To better understand the films of Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese we must first understand the history of the immigration of their parents and grandparents to the northern cities of the United States. In her article Two Great Migrations: American and Italian Southerners in Comparative Perspective, Donna Gabaccia states that in between the years of 1870 and 1930 3.5 million southern Italians, which were called “meziggianos,” migrated to the United States, most to the industrialized cities of the north and north-east. She also says that after 1915, like the Italians, 1.5 million African-Americans also migrated to the North. The reasoning for these two groups to leave their homes and start a new life in a totally different culture is because life in this new place promised a better life than the life they had before. These industrialized cities in the north were labeled as the promise land for these Southern Italians, who were seen as lower class outsiders in Italy, and African Americans, who just wanted freedom and independence from the sharecroppers of the south. Scorsese’s grandparents were part of this great migration, and resided in lower Manhattan of New York City, where Charles Scorsese grew up. Like Scorsese, Spike Lee also grew up in New York, except his part of town was a predominantly black area called Brooklyn. The interesting thing about the time period that they grew up in is that both directors got to see the culture from the past generations in their parents and grandparents, which were carried over from their homelands of Southern Italy and the southern United States. They got to mix that culture with the culture of their generations to make films that reflect their experiences growing up.
The representation of Italians in U.S film can be described as violent “mobsters” who are very family oriented, religious, and are always seeking respect in their own world. This representation is supported by the characters in the film Mean Streets by Martin Scorsese. The
main character Charlie, who is played by Harvey Keitel, can be argued as a symbol of Jesus Christ in the film because he is always looking out for his best friend Johnny Boy, and always encouraging him to do the right thing. The religious aspect of Charlie is carried throughout by the symbol of fire. Charlie would repeatedly touch a flame whenever he felt like he needed to be punished for something. The self-punishment that Charlie induced on himself by the flame helped Charlie deal with all the sins he was committing, whether it be drinking, cursing, or violence. Johnny Boy, who is played by Robert DeNiro, is the opposite of Charlie. He is someone who does things without thinking about the consequences. Charlie always has to do favors for Johnny Boy and look 
after him because of the situations Johnny gets himself into. I think the image of the violent Italian gangster is best represented through Johnny Boy because of his high sense of pride, his willingness to snap at any second, and his violent personality. Although his character seemed to act like a child sometimes, I think if Johnny boy was forced to be on his own he would find his sense of self and develop leadership within the group.Assimilation into the American culture wasn’t easy for both Southern Italians and African Americans. Although, if I had to pick which race had an easier time doing it I would have to say that the Italians did. Robyn Wiegman, in his article titled Race, ethnicity, and film says, when talking about Italian American identity, “…their representation throughout the twentieth century has been part of an expanding whiteness.” One of the biggest reasons, in my opinion, that Italians had an easier time than African Americans when assimilating into white society is because their skin color is white. In Richard Dyer’s essay titled The Matter of Whiteness, he points that people make racial judgments largely on what people look like, so in the case of Italians, they appear more “white” than African Americans do solely because of skin color. I think that another reason why African American’s didn’t assimilate as well into American society as Italians did was because they chose not to. In Spike Lee’s film Joe’s Bed Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, the main character is named Zacharias Homer, who is a struggling black barber who resists assimilation into the American economy.
In Spike Lee and the Commerce of Culture, Houston Baker analyzes the main character by writing “Zach, in a similarly culturally separatist reading of American economics, aspires to the status of independent small businessman, rendering a service that both relies upon and preserves a non-assimilationist look for black America.” Zach’s stubbornness to keep the barber shop going, even though he wasn’t bringing in much money, (if any at all) shows that he strongly believes in being an individual in American society and keeping the small business going. This individualistic example of Zach refusing to conform represents the entire race of African American’s and their refusal to conform, and I think that Spike Lee was going for that image in We Cut Heads.In conclusion, Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese can both be labeled as innovators in the modern film industry. In the film Mean Streets, Scorsese shows the American culture what it’s like to be an Italian-American in an unfamiliar culture and how they have become what they are today, as an ethnic group. Spike Lee gives the American culture a look at the difficulties in assimilating into the American society in the film Joe’s Bed Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads. These two films show us a great deal of what it’s like to be 3rd generation immigrants in the United States and more importantly, help us understand their culture and learn from it.
Works Cited
Two Great Migrations: American and Italian Southerners in Comparative Perspective, Donna Gabaccia
Race, ethnicity, and film, Robyn Wiegman
The Matter of Whiteness, Richard Dyer
Spike Lee and the Commerce of Culture, Houston Baker
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