This movie showed a lot of interesting differences and stereotypes about the North and South of Italy. Movies such as this raise such an important topic that I do not think many people talk about, especially in the United States. For some reason, many people within the US think that stereotypes and differences only exist or are only so prominent within the US. However, this is something that all societies deal with. It is not just an "American" one. Therefore, what makes movies such as this so fascinating is seeing the stereotypes that exist in other countries and places and the context or history behind them. While stereotypes are not often talked about because of their negative connotations I think that that studying them in the context of their region says a lot about the history and culture of the region. Therefore, you learn even more than you would have if you just studied the region from some book or video. I think I first came into this encounter when thinking about places I would like to visit in Europe. Italy has been one of the top places I would like to visit. Something many people in the US don't understand is that the same issues we deal with here exist throughout the world. Therefore, when thinking about Italy I have always thought about where I would want to go based on where I would be most accepted because racism and colorism exist there as well. Thankfully, I learned things like this early on because of my grandparents. Since I was the only darker one in my family they were always protective of the spaces I was in because I never knew what racism was as a child.
With that said, while normally these things when they go along with comedy can be controversial I do think that when they are done right such as in this case they can offer a lot of perspective and learning opportunities for foreigners. They did a great job at addressing the topic without causing offense. I think they were able to clearly do that by carefully picking what they were going to cover and how they covered it.
Aaron Trinidad
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