Dear Editor:
     In response to your article of 6/5/01, "Enough protesting already over 'Sopranos'"--is this supposed to be NEWS?
    That's what the site says. In fact though presented as 'News' this seems like an Op-Ed piece in which case it should be labeled as such, lest the reader confuse the author's personal view with Medialifemagazine.com's editorial position.
     As a loyal subscriber to your newsletter and its Italian motto (work to eat), I was quite disappointed considering the 'media-savvy' audience that it reaches. Worse, Mr. Everitt's chiming in is a bit late and adds nothing substantive to the discussion.
     The problem with the article is that it is misleading and is nothing more than Mr. Everitt defending the 'Sopranos' without taking any time to objectively consider the opposing view dismissing any criticism. As Mr. Everitt is probably not of Italian ethnicity, his qualifications and opinion on the matter is of debatable importance.
     Though being proud of 'Dutch Schultz' certainly suggests a twisted logic. While he does question the validity of the activists as representative of IA's, he fails to mention this in the context that almost every Italian-American organization has endorsed the recent Illinois lawsuit against the show filed by AIDA (American Italian Defense Association, sort of a B'Nai B'rith for IAs). Notwithstanding, Judas Goats with vested interests, certainly the activists are speaking for quite a few IAs.
     It is crystal clear that Mr. Everitt didn't do any homework before penning this article. Otherwise, he would have at least considered the very real statistics that provide the underpinning for the IA activists' position that the entertainment media unfairly depict IAs as buffoons, gangsters and bimbos. Review the data at www.italicstudies.org and confirm what is empirically obvious.
    Need more evidence? The Order of the Sons of Italy commissioned Princeton Research, Inc. to do a study on perceptions and learned that most Americans believe that Italians *are* involved with organized crime (I can email the report).
    Meanwhile the reality is that the FBI's own data indicate that less than .1% of organized crime is at the hands of Italian-Americans.
     On a panel discussion organized by NIAF (National Italian American Federation) broadcast by C-SPAN this weekend, not surprisingly, NY Times writer Maria Laurino in her book, 'Were You Always an Italian' studied the teens at a Bay Ridge, Brooklyn High School and noted some disturbing fascination by young mob 'wannabees' and girls with low aspirations.
     NIAF also found some troubling trends of their own by interviewing young people - www.niaf.org. Professor Joseph Scelsa from Queens College suspects a correlation between the relatively high dropout rate among area Italian-Americans and the media. He should know, he successfully won a civil rights lawsuit against CUNY for discrimination. Now again, why might IA activists have cause for concern about the impact of entertainment like the 'Sopranos'?
     To a large number of people, there is a double-standard today when it comes to depicting some ethnic/religious groups--it is somehow perceived as politically correct to depict Italians negatively and not others. For example, AOL-Time-Warner backed off running 12 animated Bugs Bunny episodes (albeit with a disclaimer running at the bottom of the screen) for their marathon on the Cartoon Channel for fear of offending Blacks, Japanese, American Indians etc. with negative depictions.
     Mr. Everitt is wrong, in the '70s when the NAACP screened a Norman Lear pilot and disproved, it was promptly scuttled. So much for 'creative script consulting.' Yet, somehow for those with seniority at the victimization trough political correctness is enforced vigorously. Meanwhile shows like 'The Sopranos' receive critical acclaim despite Italian-American media concerns and calls for more balanced imagery.
    Perhaps IA activists should take lessons from the Jesse Jackson camp to better lucidate their concerns. Most recently, he redirected attention away from where Operation PUSH's shakedown money is spent to Toyota's recent TV spots that featured a Black person with a gold tooth.
     Mr. Everitt's assertion that simply because the HBO series is a premium channel, that it exists in a vacuum and is therefore above question, is half-baked. The point about books is brought up but is another irrelevant ruse. The season premiere of 'The Sopranos' reached 12 MM HH according to Nielsen.
     Despite being a pay channel, that makes it effectively a mass medium where independently published books are not. Otherwise we'd all have read, "The A-Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers." The 'don't like it don't watch it' argument is tired. What of the collateral damage?
     Considering the readers of Medialifemagazine.com, that is almost an insult to the reader's intelligence. We all know and see the aggressive print and outdoors promotion of the show, not to mention the heavy rotation of pan-HBO channel barkers and entertainment shows. Very well marketed - think of the GIMPs!
    And, what of the *uncreative* advertising community latching on for a free ride with the major national advertisers like Pepsi, ATT, Lycos, Wrigley's Gum and Red Lobster using such 'Italian-as-mobster' caricatures on broadcast TV and radio commercials? Children see these ads and commercials over and over and over again.
     HBO's response is predictable and wise --do not engage. Hiding behind the veil of  'art', the Sopranos plays off the same tired stereotypes and is designed for one thing--maximizing eyeballs. To HBO in this regard I say 'Salute!' Having watched the show, I do agree that it is a brilliantly produced drama about treachery, drugs, performed by very talented actors rife with Italian-American window-dressing set to a hip soundtrack. But fine writing? Old cliches in new packaging.
    With all the stories out there that involve Italian-Americans worthy of dramatization, what gets produced and promoted? More mob movies. The Italian-American actors won't complain but they are not happy about being typecast--they'd prefer to eat. However a few like Turturro, Loggia and Canadian Tony Nardi have publicly said they will no longer play these parts. BRAVO!
     Nonetheless, indie film producers like Astoria Films have no luck trying to raise money to produce 'Paisan,' a film about the paradox of Italian-American GIs fighting in Italy against Italians while their parents back home (like Joe Dimaggio's fisherman parents in San Francisco) faced internment camps, Draconian restrictions and ruined business.
     Curiously, far too many in our business have hopped on the 'critical acclaim' bandwagon fawning over characters that are cruel, shallow and morally bankrupt set within a show that is a lewd titillating near-pornographic 50 minutes that has hooked millions by leveraging the mafia meme (see www.thoughtcontagion.com). Hooray for Hollywood!
    A prominent editor from Vanity Fair was recently featured on that C-SPAN panel discussion. Though he was originally impressed by 'The Sopranos', he later came to some interesting conclusions. While people laud the show as so artistically important, original and meaningful these same people tell critics of the show not to take it so seriously. Again a familiar double-standard.
     If Mr. Everitt would have taken the time to ask, he'd learn that what the IA activists want is the perpetrators revealed and a commitment for more balanced portrayals with an end to exploitative advertising campaigns. Such advertising would never depict other ethnic groups in this manner.
     Granted, many people are not influenced by what they see on TV. But nobody gets up thinking that they will form their opinions after watching TV. And yet, clearly major advertisers pay for 30 seconds of airtime for a reason--to influence attitudes and ultimately behavior. McLuhan referred to Madison Avenue as 'The Frogmen of the Mind' for a reason.
    What then is the effect when you have 50-minute doses? And let's not mix 'apples' and 'oranges' either. TV series and one-off films are not the same. Especially, a TV series repeated several nights a week. What's more, Brad Grey and Chase are looking to syndicate a version of the show for broadcast. What then? Already, the show's successes have kindergartners looking up to befuddled actor, James Gandolfini, for his role as Tony Soprano. That is perverse and even worries Gandolfini himself.
     It is said that crime is a personal choice and is not representative of some inherited moral degeneracy. What Sen. Roukema and the folks behind the AIDA lawsuit are primarily calling for is more balanced portrayals - NOT censorship and NOT monetary damages. Is that too much to ask?
    AOL Time-Warner could make amends a number of ways besides creating shows with deeper characters that are defined beyond the stereotypical Italians: funding some scholarships, or many emerging programs on Italian-American studies or more broadly funding organizations like the Center for Media Literacy.
     As for a show about Jewish gangsters, perhaps Mr. Everitt could interview the ADL's executive director for script ideas.   As members of the media business, we ought to consider the serious negative byproducts of our business--to do otherwise makes us self-serving ostriches worthy of accusations of narcissism.

Dominic Tassone
National PR Director for Fieri

    June 5, 2001

Dear Editor:
     A couple of bullet points for you re your assessment of the "Sopranos."
     We are concerned that you and others are missing the point regarding Italian-American concerns/complaints--specifically, the ENDLESS, I repeat ENDLESS, succession of negatively stereotypical, downscale, and otherwise uncomplimentary characterizations, scenarios, dialogue, references, etc., proffered/proliferated by "Hollywood" and the media in general with little or no attempt at BALANCE, I repeat BALANCE.
     Accordingly, this pernicious pattern is most vividly exemplified by a program like the "Sopranos". Moreover, as a result of this media barrage, there is mounting evidence to support the contention that Italian-Americans are in danger of becoming a discredited group, despite the fact that the vast majority of said group lead essentially main-stream, LAW ABIDING existences.
     To borrow a term from your recent piece, myself and others of similar sentiment (certainly the MAJORITY of the Italian-American community) say "nuts" to the logical non-sequiturs employed by yourself and other media writers to justify and defend the indefensible.
    Finally, despite your statement that you would, in fact, welcome some Jewish mobster portrayals on TV and movies, we wonder how receptive you and others would be to a comparably stereotypical program directed at your group--let's say, a "Sopranos" spinoff series focusing on the recurring "Sopranos" Jewish mobster character named Hesh Rabkin.
     (It's easy to posture on an issue which you know is essentially moot, knowing full well that "Hollywood" would never countenance the inordinate proliferation of comparably negative stereotypes against Jews, or practically any other identifiable group for that matter).

PJ DeMarzo

P.S.:  Question: Do you know what percentage of adult age Italian- American males are involved in the so-called "Mob"?
Answer: Approximately one quarter of one percent!