Stereotypes of Italian Americans in Film and Television

Italian Americans  may be European in ancestry, but they were not always treated as white in the United States, as the pervasive stereotypes about them demonstrate. Not only did Italian immigrants to America face employment discrimination in their adopted homeland, but they also faced violence by whites who viewed them as â€Å"different.† Because of their once marginalized status in this country, ethnic stereotypes of Italians persist in film and television. On the big and small screen, alike, Italian Americans are all too often portrayed as mobsters, thugs and peasants hawking spaghetti sauce. While Italian Americans have made great strides in U.S. society, their characterization in popular culture remains stereotypical and troublesome. Mobsters Fewer than .0025 percent of Italian Americans are involved in organized crime, according to the  Italian American News website. But one would be hard-pressed to know that from watching Hollywood television shows and movies, where just about every Italian family has mob ties. In addition to films such as â€Å"The Godfather,† â€Å"Goodfellas,† â€Å"Casino† and â€Å"Donnie Brasco,† television shows such as  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Sopranos,† â€Å"Growing Up Gotti† and â€Å"Mob Wives† have perpetuated the idea that Italian Americans and organized crime go hand-in-hand. While many of these films and shows  have won critical praise, they do little to complicate the image Italian Americans have in popular culture. Food-Making  Peasants Italian cuisine is among the most popular in the United States. Accordingly, a number of television commercials depict Italians and Italian  Americans flipping pizzas, stirring tomato sauce and squashing grapes. In many of these commercials, Italian Americans are portrayed as heavily accented, robust peasants. The Italian American News website describes how a Ragu commercial features â€Å"several elderly, overweight Italian American women in housedresses [who] are so delighted with Ragu’s meat sauce that they turn somersaults and play leapfrog in a meadow.† An undue amount of food ads portray Italian women as â€Å"elderly, overweight housewives and grandmothers wearing black dresses, housecoats or aprons,† the site reports. â€Å"Jersey Shore† When MTV reality series â€Å"Jersey Shore† debuted, it became a pop culture sensation. Viewers of all ages and ethnic backgrounds faithfully tuned in to watch the group of mostly Italian American friends hit the bar scene, work out at the gym, tan and do laundry. But  prominent Italian-Americans protested  that the bouffant-haired stars of the show—self-described Guidos and Guidettes—were spreading  negative stereotypes about Italians. Joy Behar,  co-host of ABC’s â€Å"The View,† said that â€Å"Jersey Shore† did not represent her culture. â€Å"I do have a master’s degree, so a person like me is rather annoyed with a show like that because I went to college, you know, to better myself, and then these idiots come out and make Italians look bad,† she said. â€Å"It’s awful. They should go to Firenze and Rome and Milano and see what Italians really did in this world. It’s irritating.† Bigoted Thugs Anyone familiar with Spike Lee’s films knows that he has persistently depicted Italian Americans as dangerous, racist thugs from New York City’s working class. Italian Americans such as these can be found in a number of Spike Lee films, most notably â€Å"Jungle Fever,† â€Å"Do The Right Thing† and â€Å"Summer of Sam.† When Lee criticized Django Unchained  director Quentin Tarantino for turning slavery into a spaghetti Western,  Italian groups called him a hypocrite because of the thread of anti-Italian bias that runs through his films, they said. â€Å"When it comes to Italian Americans, Spike Lee has never done the right thing,† said Andre DiMino, president of the Italian American One Voice Coalition. â€Å"One wonders if Spike Lee is indeed a racist who hates Italians and why he harbors a grudge.† One Voice voted Lee into its Hall of Shame because of his portrayals of Italian Americans. In particular, the group criticized â€Å"Summer of Sam† because the movie â€Å"descends into a panoply of negative character portrayals, with Italian Americans as mobsters, drug dealers, drug addicts, racists, deviants, buffoons, bimbos, and sex-crazed fiends.†

Disaster Preparedness Is A Homeland Security Program...

Disaster Preparedness Randy Fay is a Homeland Security Program Manager for Snohomish County Emergency Management (R. Fay, personal communication, June 20, 2016). In this role he coordinates the needs of whole populations with a specific focus on vulnerable populations in disasters. Also, this role assures appropriate supplies are delivered to responders. Randy is also the crew chief of the Snohomish County Search and Rescue Helicopter Rescue Team (R. Fay, personal communication, June 20, 2016). In fact, on March 22, 2014 Randy and others were out on a training mission in the helicopter when a mudslide struck Oso, Washington. The helicopter was on scene within minutes, and Randy personally rescued some of the 14 survivors of the slide (R. Fay, personal communication, June 20, 2016). Randy knows disaster planning and response well. He spent many weeks in the Oso disaster command structure, and many months after preparing paperwork for proper reimbursement from the government. Top Three Disasters According to Grand Canyon University (2011), disaster preparation can be a high stress activity. One reason for this is the fact that there are many disasters to take into consideration during planning. Some disasters are unique to geographic areas, such as hurricanes, and tornadoes. Yet, other disasters occur regardless of geography such as fires, or pandemic outbreaks (Grand Canyon University, 2011). According to Mr. Fay, the number one disaster that local planners take

Life of Picasso Persuasive Essay Example For Students

Life of Picasso Persuasive Essay On October 25, 1881 Maria Picasso Lopez gave birth to a son. Little did she know that that child was an artist. Picasso himself once said every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. So the question is, was Picasso right, was he an artist from birth or did the way in which he lived make him the artist that he became? Pablo Picassos father, Jose Ruiz Blasco, was an artist and a teacher at San Telmo school of arts and industrial design in Malaga, Spain where Pablo was born. As a child Picasso would draw amazing pictures without looking at is paper and without lifting his pen. As a young adult his fathers position in the world of art helped Picasso make progress with his art. With his fathers guidance Picasso was able to make his debut as an artist at age fourteen and was admitted to the La Jonja academy in Barcelona, where his father taught, when he was 16. Picasso became a member of a group of bohemian artists during his years at the academy. In this group he met other young artists who introduced him to current styles of painting. During this time Picasso was excepted to the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. Pablo did not stay at the Royal Academy for long and soon was off in the world working as an artist. He continued to win prizes for his art. Then in 1900 he took his first trip to Paris and returned to Barcelona a year later. Around 1903 Pablo entered his blue period and started signing his paintings simply Picasso leaving behind the use of his entire name on his paintings. In 1905 Picasso moved to Paris and ended his blue period. In 1906 Picasso entered what is known as his rose period and began doing his earliest known sculptures and engravings. In 1909 Picasso began the style known as Cubism with his work Les Demoiselles dAvignon and created his first clearly Cubist landscape in 1911. In 1918 Picasso married Olga Koklova and moved to Rue La Boetie in Paris and when his son, Paul, was born Picasso created many mother-son paintings. However, the marriage was a shaky one and in 1935 Picasso and Olga separate for the last time. Around this time Picasso has a daughter with a women named Marie-Therese Walter who had become a regular model in his works. In 1947 nearly ten years after the outbreak of WWII and eight ears after the death of his mother Picassos second son, Claude, was born and only two years later Paloma was born. Picasso continued to work up until his death in 1973 at the age of 92. For his eighty-fifth birthday he was commemorated with three simultaneous exhibitions in Paris. In the years before he died Pablo created over 500 pieces, completing 347 etchings created in and eight month period. He also showed 140 of his canvases at the Palace of the Popes in Avignon before donating 2,000 of his early oil paintings and drawings to the Picasso museum. A final commemoration and one of the highest honors ever bestowed upon a living artist came as celebration for his 90th birthday. Picassos works were exhibited in the Grande Galerie of the Louvre. Pablo died in his Villa in Mougins. Many of Picassos paintings are recongnisable even to those of us unfimliar with many specific artists. But no painting style is more connected to an artist than Cubism is to Pablo Picasso, although, Picassos style went through many transformations. He began creating art as a young boy sketching and painting

What I Learned this Semester Essay Example

What I Learned this Semester Essay I did not know it before but I learned in myself that I am capable of changing myself for the good, or for the improvement of my outlook in life. For so long I was stuck to my old beliefs which concerned most of my daily dealings. Whenever I get to encounter certain situations, I make a point that my decisions and actions would have to abide by my earlier decisions and actions. It was perhaps the one thing which kept me away from refining myself precisely because I was hindering myself from fitting into a new and better mold, so to speak.The times are changing, as the classic saying goes, and therefore people should adapt themselves in these changing times to better improve the self at the least and to survive at the most.   I did not fully understand before that I can change myself if only I was attentive enough to the signs of the times and diligent enough to do my share. Knowing more about myself will help me in at least two ways. First, I will be more acquainted with what I am capable of doing and what I am not capable of doing. Second, with the knowledge of my limitations and capabilities, I can be able to realign myself accordingly by focusing more on the potentials and giving just the right amount of attention on my limitations so that I can be guided in my quest for a better life ahead of me.However, there are many things in my life which restrain from me from being able to perform my absolute best in the classroom. As I have mentioned before, I knew very little about my capacities and limitations in earlier times, thereby giving me a huge roadblock in front. During those times, I was not fully aware of what I can do, and thus when the opportunity knocks before me, prompting me to do something useful and purposive, I was not able to rise up to the occasion and meet the challenge. Today, the task to improve and to be more motivated is a significant necessity simply because the improvement and motivation of myself would very well enable me to participat e more actively in the classroom. I can at least try to open myself to the tasks that must be done so that I can be more motivated in classroom activities. One example to these methods is to make a close list of the current and future classroom activities so that I can have a listing that will guide me on what to expect in the coming days. By having a guide, I can be able to prepare for the upcoming classroom events and prove my worth not only to the class but also to myself.In this class, I have learned that individual potentials greatly vary among the students and that each potential can be unique and, hence, can serve the purpose of giving the student the chance to do well in school assuming that the student makes full use of his or her realized potentials.The strengths quest activity has helped me develop and maintain relationships with others by enabling me to find strength in others thereby sustaining my inner strength not only in terms of the physical sense but, more importan tly, in terms of the mental strength. By engaging in a strengths quest activity, I was able to ideate my inner thoughts into actual possibilities by effectively communicating myself to others. In the larger society, communication is vital to any business and would aid me or any other person in being able to express or present my technical knowledge and capabilities to others. Blocking communications is considered to be destructive in relationships (Gray, p. 95). Strengths quest can also reinforce my capacity to obtain new ideas from my immediate surroundings which shapes my awareness into being well-rounded. By correlating my self through communication with my immediate surroundings, which includes the people I have a direct and indirect relationship with, they will provide insight into the feeling of others which allows a comfortable and a more productive learning environment.There are changes I can make in order to be able to improve the relationships in my life and that there, to o, are things which I can retain and build on so that I can continue having a harmonious relationship with others. I can retain my traits of having an open mind to the suggestions of other people and of being critical about the things that happen around me. More importantly, I can change my unwanted habits or traits which can impede me from realizing a better relationship with others.I have learned that my qualities of having an open and critical mind can greatly aid me in my future career. I believe that most careers require a certain amount of open mindedness and a critical mind in order to function well according to one’s tasks. Without having an open mind, I may suffer from being numb about the suggestion of my co-workers. Without having a critical mind, I may also suffer from losing my convictions quite easily. I also believe that there should be a balance between my critical and open mindedness. That is to say that while maintaining an open mind for changes, I should no t compromise my convictions in life which I have greatly gained much beneficial experiences and values. A proper consideration for both aspects should still be my greatest weapon in times where change is inevitable. These things will efficiently and effectively prepare me in my future.One instance during this semester where the knowledge I have gained in class strengths affected the way I approached a situation is the instance when I needed to engage with others in terms of interviewing them for the purpose of obtaining a differing view. I was cautious enough to consider their positions which some conflicted with the ones I hold so that I can be able to get their convictions without bias and prejudice on my position. I used my open and critical mind in carefully ‘extracting’ the ideas of others and suffusing them into my own.

III Rape

III Rape is a crime of violence, not of passion, rooted in cultural norms. Many men tend to view women as sex objects, often subjecting them to sexual harassment in the work place and elsewhere. The statement above can be portrayed in many different ways and it is really hard to distinguish whether this is a(n) valid or invalid statement. Depending on the way you view it, it can mean many different things. A man and womens perspective on this issue would obviously differ due to the fact that the statement is a burden to the reputation of all men. Some men may take offense to this statement therefore disagreeing with the statement. While with women, since they are the main victims of rape who agree whole From a guys point of view I agree with the statement to an extent. I believe the men who do commit these crimes have this mentality about them. Of course there are going to be exceptions to everything where a particular man is looking for some sort of relationship with a women and may be confused. This is no excuse to commit the crime, but the impulse a man has to need a women may cause him to do something he may not normally do or in some cases he may just be nuts. This statement can really just be thrown up in the air because there are just so many different issues to be touched on it would not be a possibility to just close out this argument, it can only be based on opinion. All human beings have different mentalities and personalities so therefore it cannot be said that all men think the same or that all women think the same for that matter.

The Smartest Girls on the Screen †Most Educated Female Characters

The Smartest Girls on the Screen – Most Educated Female Characters This one should be about famous and smart female movie characters. For example, the Poison Ivy from the Batman movie, who was a scientistAdvertising We will write a custom article sample on The Smartest Girls on the Screen – Most Educated Female Characters specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is such a pleasure to see a smart woman on screen, even if she is a totally imaginary character. It strikes a blow against painful and damaging stereotypes, and wakes up the audience to new possibilities. If she happens to be strong and decisive, all the better. There have been great female brains for decades, if you know where to look. The wonderful Katherine Hepburn was sharp as a letter opener in in Desk Set, a 1957 film with Spencer Tracy . She plays Bunny Watson, an information operator for a huge TV station. This job description is a sort of combination of Siri from the iPhone with access to Google, and a fabulous figure besides. She answers any and all sorts of questions from the other staff at the station, keeping the reporters and talking heads from making utter fools of themselves. Spencer Tracy plays an efficiency expert consultant who tries to install a computer in this entirely female-staffed department of brainy youngish women. As you might expect, he and the computer are both vanquished by love and the cleverness of Hepburn. Hepburn, in the 1949 film, Adam’s Rib, had played a lady lawyer opposing her husband in a case of a woman shooting her husband, so embodying someone smart, assertive, and highly competent was not a new sort of role for her. Tracy was her opposite number in this earlier flim, and they were joined by a wonderful comedienne, Judy Holliday. A year later, in 1959, Holliday created a territific and paradoxical smart girl role in Born Yesterday. She played the uneducated quintessentially blonde girlfriend of a self-made magnate, tutored by a handsome young professor type – Wi lliam Holden. Over the course of the movie, she learns to read and think critically and analytically. She comes into her own intellectually, and ends up showing just how smart she actually is. Needless to say, William Holden is enchanted by her, and her boorish boyfriend is kicked to the curb. More recently, consider the smartest witch at Hogwarts – Hermione Granger. She gets her male classmates out of trouble every few minutes. The Harry Potter films would be pretty one dimensional without her magical and emotional insights.Advertising Looking for article on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Consider also Sigourney Weaver’s wonderfully resourceful character, Ellen Ripley, in the Aliens series. This gal figures out how to defend herself against a swiftly evolving super-predator. In the later film, she defends her young companion as well. Weaver also portrayed a wonderfully bright woman in Avatar. Dr. Grace Augustine is the ultimate anthropologist. She immerses herself in the culture of Pandora, and ultimately becomes part of its wisdom, as the roots of the local tree life form surround her body and communicate with and through her. Of course, smart women don’t have to be blue, half-naked, or dripping alien mucous in order to be effective. In Brewster’s Millions, Lonette McKee demonstrates a woman’s total mastery of numbers. Dana Scully, of X-Files fame, is another smarty-pants woman. As a scientist, she maintains the skepticism needed to counterbalance Fox’s credulousness about things that go bump in the night. How she manages to deal with the paranormal, crypto species, and spontaneous combustion without disarranging that gorgeous red hair is a mystery in itself. Other brilliant film scientists who happen to be women include Indiana Jones’ former lover and archeological equal, Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark. She is ma tched by a similarly brilliant Nazi scientist with strong feelings for both Dr. Jones senior and junior Elsa Schneider. In The Last Crusade, Elsa turns out to be a baddie, but she meets her end by following the Holy Grail into the depths of the earth literally. James Bond even encountered another scientist misguided into putting her intelligence to work for evil. Holly Goodhead in Moonraker is in the employ of the nefarious Drax. She is literally a lady rocket scientist. Such brilliant females on the side of wrong, however unintentionally, are rare but not vanishingly so. Another archeologist, and one whose role is rather ambiguous at times, is Dr, River Song in Dr. Who. She does some naughty things along the way to loving the Doctor – things that get her into prison. Meanwhile, she learns to fly the TARDIS better than he can.Advertising We will write a custom article sample on The Smartest Girls on the Screen – Most Educated Female Characters specifically fo r you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More But there are much more heinous lady villains, Think of the one-eyed villainess in Dr. Who, leading a massive army of assorted galactic races to try and defeat the Doctor. Madame Kovarian is a crafty one, she is, and she has a plan that spans decades, that involves acting as midwife to Amy Pond. However, it would be too easy to focus on the Who franchise. So many juicy parts for smart women! Think of all the other smart villainesses out there. Poison Ivy becomes both super-heroine and villainess , opposing Batman and his alter ego Bruce Wayne. She is a bit misguided, but she has a profound vision of the importance of the plant kingdom in the overall health of the Earth. She seems to have started out in the Batman comics, but being a cartoon should not be a bar to being an intelligent woman character. Think of Lisa Simpson, who is wise beyond her years, and a fine saxophonist besides. The Simpsons would be pretty silly witho ut her insights. Whether in a series, or in stand-alone films, smart women characters light up the screen. If they are smart themselves, the makers of films and TV shows will realize that audiences love brainy ladies. Here’s to intelligence in our female characters!

Fashion and consumer science Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words - 2

Fashion and consumer science - Term Paper Example The essay "Fashion and consumer science" discovers the consumerism and fashion. The research question would be primarily based on the present consumer perception of the fashion counterfeit industry and the factors influencing their purchase decisions. The research objective would seek to present the benefits which the research would result in. The literature review would throw insight into the global trends in the sector and its implications on society. This is complemented by exploring the impacts of the business in the job market. The research would then conduct a hypothesis testing for the project. The research methodology chosen for the purpose would include both qualitative and quantitative methods. The several contributions that the dissertation would contribute to the literature would be presented as managerial and theoretical contributions or implications. Finally the major learning points from the research would be presented in the project. The project brings forth a compreh ensive view of the counterfeit fashion industry and the menace that it creates across the world. This is not a problem which is limited to few product and product categories, rather it has emerged a global phenomena affecting numerous industries. It can also have devastating effects on the society and its people. The report presents the menacing effects that this phenomenon has on society, the factors influencing the same and the means that may be adopted by the genuine fashion brands for protecting it. The clandestine nature of the activity makes it hard to obtain any accurate statistics on the same. However, copyright industries in USA have claimed that this sector remain subjected to huge losses. Counterfeit clothing and other items in the fashion world have predominantly prevalent in Europe. The most common technique of counterfeiting is by importing clothing and then attaching labels in one of the states which is followed by releasing the product for sales in some other state. The process gains from the goods freely moving across the borders. Most nations have demonstrated transactions in the sector and some of them have even evolved notorious in the field of production and exporting of fake products. Information provided by the European Union and United States have shown insight into the extent of such transactions and their impacts on society (Vithlani, 1997, p.4). Research Questions Since the project seeks to explore the factors influencing consumer’s behavior towards buying counterfeit fashion products, the research question has been developed based on the above idea. Even after having complete knowledge of the counterfeit fashion business, consumers are tempted towards buying the products. Moreover, such behavior of consumers also influences his preference for buying luxury brands. The project tries to explore both of the above aspects of consumer behavior. The research questions are as follows: Why consumers purchase the counterfeit fashion p roducts even after having knowledge of the same? When and how do counterfeits influence the genuine item consumers’ preference for luxury brands? Research Objectives This research would demonstrate that consumers’