Lawrence Auriana, president of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, a non-profit organization that celebrates Italian-American culture, the latest Steven Spielberg movie is full of stereotypes...

In his statement released yesterday, Lawrence Auriana explains:

The animated film, by DreamWorks SKG, is unprecedented in recent children's movies in its use of ethnic stereotypes to characterize villains.

In other recent movies for kids, the bad guys are identified by personality traits alone. They are greedy. They are power-hungry. They are arrogant. They are violent.

In Shark Tale, bad guys are identified also by ethnicity. They have Italian and Italian-American names, such as Don Lino, Luca, Giuseppe and Gino, and by their use of Italian-American phrases of speech and slang, such as "capeesh," "consigliere," "maronne," and "agita." They praise violence as a virtue, they kidnap, they extort and they intimidate. They are creatures of rage and revenge.

The movie introduces young minds to the idea that people with Italian names -- like millions of Americans across the country -- are gangsters. Shark Tale creates in its audiences an association between gangsters and Italian-Americans that will become imprinted in the developing minds of children.

[...]

Shark Tale teaches young minds to associate Italian-Americans with violence and vengefulness. Mr. Spielberg's concerns about stereotyping are noble, but in supporting DreamWorks in its creation of this film and the related children's books, his actions contradict his words. On this issue, he is being hypocritical.

Negative stereotyping along lines of race, religion and ethnicity is unacceptable in America today, as are bias, prejudice and discrimination. We ask that Mr. Spielberg and DreamWorks make changes in Shark Tale prior to its release in the United States by doing the following:
- Removing Italian names from characters
- Eliminating Italian and Italian-American phrases and slang
- Removing physical gestures and customs found in Italian and Italian-American culture
- Removing from bookstores DreamWorks' Shark Tale titles

Maybe he should ask The Godfather be taken off the shelves!

Categorie(s)/Catégorie(s): Entertainment

Feedback/Réaction(s): TrackBack & pings(0) | Comments/Commentaires(1) | Referring Web Pages, last 5 days