Word: italianity
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...Italian police have identified Massimo Tartaglia, 42, as the alleged attacker. Tartaglia's father told Italy's Sky News 24 that his son had a long history of mental illness and was not a political activist. Still, one could hardly describe the act as "isolated." The political climate in the country is edgier than ever, and Berlusconi's love-him-or-hate-him effect on the electorate has only grown stronger over the past eight months in the wake of a sex scandal and renewed legal battles. Last month, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni demanded that Facebook disable a user page...
Tricarico traces the mainstreaming of the term Guido to what he frames as a "moral panic" racing through the media in relation to a 1989 racial incident in the predominantly Italian neighborhood of Bensonhurst in Brooklyn. But he pinpoints the real birth of the Guido subculture to the 1970s. If the movement has any guiding icon, it's young John Travolta and his many incarnations: Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever, Vinnie Barbarino in Welcome Back, Kotter and Danny Zuko in Grease. Today, there are message boards for self-described Guidos and Guidettes to chatter (www.njguido.com...
...Guido' has become the name of a lifestyle," says Fred Gardaphè, Distinguised Professor of Italian American Studies at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute at Queens College. "Guido itself is not a derogatory name." He explains its origins from a stereotype: "It's a real handsome, uneducated kid who gets by on his charm and his looks and doesn't really have much going for him." But, says Gardaphè, the wave of negative response to Jersey Shore come from what he calls "irony deficiency" in the Italian-American community. These peacocking kids, he says, come from...
...major key to Italian-American culture is something called 'bella figura,'" says Gardaphè. "It basically means, to put on a show so people don't know the real you. If you're poor, you make them think you're rich. If you're rich, you make them think you're poor." For an immigrant people emerging from a history of foreign conquerors and a lack of a nation-state (till 1870), says Gardaphè, "It's all about protection...
...could be the character-types who populate Jersey Shore who may be aggravating the offense many Italian-American take at the show's use of the G word. For example,a similar controversy arose over portrayals of Italian-Americans with The Sopranos. But while many were assuaged because they felt HBO's award-winning series was artful, they see Jersey Shore as just ugly. Says Gina Barreca, an English professor at the University of Connecticut who edited a collection of essays called A Sitdown with The Sopranos: Watching Italian American Culture on T.V.'s Most Talked About Series: "The Sopranos...