Researcher of the Week: Dora Korewa

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 10:03:01 -0500

ABSTRACT:
This research will examine the “guido” and “mobster” stereotypes, the prevalent representations of Italians in American media. I will first examine the stereotypes themselves – their media histories and the academic work pertaining to them. Then I will conduct a specific content analysis of these stereotypes in two cultural phenomena: The Sopranos, an HBO series featuring prominently the “mobster” stereotype, and Jersey Shore, an MTV reality show relying heavily upon the “guido” stereotype. After examining these shows from a traditional media studies lens, I will examine the response they elicit from the people whom they affect the most. I will conduct study groups with both Italian Americans in the U.S. and Italians in Italy after showing a brief series representative clips of each of the shows to the participants. These focus groups will offer a base level of understanding of the ways these stereotypes are received by the people they are associated with on an increasingly global level. I am particularly interested in the difference between the Italian and Italian American responses because these shows, which are originally American, have been released in Italy without the cultural context that makes these stereotypes recognizable. I wonder how Italians without the understanding of these stereotypes as culturally accepted respond to media representations that seem so foreign, and yet are associated, both by word and image, with a country and population from which the stereotypical individuals featured are so far removed.

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