Spaghetti Sissies Queering Italian American Media

This contributed volume brings together personal accounts and scholarly research in an examination of the LGBTQIA+ Italian American experience and representation in North American media. This is a population that has long been ignored both as an object of study and as a media-maker and consumer. Through consistent filmic representation, the image of the Italian American has become archetypal, leaving us with a set of immediately recognizable characters: the hyper macho blue-collar greaser, the anti-intellectual GTL Guido, the child-obsessed mamma, and the heteronormative mafia family. The rhetorical and literal loudness of these characters drowns out other possible embodiments of Italian American identity so that few examples survive of Italian Americans that do not conform to these classed, heterosexual modes of being. This volume fills that void, foregrounding the importance of representation and of rethinking the historical narratives and cultural stereotypes surrounding Italian American identity. This book is especially designed for those with an interest in queer theory, gender and sexuality studies, Italian American studies, and media and cultural studies.

Addresses queer Italian American Media through personal accounts and scholarly research Makes space for queer Italian American voices, often absent in the media Examines the personal and cultural narratives of queer Italian Americans in film, television, theater and literature

Auteur
Julia Heim is a Lecturer of Italian at the University of Pennsylvania. She has published or is co-author of the recent articles "Queer Italian Studies: Critical Reflections from the Field," "Why LGBTQIA+ Inclusivity Matters for Italian Studies," "Italian LGBTQ representation in Transnational TV," and Queering Italian Media. In addition to her research, Dr. Heim is the co-founder of Asterisk, an LGBTQIA+ Inclusivity taskforce. Sole Anatrone is an Assistant Professor of Italian Studies at Vassar College. Her publications include: Queering Italian Media; "Almeno non hai un nome da negra:" Race, Gender and National Belonging in Laila Wadia's Amiche per la pelle; "Disciplining Narratives and Damaged Identities in Rossana Campo's Lezioni di arabo." She is a co-founder of Asterisk.

Contenu

Preface, Split Tomato Sauce by Tommi Avicolli Mecca, writer, singer/songwriter, activist, and editor of Smash the Church, Smash the State: The Early Years of Gay Liberation.- Introduction by Sole Anatrone and Julia Heim.- Coming Out and Leaving Home: Cultural Friction in the Italian American Kitchen by Eilis Kierans, PhD candidate in Italian Studies at Rutgers University, USA.- Passion and Pulp: Impossible Families by Clarissa Clò, PhD, Professor and Chair, and Director of the Italian Studies Program, in the Department of European Studies at San Diego State University, USA.- Queer Categorical Miscegenation: Sexuality, Race, Gender, Class, and Ethnicity in Victor Bumbalo's Niagara Falls and Questa by John Champagne, PhD, Professor of English at Penn State Erie, the Behrend College, USA.- I would like to be a spoiled rich white girl by Nick Boston,PhD, associate professor of media sociology at Lehman College, USA.- Lifestyles of the Gay and Mobster by Julia Heim, PhD, Lecturer in Italian at University of Pennsylvania, USA.- Queering the Guido or Guidoing the Queer? Performing Gender and Identity on Comedy Television by Carmelo Galati, PhD, Associate Professor of Instruction and Co-Director of the Italian Studies Program at Temple University, USA.- Time to come out, girl!: Queering Italian American Sexuality on TV Land's Younger by Aria Cabot, PhD, Director of the World Languages and Literatures Teaching and Technology Center at Southern Methodist University, USA.- Spotlights: These spotlights are short, autobiographical pieces that appear throughout the book, interspersed between the chapters, serving as both a break from the more scholarly work, and a look at what it means to live as a queer Italian American media-maker. The authorswhoare all involved in media in a variety of waysreflect on how their identities as Italian Americans, and as LGBTQIA+ identified peoples influence each other and their work. Contributors:.- Rita Houston & Laura Fedele (radio personality and producer).- Annie Lanzilotto (author, playwright).- Dana Piccoli (entertainment writer and pop culture critic).- Katelynn Cusanelli (reality TV star).- Norman Korpi (reality TV star).- Mitch del Monico (director).- Julio Gambuto (director and author).