The HBO series "The Sopranos" is an ongoing slaughter to the Italian-American cultural heritage which continues to be aired with such impunity, and worse yet, endorsement by a large majority of very uninformed second and third generation Italian Americans who fail to detect the profound negative racial profiling this TV series is administering to our communities on a weekly basis.
The stereotyping of the Italian-American character portrayed by this
series is polluting the American TV audience with an historically false
perspective of the role played by one of the noblest, hard working,
courageous and creative European lineage that has ever set foot in this
land.
The Italian-American community should not be punished for the
transgressions perpetrated by a few members of organized crime. Contrary
to HBO, we are not the descendents of Toni Soprano, nor we wish to
identify with his wrongdoings.
We are first and foremost part of a dynamic ethnical group whose
heritage is marked by the triumph of the arts and craftsmanship,
politics and jurisprudence, the uniqueness of style, and humanitarian
compassion. It is revolting to have our children exposed to a plethora
of negative connotations, and arbitrary "italianized" foul variation of
the English language.
Laden with biased racial innuendos aimed at associating Italians in
America with loathsome murderers, the show has created a phenomenon that
goes beyond the scope of sheer entertainment, reaching out to a large
group of uninformed teenagers through a website that proposes further
humiliations and criminal insinuations, including a “glossary” of sounds
and criminal technical jargon presumably uttered by Italian-American subjects.
"The Sopranos" is not a motion picture but a mini-series which in time
has generated an enormous popularity among the American public, being
broadcast during prime time and targeted not at a specific viewership
but rather to the largest slice of the viewing public. It is mind-boggling that this abominable show is now a mainstay of "family entertainment".
The most offensive aspect, at production value, in "The Sopranos" is the
way in which its producers have initiated a casting call in New Jersey
for "Sopranos look-alike", where professional actors were summoned
amidst everyday people, of all ages and station in life.
This in turn has caused an actual physiological map of the "Italian
character" that among the show's followers is constituted by a pot belly,
thick eyebrows, short or stout physique, vociferous, loud and violent
demeanor, a loud attire sporting gold chains around the neck, often accompanied by broken English connoting an affinity with low class, uneducated
Caucasian flotsam.
This stereotype is now being sought after by the younger generations as
their newly formed idea - and sometimes role model - of the word
"Italian" and/or "Italian-American".
HBO’s “The Sopranos” is a vile media attack on our heritage and should
not continue to be ignored, condoned, or justified behind the lame
excuse, and pretext, of freedom of expression.
Stefano Maria Baratti
Maso Di Banco
Tiziana Bellusci
