Sicilian Stereotypes

As I said last month, stereotypes are not easy to move beyond! Yesterday, we were taking an introductory tour to Taormina to get to know the important places of where we'll be living for the next weeks. There was a lot of talk about how "Il Padrino" (the first Godfather) was filmed not too far from here. Stores readily take advantage of this fact as you cannot walk down the main shopping street without seeing Marlon Brando's image everywhere. 

Is it any wonder then, when on a Monday afternoon when we see a bride and her dad pulling up in a vintage vehicle with a whole slew of Sicilians standing in the background, that one immediately thinks "Il Padrino"? Italians (especially Sicilians) have tried to overcome the stereotype of "If you're Italian, you're mafia." I've traveled here extensively and I have never encountered anything that I could definitively say WAS mafia. And yet, the first thing that I thought of was "mafia" when I saw the whole scene. 

 

I'm not the only one with stereotypes. My host mom was telling me that her son is staying in Ireland and he doesn't like it all that much because Irish don't have any culture, all they do is drink. Yes, it's true that the Irish like to drink however, not all Irish are drunks and they do have culture! It's amazing to me how we can let these stereotypes blur our vision about another group of people.