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Portrayal's of Albanians in Hollywood Movies

Gathomas88 said:
Are all Germans Nazis, or rigidly humorless?

Are all Brits effete flibbertigibbets with posh accents?

Are all Irish drunkards?

Are all Scots unintelligible neanderthals?

Are all Frenchmen snotty wine sipping cowards?

Are all Russians depressive vodka-swilling Communists?

Do all Japanese persons carry Samurai swords or wear business suits?

Are all Americans cowboys, or fat gun toting belligerent red necks?

Every country gets stereotyped to at least some degree. It's really not a big deal.
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Notice that except the Irish all other ethnicities mentioned above have more than 1 stereotype. Nazi and humorless, unintelligible and neanderthal, etc.

The topic of this thread is why is the Albanian portrayal skewed towards mafia and mafia alone? Where are other portrayals and stereotypes of us?
 
DDD said:
The topic of this thread is why is the Albanian portrayal skewed towards mafia and mafia alone?
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The Italians got you beat on that stereotype, sport.

06Ek55X.jpg
 
PoS said:
The Italians got you beat on that stereotype, sport.

06Ek55X.jpg
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They sure have,

But they too have additional stereotypes to add to the library of the Italian ethnicity. They are cooks, lovers, singers, etc.

Albanians on the other hand are mostly presented as just one stereotype. Plus it is not even a good stereotype for as mentioned the "mafia" stereotype is occupied and dominated by the Italians, Russians, and Chinese too recently.
 
Hollywood doesnt like muslims
 
PoS said:
Hollywood pretty much portrays all ethnic groups except Jews and WASPs as skewed so you shouldnt feel too badly about it.
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WASPs aren't portrayed badly? Half the jobs available to British actors in Hollywood are stereotypes of sneering, evil, master criminals or floppy haired, bumbling romantics. Has Hollywood ever portrayed a normal, lower-middle or working class Brit who isn't a criminal and doesn't speak with a plum in her/his mouth?

Stereotypes is what Hollywood does. Complaining about it is like criticising athletes for being too energetic.
 
Andalublue said:
WASPs aren't portrayed badly? Half the jobs available to British actors in Hollywood are stereotypes of sneering, evil, master criminals or floppy haired, bumbling romantics. Has Hollywood ever portrayed a normal, lower-middle or working class Brit who isn't a criminal and doesn't speak with a plum in her/his mouth?

Stereotypes is what Hollywood does. Complaining about it is like criticising athletes for being too energetic.
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Exactly,

So this thread aims at making people aware and perhaps incite Hollywood to produce more than one stereotype portrayal of Albanians. There is far more of us than just mafia thugs. Adding more stereotypical flavor might unskew exposure done on behalf of our name:

Here, take for instance this other bright talent. Other than the ones presented thus far, this one is going far also:

Robin Krasniqi vs. Oleksandr Cherviak - The fifth title fight is fix - WBO

Pick another stereotype and continue portraying Albanians in a more diverse and equal fashion.
 
Who cares?

Albania is insignifigant.
 
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Another Albanian portrayal that may unskew the current image that producers could use in movies could be Albanians as musicians. This too is based on reality because there are plenty of Albanian musicians from folk music, to pop music (as posted above for Rita Ora that sang with POTUS), here is also one in serious music, named Shkelzen Doli:

Shkëlzen Doli - International Academy Of Vienna

He made it all the way to the internationally recognized Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
 
Remember that during the Cold War, Hollywood loved to portray Soviets and Eastern European communists as the bad guys.

With communism now gone, Hollywood turned to a convenient alternative: Russians, slavs, and (much less often) Albanians who belonged to organized crime rings. Mafia activity is very significant in all those countries, and mob members are always looking for opportunities to expand their empires in the West.
 
DifferentDrummr said:
Remember that during the Cold War, Hollywood loved to portray Soviets and Eastern European communists as the bad guys.

With communism now gone, Hollywood turned to a convenient alternative: Russians, slavs, and (much less often) Albanians who belonged to organized crime rings. Mafia activity is very significant in all those countries, and mob members are always looking for opportunities to expand their empires in the West.
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Mafia activity cannot be higher than in Russia and/or Italy. Yet both Russians and Italians have additional stereotypes other than mafia thugs?

What I am wondering is: On what grounds are other potential candidates for movie portrayals being eliminated and in turn only the Albanian mafia thugs are favored?

Either way, it seems I will need to expose my peers in DP with other potential stereotypes of Albanians so as to unskew and hopefully equalize the biased exposure of Albanians in your media today.
 
DDD said:
Mafia activity cannot be higher than in Russia and/or Italy. Yet both Russians and Italians have additional stereotypes other than mafia thugs?

What I am wondering is: On what grounds are other potential candidates for movie portrayals being eliminated and in turn only the Albanian mafia thugs are favored?

Either way, it seems I will need to expose my peers in DP with other potential stereotypes of Albanians so as to unskew and hopefully equalize the biased exposure of Albanians in your media today.
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Italians, yes. Russians, not so much.

But by all means, I'm always interested to see how people from other countries portray their fellow citizens/expats in popular media.
 
DifferentDrummr said:
Italians, yes. Russians, not so much.
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Try presenting a Russian stereotype and stick with only mafia thug (like in our case) if you can? :) If you do, by most odds, you will at least lose another stereotype about them in the process.

DifferentDrummr said:
But by all means, I'm always interested to see how people from other countries portray their fellow citizens/expats in popular media.
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Thanks for your interest.

Somebody has to do it if your media is not interested.
 
DDD said:
Try presenting a Russian stereotype and stick with only mafia thug (like in our case) if you can? :) If you do, by most odds, you will at least lose another stereotype about them in the process.



Thanks for your interest.

Somebody has to do it if your media is not interested.
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Have you watched Taken? I can't imagine an Albanian would be happy with that.
 
Andalublue said:
Have you watched Taken? I can't imagine an Albanian would be happy with that.
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You are correct that the rest of the majority of non-criminal Albanians are not happy with the portrayal in that movie as well as in other movies mentioned jointly in post 1 of this thread. Sadly, Taken is not the only movie with this entrenched obsession with portrayals of Albanians as criminals.
 
Here is Arbana Xharra earning the international award "Woman of Courage."

In Dardania, where might once claimed to make right, Arbana Xharra dedicated her career as a journalist to exposing corruption, shedding light on graft, and changing society peacefully and without strife. Arbana has reported on religious extremism, linking local imams and NGOs with foreign terrorist organizations. Her words have prompted the government to address problems from extremism to corruption. Like other women on this stage today, Arbana faced death threats for her work. But as editor-in-chief of one of Dardania's leading daily newspapers, Arbana still pursues stories wherever they lead, despite its peril, while passing on her legacy to the next generation of writers.

For her unwavering pursuit of truth in the fight against violent extremism, we honor Arbana Xharra as a woman of courage. (Applause.)
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References:

Remarks at the International Women of Courage Ceremony
 
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