It's-a Coke!

Since early November, Coca-Cola has fizzed up controversy in the movie theaters.\nSomewhere stuffed between the 15-or-so minutes of movie trailers, Coca-Cola has featured its 2003 Refreshing Filmmaker Award winning mini-film in 20,000 Loews Cineplex and Regal Entertainment Group theaters across America.\nAccording to a Reuters article released Friday, the pre-movie mini called "Mafia Movie Madness" erupted numerous protests from the National Italian American Foundation, the Sons of Italy and other Italian American anti-defamation groups. \nThe one minute reel begins with a queue of moviegoers waiting to purchase tickets. Soon, the innocent patrons realize a tough bunch of Mafiosos have hijacked the theater. \nOne mobster accosts an elderly woman when he demands she show him her I.D. for an "R"-rated flick. \n"I.D.?" she asks.\n"How do I know that ain't a wig?" he replies.\nThe next difficult customer refuses to dispense his outside food and beverage before entering when the same mobster warns him of the theater's policy. As the smug customer scoffs, "Whatever," he's hustled away by the theater bouncers at the snap of the ticket master's bejeweled fingers. \nOther confrontations occur when the greasy-haired refreshment attendant intimidates a customer into upgrading his Coke to a large and an usher hushes the crowd by pounding a baseball bat in his palm. \n"Any of yous makes any noise during this movie, you're dealing with me, capisce?" he commands. \nIt's a cutesy mini-film, entertaining a few forced, lighthearted laughs from the audience, but to some, it was nothing short of offensive. \nDona De Sanctis, deputy executive director of the Sons of Italy Commission for Social Justice, said the goal of the interest group's protest was to lessen the number of stereotypical images of Italian Americans in media, referring to the "Godfather" trilogy and HBO's more recent portrayal of Italian families in its homage to mafia noir, "The Sopranos" television series. \nLast Friday, Coca-Cola stopped running the movie because of the pressure the activists put on it. \nWhen it comes to ethnic, cultural, racial or religious sensitivity, isn't there a point when P.C.-ness goes too far?\nThe mini-film was not supposed to satirize Italian Americans; it was merely intended to make fun of the mafia. While Coca-Cola and other corporations try to rectify any potentially offensive messages they may be producing, it's an inherent part of society to make fun of enemies and villains. \nCurrently, Saturday Night Live and stand-up comics saturate their routines with humor about terrorists. When Americans laugh out loud at caricatures of Osama bin Laden, they're not laughing at Muslims. While it may not be culturally acceptable to ridicule certain groups of people, it's permissible to slander the mobs, terrorists and infamous leaders who threaten society; it's important to know the difference. \nThe problem with these specific issues is that there's always an element of misunderstanding among both the audiences who watch these satires and some of those who are offended by it. \n"Generally, our concerns are dismissed, which we also find very disturbing," De Sanctis said. "We don't understand why we are the one ethnic group that it's still permissible to make fun of."\nThe unfortunate reality is Italian Americans are just one group of many still occasionally stereotyped, and this isn't the proper way of contesting acts of bigotry. In the scope of injustices, there are greater battles to fight. Being overly P.C. can have the reciprocal effect on society when it trains people to fear and resent one another; it creates more distance, rather than mutual respect.