Anybody seen "Precious?" LOL.
I was talking to a friend of mine, let's call him, "Carmine Ragusso." He called me, asked me how I was doing. I told him I was in heaven because a) I spent my down payment on a house at a Bead and Gem Show (it's an investment in my business) and b) AMC was airing "The Godfather", Pts. I, II, and III (I couldn't bring myself to watch Pt. III). That's six hours of goodfella goodness.
I guess because "The Godfathers" are two of my favorite movies, I expected Carmine to start enthusiastically quoting the movie--"I know it was you, Fredo! You broke my heart!" Instead, he said, "Never saw it."
I'm like, dude, you got four grandparents that came over here from Italy and your name could be the special of the day at any Italian restaurant--you've never even seen it? I talked about the stellar cast (DeNiro, Brando, Pacino--Italians!); the film's significance in early '70's cinema; Coppola's use of parallel action (I think that's what it is), Catholic ritual, his homage to Eisenstein--
No. Carmine wasn't having it. He disliked the film he never saw because it glamorized organized crime and caused the casting of aspersions on Italian-Americans. He said he was tired of people hearing his name and assuming he or some member of his family was in the Mob. Then he went on, in detail, about how destructive the mafia and pathological mafiosos really are.
Kinda like how I feel about "Precious."
I was talking to a friend of mine, let's call him, "Carmine Ragusso." He called me, asked me how I was doing. I told him I was in heaven because a) I spent my down payment on a house at a Bead and Gem Show (it's an investment in my business) and b) AMC was airing "The Godfather", Pts. I, II, and III (I couldn't bring myself to watch Pt. III). That's six hours of goodfella goodness.
I guess because "The Godfathers" are two of my favorite movies, I expected Carmine to start enthusiastically quoting the movie--"I know it was you, Fredo! You broke my heart!" Instead, he said, "Never saw it."
I'm like, dude, you got four grandparents that came over here from Italy and your name could be the special of the day at any Italian restaurant--you've never even seen it? I talked about the stellar cast (DeNiro, Brando, Pacino--Italians!); the film's significance in early '70's cinema; Coppola's use of parallel action (I think that's what it is), Catholic ritual, his homage to Eisenstein--
No. Carmine wasn't having it. He disliked the film he never saw because it glamorized organized crime and caused the casting of aspersions on Italian-Americans. He said he was tired of people hearing his name and assuming he or some member of his family was in the Mob. Then he went on, in detail, about how destructive the mafia and pathological mafiosos really are.
Kinda like how I feel about "Precious."
I understand.
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6 comments:
Everybody knows not all Italians are in the Mafia, they just work for the Mafia....Richard Pryor
LOL
So did you make him an offer he couldn't refuse?
That's the dilemma. Undoubtedly, "The Godfather" romanticizes the Mafia.
Just as undoubtedly, "The Godfather" is a beautiful work of art.
AMC was killing me with all the commercials, though. And the pop-up ads... like, during Sonny's beatdown of his brother-in-law. WTF??
UBM, it was on Sunday too--I came in right where i left off, with Fredo saying "I'm smart! Not like people say!" Man, those are just two effin' great movies. Minus the Italian American bashing.
From the previews I've seen of Precious I know I want see it, not because of any stereotypes but because it is too painfully real. I worked with teen girls whose babies were fathered by their own fathers or stepfathers. They were kicked out of the house and their mothers stayed with the rapist. It is a real part of what happens in certain communities. The story is fiction but the pain it portrays is real. The Godfather glamorized the mob. Perhaps a better comparison in terms of glamorizing sterotypical ethnic behavior would be New Jack City. Precious is attempting to portray honest pain.
Makes me think of Gone with the Wind. I was in LOVE with that film as a little girl, for the historical pageantry,the strong heroine, the adventure, the costumes, the romance. But it's when I got older and started to understand the larger context of the book and the film, and the racism therein,that I became uncomfortable watching it.
In fact, just last week I was at the theater and saw that they are going to be playing the film on the big scree this month. I got excited at first, thinking of seeing Scarlett in all her antebellum finery up on the big screen, and then I realized, oh yeah, I don't really like that movie very much anymore.
Sometimes if you have a moral conviction, that outweighs the appreciation you have for a specific piece of art.
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