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Who is writing the real stories of Italian American life?

Amidst the uproar generated by the latest controversy over Italian American stereotypes in the media, one of the most disturbing aspects of this issue is being overlooked. Sadly, the many authentic voices depicting Italian Americans are going unheard. The Italian American stories that do get the most attention are fakes, and this cultural fraud is being prolonged because it makes a lot of money for a lot of powerful people in both Hollywood and New York.

That many of the stories of Italian American life are often told in the mass media by non-Italians is cause for deep concern in the Italian American community, and I think this is perhaps the element that is implicitly most distressing to us. Consider the broad appeal of popular entertainment such as "Moonstruck," "Saturday Night Fever," "Grease," and, of course, "The Sopranos" - to my knowledge, these scripts were not penned by Italian Americans. (A notable exception is Sylvester Stallone's Rocky movies although the Italian American cultural background is negligible.)

As Richard Gambino has written in "The Crisis of Italian American Identity," when mainstream society holds dominant myths about a subculture, that group's self-understanding is distorted to the extent of the strength of those artificial cultural myths. The mafia myth seems ineradicable, and it so powerful that it distorts Italian Americans view of themselves. This is reflected by the degree of popularity of Francis Coppola's Godfather films as well as the books by Mario Puzo among many Italian Americans as well as the larger society as a whole. However, one could create a related category: entertainment masquerading as genuine art for the purpose of making a profit but acceptable to most Italian Americans because many of us, like many Americans in general, may secretly admire the outlaw, especially if he/she is at the same time recognizably

one of us.

Consequently, the Italian American community must become more assertive about telling their own real stories and more openly supportive of those who do, in particular novelists and filmmakers since they have the most widespread influence. Why has this support been lacking in the past? Why has it grown weaker as Italian Americans in general have become more prosperous and well educated?

Why hasn't the Italian American community - especially the legions of college educated professionals and intellectuals - lent more of their support to the first

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