The Exodus
The American perception of Italian Americans and how they are often portrayed in the media is a long and strange story. It initially was born from actual public interest in real historic events to then be dramatized and romanticized as its own genre within the media industry. Filmorganization.org is special agency with the task of teaching others to view film through an educational lens. They define the genre as so:
Why are these features so prominently linked to Italian Americans, to the point that the culture itself enjoys or identifies with such a genre that is so dark and violent in nature? In this chapter I will discuss how this image was created by observing the history it was based from and what it means now in context to the Italian American image.Audiences recognize a gangster film by its familiar icons: the concrete jungle setting; the brutal gangster hero with loyal or over-ambitious henchmen; women as sexual ornaments, respectable mothers and sisters upholding traditional values; the overcoats with turned-up collars, broad-brimmed hats, pistols, machine guns; montage sequences for violent action. Basic conflicts show gangster anarchy challenging the social order, leadership struggles, gang warfare against rival mobs, the internal struggle of the hero as he chooses his destiny.
Before we can discuss Italian Americans and the Gangster Genre we must first examine its historical roots. To do this we must first discuss the early 1900’s, the large Italian immigration movement, Prohibition, and the Italian Mafia.
During the late 19th century and early 20th century, waves of Italians, mostly farmers, craftsmen, and unskilled laborers flocked to America. A good majority of those immigrants were southern Italians who were fleeing after Unification of their country. The Unification caused political unrest due to the unfair treatment of the southern Italians who felt that they were being colonized and brutalized by an invading force. This lead to a max exodus called the Great Migration in which 23 million Italians fled the country from 1876-1914. Most of them, if not all, were seeking refuge from economic hardship as well as freedom from political persecution.2. Sadly, the atmosphere they came to in America was little better, as they were considered invaders by a large part of Americans which often led to racial tension and sometimes violence. To better cope with the hostile environment, the Italians created small communities in the American cities that they came to live in. Within these communities the vast majority of these immigrants were law-abiding citizens who often tolled in labor intensive work for little pay as they tried to do their best to survive. But there were some groups inside these communities who decided to turn to crime in order to get by and it was these gangs that would become famous for their violence and greed as a new era dawned in the U.S. in 1920. The Era of Prohibition.
