Why was “The Sopranos” so successful? Reader Bill Dal Cerro says there’s just one reason: Caricatures of Italian Americans as goons and buffoons were brought from the big screen to the small screen. Readers also weigh in on cycling safety, Art Institute’s hours, Donald Trump and student loan forgiveness,
Columnists everywhere are celebrating the 25th anniversary of “The Sopranos,” the fictional mob series that ran for eight consecutive years on HBO (1999-2007).
But what, exactly, is being celebrated? Was “The Sopranos” truly a groundbreaking work of art? Was it really the greatest TV show in the history of television?
Hype aside, it’s time to keep it real, as the kids say. “The Sopranos” enjoyed its huge success for one main reason: It brought institutionalized caricatures of Italian Americans as goons and buffoons from the big screen (“The Godfather” and “Goodfellas”) to the small screen (TV). That is all.
Period. End of story. Case closed.
Ever wonder how Italian stereotypes became as baked into the American psyche as mom, baseball and apple pie? Hollywood did start the process in 1915 with films like “The Italian,” promoting the idea that Italy was “sending its worst” to America. (Sound familiar?)
But Hollywood wasn’t the crucial defamer. It was, ironically, a brand-new invention: television.
The rise of Italian gangs in major American cities from the 1930s to the 1950s coincided with the televised 1954 Kefauver hearings on organized crime. It was the first original “reality TV” show.
Millions of Americans from coast to coast tuned in daily to watch shady-looking crooks with Italian surnames plead the Fifth Amendment. True drama! To make it worse, movie theaters across the nation broadcast the hearings to millions more who couldn’t yet afford a TV set. Free admission!
Caricaturing Italian Americans has remained entertainment ever since, particularly after “The Godfather” promoted such images as “art” in 1972. Then, in 1999, “The Sopranos” brought the stereotypes back home to TV Land. The vicious circle was completed.
It is worth noting that objective journalists during the 1950s called out such prejudice.
In his 1958 book, “Only in America,” Harry Golden Sr. wrote, “Has anyone in our nation, from the very beginning, had a worse press than the Italians? Their gangsters and bootleggers — no more and no less than other groups — have been splattered across the front pages of newspapers for decades. The Italian American has become the stereotype of the gangster. This is not only unfair but untrue.”
Still unfair. Still untrue. And the lack of cultural progress is nothing to celebrate.
Bill Dal Cerro, senior analyst, Italic Institute of America, Chicago
Cycling safety works both ways
Last Thursday at 7:30 p.m. I checked my driver’s side mirror for cyclists, as there was a bike lane next to my parked vehicle. I saw none, so I pulled away from the curb into traffic. I was promptly passed by a cyclist in the bike lane who hollered obscenities at me.
Excuse me, but if you are going to be riding after dark, and you have lights on your bike, turn them on so people can see you. No one wants to get injured riding his or her bike (myself included). And no one wants to live with having injured someone with his or her vehicle.
Charlie Spence, Edgewater
Firing blanks when it comes to common sense
After two attempted assassinations, one might think Donald Trump and his Republican minions would support common sense gun control laws. That’s their problem: No common sense.
Bob Barth, former Edgewater resident, Atlanta, Georgia
Gift should help Art Institute keep doors open everyday
How wonderful that the Art Institute has received this enormous gift of $75 million from donors eager to build a new modern art wing.
As long-time members of the Art Institute, we can only hope that these funds will also keep the museum open seven days a week instead of the current five.
The Shedd Aquarium is open seven days a week, as are the Adler Planetarium and the Museum of Science and Industry. Why not the Art Institute?
Not on board with student loan forgiveness
Recent newspaper articles have stated that college graduates typically make $1.2 million dollars more earnings over a lifetime career than high school graduates.
I find it very concerning that the Biden administration is promoting such immoral misbehavior, that college graduates not be responsible for repayment of their contracted agreements to their loan investors. Why should disadvantaged fellow taxpayers be burdened with repayment? We are all under the additional burden of inflation and other rising taxes, so we need not feel sorry for special selected groups. Even financial guru Terry Savage promotes little known loan repayment avoidance programs for the now, well educated citizens. Only those who loan can forgive.
Maybe we should all request mortgage forgiveness programs, and really pollute some new American values.
Ronald Hameetman, Fox River Grove
Acting like a schoolyard bully
It’s baffling and scary that so many otherwise reasonable people support a man who, like a schoolyard bully, makes up mocking names for those who oppose him.
How ironic that he calls our vice president “Comrade Kamala,” given his idolization of Vladimir Putin, one of the world’s most evil people.
How could anyone who loves this country want to put such a puerile person back in the White House?
