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Italian Americans in the Trap of Television. An Interview with Maria Laurino
(January 18, 2010)
A scene from the film "Matrix"
Italian Americans should put an end to their obsession with their image in the television media.
Television, in general, tends to caricature reality; it likes showing things that are over the top. This is not about Italian Americans—it is about the media, it's about "reality show."
The controversy about MTV's Jersey Shore and the Calandra Institute's colloquium on the "Guido lifestyle" should not be resolved by censorship.
It is only through dialogue that you are going to better understand these complex issues of ethnic identity and the media, and further the discussion.
Censoring dialogue is always a dangerous act. It reveals a kind of ethnic nationalism that is only about pride and doesn’t allow for any kind of questioning or dissent.
As our readers know, the MTV reality “Jersey Shore” provoked a wave of anti-defamation prostests from several Italian American organizations. When the John D.
Calandra Italian American Institute of CUNY announced a colloquium on “Guido: An Italian American Youth Style” (January 21st, 10am) some exponents of the Italian American community objected that even holding such a colloquium may be considered an “anti-Italian” act, and called to boycott it. In its continuing search for a dialogue, i-Italy decided to offer this controversy a forum where all positions can be articulated—including unofficial, dissonant voices.
Here we meet Maria Laurino,* a writer and an adjunct professor of creative writing at New York University. A former chief speechwriter to NYC Mayor David Dinkins and a staff writer for the Village Voice, her books include Were You Always an Italian?, a national best-selling memoir about ethnic identity.
What do you think of the way ethnicity—and Italian Americans in partular—are portrayed on American television?
I haven't seen this particular MTV show but from what I have read it reminds me of other sitcoms and reality shows with Italian-American characters. One of the problems in portraying ethnicity on television is that television, in general, tends to caricature reality; it likes showing things that are over the top. The media, and especially television, tend to see everything in broad strokes. Television—and especially reality TV shows—are not interested in nuances as a novelist or an essayist would be. The reason is simple: the media have their own agenda, they have to get the ratings up, they have to make money; they are more concerned about the marketplace than about the issues. And one of the difficulties in portraying ethnic groups is that all these groups have been here for a long time, and when you get, for instance, to the fifth generation of Italian Americans, it is so much harder to get at the nuances of their identity. In the past ten years or so, I think the whole culture has become cruder and less interested in nuances, and so the portrayal has become even less sophisticated. Just as more and more Italian Americans become assimilated, their ethnic identity is portrayed in a way that actually reflects a very small group of people... but nobody is really interested in a more nuanced work.
Some in the Italian American community think that such misrepresentation of ethnic identity in the media is something that regards Italian Americans more than other groups. We often hear that a show like Jersey Shore would have never been mad about Jews or African-Americans .
I don’t think so. A couple of months ago, I went to a talk to present my newest book in Staten Island, and there were many questions about this. "Why do they portray us this way?" people would ask. I responded that this is not about Italian Americans—it is about the media, it's about "reality show." If you read newspaper accounts of the making of reality shows, you see how participants are denied sleep, offered lots of alcohol—all to get them to do something outrageous. And people are ready and willing to do this just to get on television. There was nothing “ethnic” about the “Balloon Boy” spectacle. Ethnic groups will always be appealing to broadcasters because they can fall back on certain images and stereotypes. I think that the media would do anything to improve their ratings to earn money, so they push the boundaries of taste. And it seems that the American people are responding, and even fighting for their fifteen minutes of fame. In that way, I think the culture has shifted a lot in the past few decades.
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There is something fascinating about the relationship between Italian American identity and the image of Tony Manero. When I was researching my book, Were You Always an Italian?, I came across an article by Nik Cohen, a British journalist who wrote the feature story about young people from Bensonhurst in New York magazine that the film Saturday Night Fever was based on. Years later he published a confession in New York magazine that the feature story he wrote was made up. This was supposed to be a piece of journalism about Italian-Americans in Bensonhurst. He wrote that his editors wanted a certain image of Italian Americans and he went and spent some time in Bensonhurst, but he realized he could not really figure out who they were. He found that he could not make inroads into a culture he was not part of. So, based on what he saw, he created Tony Manero out of his imagination. What fascinates me is indeed that Tony Manero is the fictional creation of an English journalist born in Northern Ireland. What is this telling us about ethnic identity? How real is it and to what extent do we just imitate what we see in films? It's really hard to figure out because it's a bit of a chicken-and-egg question: who came first, the Guidos or the Guido portayal that someone then decided to imitate? John Travolta was such an appealing character, an amazing dancer, a handsome man in an enormously popular movie. So many kids must have thought, "Hey, I am from Bensonhurst, I can form some sort of ethnic pride out of that — I'll act like him." They bought into that fictional creation.
You are talking about questions that do not seem to allow for easy answers, including how Italian-American identity is constructed, perceived and modified. May I assume you must be in favor of scholars and experts investigating these issues?
Of course. And I am very interested in this symposium at the Calandra Institute. All these issues of otherness, of identity, of course, push some buttons and touch upon things that might be unpleasant. But it is very dangerous to react by not talking about them. It is only through dialogue that you are going to better understand these complex issues of ethnic identity and further the discussion. Censoring dialogue is always a dangerous act.
Why do you think this censoring attitude is so widespread among ethnic leaders in America, not just among Italian Americans? It seems that the immediate reaction to any disturbing issue is censorship. In this case we go from attempts to stop MTV from "defaming" Italian Americans to an invitation to boycott an academic colloquium about the "Guido lifestyle"...
I think this is a phenomenon that you can see all over the world. It’s the result of a sort of fervent nationalism. This kind of ethnic nationalism is only about pride and doesn’t allow for any kind of questioning or dissent. Look at the case of Ohran Pamuk, the first Turk to receive the Noble Prize for Literature. A few years ago he was brought to court for having “offended the Turkish identity" by stating to a Swiss journalist that you can’t talk about the genocide of Armenians in Turkey under the Ottoman empire. Of course we don't have trials against dissidents here in the U.S., but I think the root of the problem is the same: the notion that national pride, or in this case ethnic pride, should never be challenged.
Is there anything that can be done about these issues?
Surely not by watching television reality shows! I think Italian Americans should put an end to their obsession with their image in the television media. Everything in the media is going to be crude and there is no way you can change this, especially if you start from the wrong assumption—that this is something that just regards Italian Americans. I understand the frustration of the people who are offended by this — I am offended by these portrayals — but this is what American pop culture is becoming. If they really want to think about nuanced images of their own ethnicity—including sometimes controversial images—they should buy and read books by writers from all ethnic groups who are similarly struggling with these issues. And this includes Italian-American writers. Instead of trying to correct the media by censoring them, we should work towards giving these books and ideas much more widespread circulation.
* Maria Laurino has been contributing to i-Italy since its inception. Visit her blog "Old World, New World"
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I find this article and both the comment and blog post by Johnny DeCarlo to be extremely dangerous. While I in no way condone censorship of TV, I also do not believe the best way to avoid a conflict over the Jersey Shore and similar works is to put a muzzle on the Italian community. What these articles and responders fail to realize is that while they equivocate, the media is wasting no time in labeling us as mere self centered, violent, high school drop outs.
The reason that I call these opinions dangerous is because, acting as an authority, you are essentially signaling to the Italian American community (and others as well) that to be upset by recent events is to be overly sensitive. This is an antiquated approach to a social dilemma. No other group in the country polices its own by telling them to grow up when there is a blatant act of hatred or racism perpetrated against them. Nor do these groups rise up and say ' turn a blind eye.' It is for these reasons that other groups are shown a higher level of respect or 'even-ness' in their media portrayals, while Italians are always gangsters, violent, buffoons, or all three.
What we had, ostensibly for the first time in many years, was a concerted effort to stop blatant discrimination against Italians with the outcry over the Jersey Shore. How people like Maria Laurino and Johnny DeCarlo see that as 'wrong' is beyond me. Perhaps they have had one too many discussions with Tony DiSanto, the 'Italian' at MTV who approved of the Jersey Shore. Or, possibly, they like their Italian American history re-written and filtered by Mike " The Situation" Sorrentino.
Your ancestors were called Guido, Guinea, Wop and Dago to disparage them. These terms should never be trivialized nor should they be mass propagated against Italians in the year 2010. If you fail to have self-respect for your own image, at the very least keep in mind the image and the honor that your ancestors carried here. Please retain, at the very least, some shred of social responsibility towards your own kind.
Lastly, your opinion is in the minority- many members of my group (young and old) are outraged by what is currently going on. Italians were marketed by a major corporation as "Guidos" and Italian traditions and Italian symbols are prevalent throughout the entire show. Do you need a building to fall on you to realize what MTV is doing?
Laurino is correct in
Laurino is correct in pointing out that Italian Americans should start supporting those artists in the community, be they writers, filmmakers, visual artists, etc. who are creating more nuanced images of Italian Americans. And I like that she says "nuanced" instead of "positive," the latter being the term that the anti-defamation crowd uses - as if replacing insipid negative images with insipid positive ones would help us any. But, sadly, I am most moved to thought by this remark of hers: "Just as more and more Italian Americans become assimilated, their ethnic identity is portrayed in a way that actually reflects a very small group of people." Elsewhere, she talks of a 5th generation... which of course makes me think of two things: first, most of the so-called Italian Americans are only such in name or bloodlines, not culture - nothing is uniting most of the millions of Americans of Italian ancestry, because they are so far removed/ethnic-mixed as well from anything Italian American. So, likely, most of them will not be interested in or even understand nuanced images of Italian Americans. Second, however, I think, still there is a core community of people who are much closure to Italy and things Italian American (an immigrant generation, their children, and their unborn grandchildren) that "mainstream" Italian Americans like Laurino seem to overlook. Aren't these people going to be the real consumers of nuanced creative work, not the guy who happens to have a dangling vowel at the end of his name?
exactly right
"they should buy and read books by writers from all ethnic groups who are similarly struggling with these issues. And this includes Italian-American writers. Instead of trying to correct the media by censoring them, we should work towards giving these books and ideas much more widespread circulation."
Exactly right. But this eminently sensible approach won't appeal to the perpetually indignant, ethnocentric loudmouths and bullies who are convinced that "they" only "do this to Italians...they wouldn't dare treat [fill in name of ethnic or social minority] this way." I think this is to a large extent a political question: the perpetually indignant , ethnocentric types tend to be conservatives with zero empathy for other groups. One former director of a major IA organization (OK, THE major IA organization) once told me that blacks and Jews have "harmed us more than we've harmed them, if we've harmed them at all." Not all IAs who criticize unflattering media representations are cut from this cloth, of course. But seems to me that the most aggressive, un-nuanced and politically tone-deaf critiques come from such IAs.
No to censorship, yes to balance
The guido exists and I hope I can bring balance to the colloquium and explain how I am an evolved guido and show that a young Italian-American can have a brain. Maybe then the protests for censorship and boycotts will die down a bit and we can begin to unite. That is, if I am given a fair chance to speak and express myself. I give respect so I am hoping I get it back in return, but I am fully prepared for some tough critics. I plan to do all I can to get the message across that guidoism doesn’t equal extreme egoism or reckless hedonism. It’s unfortunate that a bunch of “activists” think this way and in turn feel the need to belittle all of us as if we all aren’t up to their level of “sophistication.” I will try to bridge that gap on my trip to the institute. The thing is, if a person trying to achieve fame and fortune (like the “Jersey Shore” cast) can’t have a sense of humor and also be self-deprecating at times, you aren’t going to get noticed.
As someone who auditioned for “Jersey Shore,” I was hoping to add some depth (and class) to the house and spin the experience into bigger things within the Italian-American youth community of my peers. The kids who made it were over-the-top (they’ll even admit it), but they are all now spinning their experience into bigger and better things, and fame and fortune is calling them. Buona Fortuna to Pauly D and the rest. As I said in my Op-Ed piece, reality shows like “Shore” are meant to play up the most dramatic and crazy moments—and the “cast members” were encouraged to ham it up for the camera. No one really knows if their lives at home are consumed with what we’ve seen from this small sampling of a few months in a beach house. Let’s be honest, what else other than carefree fun and silliness would occur there? The show profiled hedonistic experiences of guidos, not the entire lifestyle. And within each of those housemate’s worlds, they have their own lives and their own complexities just like every other person. I thought we may have perhaps seen some more of that on the show to balance things out. Maybe then there would be less haters, or it could have at least given more insight on East Coast Italian-American youth ideals. There were a few episodes with genuine family moments but overall, it’s a fact that the shock TV stuff is what brings in the most ratings. As the season panned out, I watched closely to see whether or not redeemable qualities or an evolution occurred for them. We’ll have to see what season two brings on that front.
There are so many complicated aspects of this breed of individuals, and they need to be explored, flaws and all. We need a regular program, mini-series or even a docudrama to bring balance and to display how one can evolve as a guido, highlighting the origins of this popular species from the ‘70s, all the way to present day. We need to explore and detail the actual reasons as to why these certain characteristics and traits of a particular car choice are agreed upon by the majority of the young cugine, along with all the other aspects from speech patterns, wardrobe, music, wine, cigars, coffee, jewelry, cars, food, religion, holiday traditions, and comparisons on such practices and traditions and how they vary from places like Brooklyn to South Philly. We also need profiles on real goomba entertainers past and present (Pat Cooper, Tony Danza, etc.), as well as politicians and athletes. This stuff has really not been explored in detail and I think this would get a huge crossover audience, besides just the target under-30 working class East Coast viewer.
Travolta did an amazing job with his “Tony Manero” role in 1977, but it’s time to dig deeper into the life and update things for 2010. And just as Nik Cohn’s New York Magazine story, “Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night,” led to the creation of “Fever,” hopefully the writing of yours truly can lead to a whole new exploration of this world. More than anything else, I think this would be a unifying step in the right direction for all Americans of Italian descent, from the highest scholar to the average Joe—just as this colloquium will hopefully do.