A while back, a television show came along that we labeled as portraying Italian stereotypes. The show was My Big Friggin' Wedding on VH1- and from what we can tell, the show didn't last too long. However, the "breakout star" of the show was a character called "Johnny Meatballs"- I am not kidding.
The character of Johnny Meatballs is still, in our estimation, the most stereotypical portrayal of an Italian ever.
Johnny Meatballs- The Meatball Song:
Johnny "Meatballs" DeCarlo says that "Italian groups that are holier than thou" (see: ItalianAware, NIAF, UNICO, One-Voice, OSIA) need to acknowledge that "cugines" like Mr. DeCarlo are the real deal- and we have to accept their view of Italian America.
Our problem is not in acknowledging that a distinct Italian American culture exists (we travel to Little Italies often, track down feasts, etc.) Our problem stems from Italians acting according to stereotype on television shows and the web. Very often, these stereotypes are related to how Italians speak (or can't speak) and gesture with their hands.
Johnny Meatballs Teaches Italian:
Johnny Meatballs also goes on to explain (video above) Italian slang to non-speakers. Admittedly, in my Bensonhurst neighborhood growing up, I heard the words "pro-shoot, (prosciutto)" and "gabagool" (capicola). I also grew up hearing the words "ain't," "specific ocean," and "It-ly" (instead of Italy). Just because I grew up with it does not mean its the proper way to pronounce the word or to speak the language.
And that is where the problem begins: "cugines" like Johnny Meatballs ignore the fact that not enough is done to advance proper Italian language, history or culture. People like Johnny Meatballs take it upon themselves - on national television- to show the world their interpretation of what it means to be Italian. This is dangerous, because it replaces actual Italian culture and language with media driven images and concepts. Such concepts are almost always stereotype laden.
Johnny Meatballs Teaches English:
In sum, Johnny Meatballs (from what we've viewed) seems to be an affable man- we hold no grudges. However, his vision of what is Italian is a bit disturbing. Perhaps he needs to acknowledge that there is a world beyond New Jersey, where Italian Americans are eager to take back their culture and end all of the useless stereotypes- many of which are on full display in his videos.
ItalianAware-Home
Its funny that you failed to mention Johnny is a living father, business man, very much involved in charity work and so on and so on. Thanks for getting Johnny's youtube views up! No press is bad press!
ReplyDeleteWe're pretty sure we stated above that Johnny appears to be an "affable" man. Affable is not an insult- its actually a compliment.
DeleteThat being said, we're certain that 1) We'd enjoy a cup of coffee with him; 2) We'd actually agree more than we disagreed and 3) He's a great father and husband.
However, that all has little relevance on the subject of the article. If you'd like to discuss this further, feel free to email us any time.
I rather not e-mail however I know the meaning of "affable" thank you, but that is not even scratching the surface when describing Mr. "Meatballs". You can not disagree that Italian Americans no matter if they are in NJ or California have the same values that JM explains. We all share family and food and values. So what if he says cawfee, or tawk, who really cares?? There is so much more going on in this world that should be adressed but your singling out some guy on a reality show! If you took the time to study JM more in depth you should commend him on his award from ITALY! I took this from his facebook "University of Gastronomic Studies came and did an entire study on my family and my business and gave me an award for my contributions to the heritage!" BRAVO! My hat is off to such a young man who is building a business for himself, is busy with a wife and kids, but he still takes time out to help people from his roots!
DeleteInstead of writing something on him why not contact him and do a Q&A maybe you can both learn something from each other.
as an Italian-American whose 4 Grandparents were born in Italy and Sicily and moved here in the early years of the last century, as one who was born in NYC's Staten Island..I have to say that Italian Culture, is not my culture..Italian-American is, see, for everyone here who was born to American parents in American towns and cities, our culture..it American. I am very involved with preserving and learning and teaching the traditions that my Grandparents and the other immigrants brought with them but I live under the U.S. flag, not the Italian flag...Italian-American culture is a hybrid of what our families brought here, redeveloped thru assimilation and availability...I'm fiercely proud of that "heritage"..but the culture of ITaly, the country is not mine..i'm not a citizen of that country..i always say..Italy and the U.S. go to war...what side am I fighting on? The world Johnny depicts is the world of countless Italian-Americans...we put Spaghetti and Meatballs on the same plate...this is not/never done in Italy. The language patterns many Italian-Americans keep up with (like calamadd instead of calamare) are deeper than what is the proper Italian...that you can learn from a Rosetta Stone CD...what we are doing is connecting us with every single family memory, esp. of our departed relatives who used these dialect words from Southern Italy and added the American inflections...it's a connection..it's as important as knowing what the proper conjugations of verbs are in proper Italian...our Italian ancestors spoke the dialects of their isolated regions, that language pattern you seem to find offensive is as deeply rooted as who makes the best pizza or Sunday sauce and meatballs. To say that Michaelangelo's Italy is the same as a 2d Generation or 3d generations Italy is false...my grandparents and all the other millions of Italians who immigrated in those years of mass movement left a very poor, sorry, hard way of life Italy...an impoverished land where only the rich lived well and the rest suffered..that's real Italian history, not just glorifying the achievements of the Renaissance. When I went to Italy, my maternal grandmother said (she left Naples at 21) , "You will go and find out why I left and never went back"...and honest sentiment about Southern Italy in 1920. These people left their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, to come to America because life there was too hard. So, in Johnny's many ways of promoting the Italian-American culture, remember, he's promoting a piece of himself, a piece of that part of the Italian-American experience which is very different and distinct, although related from the culture of today's Italy and Italy in general. There's room enough out there for both heritages.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, we disagree. Our main belief at ItalianAware is that Italian American culture is an extension of Italian culture - it is not a separate and distinct culture.
DeleteNo one is discussing allegiances or patriotism. We're discussing culture/traditions and customs. Mexican Americans, Polish Americans and Italian Americans are all Americans and should be patriotic to America. However, they all come from different cultures and customs.
For you to argue that your culture comes from America is misguided. All of your traditions had their start in what you call "impoverished" Italy. Italian Americans took what they knew from the motherland and put their own spin on it- they did not create a completely different culture. Spaghetti and Meatballs may be Italian American- but Spaghetti is an Italian thing...along with meatballs.
Make no mistake- Italian American culture is real, and we've praised it. All of our travels to Little Italies are in search if the Italian American experience. However, it is dangerous to the Italian community at large for people to claim that Italian American culture is not Italian culture. That distinction allows for stereotypes to continue and allows Italian culture, language and traditions to erode. In fact, it allows the entire sense of a "community" to erode.
So, what we are saying is this: if you're going to be a proud Italian American, then you have to take pride in both the Italian and American. The "American" is all the traditions the immigrants established here. The "Italian" is everything that Italy offered and continues to offer by way of language, culture and traditions. You cannot simply praise/practice the American to the exclusion of the Italian. That is where our biggest gripe comes in.
If you are going to hyphenate your name as Italian-American, then we kindly ask that you remember the "Italian" in things as well.Italy is where it all started- and Italy gave birth to Italian America.
Well said, ItalianAware!!!!!
DeleteIt seems JM is just a shameless self promoter, regardless of his ethnicity. My personal opinion is that he should remove the "Italian" from his self imposed label and just call himself an American. JM's behavior is pure silliness that it shouldn't offend most folks. The real shame with individuals acting and behaving like JM is that most Italian Americans would never act and behave like him - we hope Americans do not think all Italian Americans are represented by JM's media and fame driven attitude!
ReplyDeleteThanks for highlighting this important topic.
apparently you missed the entire point of my comment...and, you must be blind when you walk down a street in Brooklyn, or in all the Little Italies of both Canada and the United States, i've been to most, if not all of them. And I've been to Italy 7 times..but the Jersey Shore type exists in large numbers, I just rode a plane and talked with one of the MobWives...that's a real living breathing whether you disagree with her behavior or not of a particular type of Italian-American living in Staten Island, and that "stereotype" is not a stereotype..it is the way a particular segment of the Italian-American population lives, talks, acts..and they exist in Chicago, St.Louis, Omaha, Seattle, Vancouver, and Toronto just to name a few...Gotti kid hair cuts, cut off shirts, tatts of Rosaries and the the Italian flag, gold horns and diamond rings..tough talk, fuggedabotits galore...how can you say that this doesn't exist? and really, again, i'll go back to the original...you and I are not Italian we are Americans of Italian descent, and Italian is someone who was born in Italy or is a citizen of that nation and in no way does that mean I'm denying my heritage, but i am and always will be a citizen of America, ie: an American. It's clear as day when you visit there...every single immigrant ethnic group has the same type of sub groups within the group. I'm not afraid to say that the group which you seem to be trying say really doesn't exist does...gonna tell me there was /is no Mafia too? I can tell you growing up in Staten Island we would be invited to friends' houses to "shop"..racks and racks of furs, jewelry, furniture, stereos...hello...Goodfellas culture exists and still does in the Italian-American community...the Sopranos is no lie..BUT, and I repeat, BUT, anyone who thinks that a group within any group is representative of the group as a whole is not thinking or has a built in prejudice towards that group anyway. In my non-Italian family, and extended family i've been asked things like how was the family with the mixed marriage...they are irish and german (descent)...i don't feel the need to either hide that side of our heritage...it's not who I am, and btw, i'm not lumping Johnny into the group of schievosi that shakedown and steal on a daily basis, but I am saying that his Italian culture/traditions are based in those that came from his grandparents and the location he lives in, like mine do...i'm very comfortable with people who are talking like a "stereotyped" Italian from NY or NJ, why? because that's how many of us talk..because you think I should speak perfect Italian (which I do by the way)when I'm saying " Iu vogliu un'sangweege a'Gabagool, Murtdadell, Pruvulunn' " I'm connecting with my Italian heritage and sentiments...if I were to say " Io voglio un panino del capicola, Mortadella, e Provolone" i'm lying..i'm denying my heritage...if I were traveling thru Italy..I use proper Italian because that's what's spoken..but within my American world, I'm going to be real and not kick 100 years since my grandparents came here under the table because a group of people out there want to whitewash Italians into being one unified culture...not so...i applaud your efforts to promote facets of Italian or Italian-American culture, it's commendable, but not at the expense of denying the existence of those subgroups within the culture that have their good points, bad points and all points in between.
ReplyDeleteWe believe you made our point with your own words above:
Delete"BUT, and I repeat, BUT, anyone who thinks that a group within any group is representative of the group as a whole is not thinking or has a built in prejudice towards that group anyway"
The fact is- a large segment of the population believes that Italians are uneducated, buffoonish, or gangsters. That is unacceptable. (Order Sons of Italy in America Report: 74% of people polled believe all Italians have some connection to the Mafia)
Where did this perception come from? Did it come from people taking too many history classes on the Roman Empire & the Renaissance- or did it come from Italians being portrayed as uneducated gangsters? The media drives how the public views us- and the view the public has of us is not at all flattering. To blame is every negative, stereotype laden image of an Italian splashed across our television screens- starting with the usual suspects (Sopranos, Mob Wives, Jersey Shore, RHNJ, etc)
Being a member of any ethnic group carries with it a responsibility of portraying your group in the best light possible. In a perfect world, people wouldn't judge groups. However, people judge others all the time- and expect ethnic groups to act according to stereotype. Some Italian stereotypes? Violence, Womanizing, Uneducated, Mafia- just to name a few.
ItalianAware aims to protect the Italian identity from these stereotypes. When a public figure (like Johnny Meatballs) decides to act according to stereotypes on national television, other groups look on and say "typical Italian behavior." The fact is, it is not typical Italian behavior. Unfortunately, true Italian culture, heritage and language have come to a point where they need to be preserved- and that is why our organization exists.
People like Mob Wives, RHNJ, the Sopranos, Jersey Shore do exist. However, we would not classify them as a sub-group of Italians. A sub group would be a statistically significant portion of the population. Of roughly 15 million Italian Americans in the 2000 census, 1,150 of them were in jail. That's .0078% of the Italian population. That is not enough to consider gangster as a sub group of Italians. Moreover, of the 15 million Italians in America, I highly doubt that a considerable amount of them act like the buffoons on Jersey Shore, Mob Wives or RHNJ. What you are seeing is a media creation of what it means to be Italian- you are not viewing the actual Italian community or any subset thereof. You are viewing a few people who have hijacked the Italian image and identity.
PS--> You wrote above, " and that "stereotype" is not a stereotype..it is the way a particular segment of the Italian-American population lives, talks, acts"
When a small, statistically irrelevant group or action is used to portray or exhibit the community as a whole, that is called "stereotyping." The same way .0078% of Italian America is "criminal", we assure you a similarly small percentage behaves according to how Jersey Shore and Mob Wives tells us Italians act. However, despite these small numbers, Italians will always be stereotyped as "criminal"/ gangsters and cafoni- because a miniscule segment of our population is being used to paint us all in an unflattering shade.
Well said! Afoodobsession can't make a coherent argument, it seems he's simply posting nonsense rambling.
Deleteafoodobsession,
ReplyDeleteIt's commendable to see you offer pop sociological insights on Italian Americans and specifically JM. In our humble view, you're simply making observations through your subjective lens and experience.
Americans who have Italian heritage should aim to accurately preserve the traditions and culture that their family members brought to the United States during their specific immigration period. Preserving the traditions of your, once, Italian family members ensures that your family accurately understand the Italian in your Italian American label and also helps non Italian Americans understand a European tradition in America.
Justifying or accepting the goings on, behavior, and lifestyle of a shameless self promoter like JM is adding to the sterotype and reality, as you try and argue, already in place in the United States. We know many Italians, of the second, third, and fourth generations, and all of them do not act or represent the Italian American tradition in the way Mr. JM does. Our advice to JM: tone down the act.
Oh I could tell you stories about my Italian American family that would make the you cry, starting with my great uncle the boot legger between Detroit and Canada. In Detroit, there are over two pages of LAFATAs listed in the yellow pages, my family name. I grew up thinking that "backhousa" was actually Italian for "the bathroom." We ate Sunday dinner at my great Aunt's in her basement and it always included spaghetti, meatballs, chicken and pork, all in the sauce. All Italian women and families that I knew in Michigan had a second kitchen in the basement and used that to cook primarily. NO ONE ever sat in the living room which had flocked wall paper and plastic covers on the fancy furniture. Are we any less "Italian?"
ReplyDeleteQuite the contrary- we believe you to be authentically Italian. Our issue arises when people completely substitute Italian culture with Italian American culture. Italian American culture is rich and vibrant - and we travel to Little Italies across America to document the Italian American experience. However, Italian American culture is not a separate/distinct culture from Italian culture- it is an extension of Italian culture.
DeleteItalian immigrants came here and put their own "spin" on Italian. We love that- and some of our warmest memories are of that. However, as we stated above, if you're going to be a proud Italian American, then you have to take pride in both the Italian and American. The "American" is all the traditions the immigrants established here. The "Italian" is everything that Italy offered and continues to offer by way of language, culture and traditions. You cannot simply praise/practice the American to the exclusion of the Italian.
We need a unified Italian community that recognizes its Italian history- and not solely its American history. If we focus only on the American aspect of our history then we will surely lose all aspects of our Italian identity. The beginnings of this lost heritage can be seen in 1) the diminishing of Italian language courses in junior high school and high schools across America; 2) the constant attacks on Columbus Day and 3)the loss of Italian language among people of Italian descent.
A unified Italian community could readily combat these problems. The fact that people want to claim they belong to a "sub-group" of Italian only draws lines and causes in-fighting amongst Italians. Italian American is an extension of being Italian- it is not its own separate culture.