I'm Italian. Big Time. Parents were write off the boat. You know, the 2 or 3 hour meals, all the widows in black, praying with one hand, giving the Mallochio with the other. The "discussions" that outsiders think are violent arguements.......the great food, the great love of IMMEDIATE family, the fantastic history in all phases of civilizations..................and the mob. All this and everyone associates the Sopranos with us.....along with the food.
But, me personally, and ALL REAL ITALIANS that I know (off the boat or first generation) don't mind the jokes, the mob movies, etc. Why? Because we KNOW who we are. We KNOW that along with all the great accomplishments and fantastic sensual creations, we, as every nationality have common dark corners in who we are as a people. "We are angels only in heaven" is one of my nonna's old sayings. It seems to me that all the picketing and complaining about the "stereotypical" depictions of Italians are done by "Italians" in name only, two or three generations past. The can't stand the fact that Carlo Gambino is as much a representative of the Italian people as Rossini. Good and Bad......its what TRULY represents a people.
BUt, I gotta say, when people make fun of Italians, I don't think that there is anywhere NEAR the malice in their words as their are when they make fun of Jews. I think that people who aren't Italian make fun of us WITHOUT thinking how we are running their lives, influencing their exsistance on this planet, but when they make fun of Jews, there seems to be an ANGER.....pissed off that somehow, in their mind, Jews run every aspect of their lives...and they are resentful about it. So, in my mind, Italian jokes and Jew jokes are worlds apart.