The aim of this chapter is to explore two separate but closely related stereotypes that are often associated with Italian-Americanness in the American cinema of the 1990s – namely, the abuse of foul language, and aggressiveness in hostile conversation. The analysis will be based on a corpus of five American productions released between 1990 and 1999, subjected to qualitative analysis : Big Night, Jungle Fever, The Godfather – Part III, Analyze This and My Cousin Vinny. The selection of movies from different filmic genres is intentional, as it is my intention here to go beyond fixed clichés such as the mafioso, restaurateur or macho Latin lover, which are likely to be predominant in a one-genre corpus. Rather, I will focus on two of the stereotypes that define Italian Americanness as an abstract quality or ethnic identity, regardless of its individual embodiments (however archetypical they may be).

Quick Temper, Hot Blood: The Filmic Representation of Italian-American Speech and Rhetorical Strategies

TORRESI, IRA
2007

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to explore two separate but closely related stereotypes that are often associated with Italian-Americanness in the American cinema of the 1990s – namely, the abuse of foul language, and aggressiveness in hostile conversation. The analysis will be based on a corpus of five American productions released between 1990 and 1999, subjected to qualitative analysis : Big Night, Jungle Fever, The Godfather – Part III, Analyze This and My Cousin Vinny. The selection of movies from different filmic genres is intentional, as it is my intention here to go beyond fixed clichés such as the mafioso, restaurateur or macho Latin lover, which are likely to be predominant in a one-genre corpus. Rather, I will focus on two of the stereotypes that define Italian Americanness as an abstract quality or ethnic identity, regardless of its individual embodiments (however archetypical they may be).
2007
Discourse Analysis and Contemporary Social Change
531
548
I. Torresi
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/66227
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