Music N' More: Italian Stereotypes

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Italian Stereotypes

I honestly can't believe there are stereotypes against Italians. It personally offends me, I'm not Italian, but my stepdad is. And I don't appreciate people thinking bad things about people of Italian ancestry. This post will show some of the "supposed" stereotypes against Italians.

Here are some of the most common ones:

Tolerant of violence
Ignorance
Labor Bosses
Organized crime association
Political corruption

Sometimes Italians will be shown as perpetual foreigners, some of the stereotypical Italian-held jobs include:

Construction workers
Chefs
Peddlers
Plumbers
Any working class job

Other stereotypes include:

Italians being shown as working class thugs
Violent immigrants or Mafiosi

Italian women have been stereotypes against as well.

Overly matriarchal old women
Overly flirtatious exotic women with a taste for Italian made items (i.e. Armani, Prada, Gucci, etc)
A lesser stereotype but one nonetheless is big haired, gum cracking airheaded girlfriend of Mafia soldier

Other stereotypes include:

Overly emotional, overly dramatic
Superstitious
Hot blooded
Aggressive
Obsessed with food
Prone to vengeances over petty things
Males will be shown as being 'Italian Stallions'- muscular, good looking, tall dark and handsome, and major chick magnets.

More common stereotypes include:

Males will be sexually well endowed, but lack skills in the bedroom
Good at seducing women
Claim to be 'cousins' with one another
Claim to have a powerful/wealthy family member looking out for them
Loud tastes in clothing, accessories, etc
Wearing expensive looking jewelry made cheaply
Has the name Michael, Joe, Sal, Tony, etc
All talk and no bite
Braggers
Loud!! And talking too much and not knowing when to shut up!
Making for supposedly cruel and overly demanding bosses

Media Stereotypes

When the HBO show The Sopranos first premiered, it came under fire because it showed Italian memn and women as being part of the mob. It was said to stereotype Italians as being with the mob.
The 2009 show Jersey Shore also came under fire because it showed too many stereotypes and for being a reality show, it puts most Jersey-born people in a bad light, making it seem that all people from Jersey act that way, even though NONE of those people are from Jersey. It showed too many stereotypes, like the flirtatious exotic young women, the dramatic women, the hot blooded young guys, the 'Italian Stallion' good looks- tall, dark and handsome, muscular, good looks, oozing sex appeal.
Films, sometimes American films, often show Italians as being knife wielding, violent sociopathic gangsters or street fighting thugs
When it comes to movies about the Mafia, people if Italian descent almost always end up playing a Jewish-Italian or Irish-Italian mobster, and will strangely possess a heavy New York or New Jersey accent, even if they are not native New Yorkers or New Jersey-ites.
Sometimes movies about the mob glorify mob life. The glorify figures like John 'The Dapper Don' Gotti, and they make him out to be some kind of hero.
There is also a stereotype saying that all Italians look alike, with their dark features, such as brown eyes, dark brown/black hair, big noses, etc

Famous Italian people:
Steven Tyler