Letter: Quit denigrating Italians on the altar of comedy with hideous stereotype

Really? "Mafia Mamma?" It's a new film in which an Italian American woman (played by the Australian actress Toni Collette) returns to Italy to - what? Buy a vineyard? Contact long-lost relatives? Appreciate beauty and nature and life?

No. It's to learn she is the new "mafia boss" of a violent criminal organization. And, despite the brutality of the real-life mafia, the plot is played for laughs.

Another Aussie, the late singer Helen Reddy, sang "I am Woman, Hear me Roar." She did not sing, "Hear my machine gun roar."

So much for Hollywood's idea of feminism.

For readers who roll their eyes whenever Italian Americans complain about cultural defamation, let's play what my late colleague Dr. Manny Alfano called the Substitution Game. It's very simple: Instead of using Italians, change the protagonists but keep the plot.

How about "Muslim Mamma?" A Muslim American woman inherits an ISIS group. How about "Mexican Mamma?" A Mexican American woman calls the shots for a drug cartel. How about "Malaysian Mamma?" An Asian American woman becomes the boss of a Triad gang. And so on. Are you laughing yet?

If not, kudos. You realize the harm done by "comedic" ethnic stereotypes. They desensitize us to the horrors of such real-life murderers. How is this funny?

The $64,000 question remains: Why is it still OK to mock Italian Americans?

"Mafia Mamma" is a slap in the face to Italy, to Italians, to victims of mafia violence, and to women like the late Sicilian photographer Letizia Battaglia and the current Calabrian prosecutor Alessandri Cerreti. These two women dedicated their lives to successfully fighting ruthless criminal gangs. They used the law, not guns.

The real crime is endless Hollywood defamation. And that's no joke.

Bill Dal Cerro Senior Analyst

Italic Institute of America (Midwest Office)

Bensenville