors, filmmakers and producers whose careers are a testament to anti-Italian bigotry in the media ["Not married to the mob movie type," Part 2, Jan. 16].

Why couldn't De Luca Braun have produced an uplifting saga akin to "The Jewish Americans"?  We celebrate Tinseltown's Jewish roots because they are a vibrant part of Americana. Though the scions of Italy also were present at the creation of Hollywood - and made equally witty and intellectually profound contributions - few members of the chattering class or the general public are aware of such a seminal role.

Instead, she chose to flatter the filmic malefactors of anti-Italian intolerance. One wonders how any Italian-American organization could have contributed funds to such a malodo rous enterprise.

It is both a travesty and an outrage that the heirs of Virgil, Dante, Luigi Pirandello, Rudolph Valentino, Vincente Minnelli and Frank Capra are now best remembered as the dumbed-down spawn of Tony Soprano or Vito Corleone.

Rosario A. Iaconis

Editor's note: The writer is vice chairman of the Italic Institute of America, which promotes Italian culture and is based in Floral Park.

 

The ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed (and are Archived) on:

Italia USA: http://www.ItaliaUSA.com [Formerly Italy at St Louis] (7 years)

Italia Mia: http://www.ItaliaMia.com (3 years)

Annotico Email: annotico@earthlink.net