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Italian Immigrants In The Film The Godfather Part II

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In the film, “The Godfather Part II”, the viewer can see Vito Andolini leave Corleone, Sicily at the age of nine to settle in the United States in 1901. However, these types of journeys were not uncommon. According to Alexandra Molnar, “between 1900 and 1915, 3 million Italians immigrated to America, which was the largest nationality of new immigrants” (Molnar). The journey to America consisted of travel that could take weeks with hundreds to even thousands of people abroad. Vito Andolini made his journey to America in 1901, which would mean that he would have been one of the millions of people coming to the United States. In the early 1900s, many immigrants were in desperate need to leave Italy due to poverty, violence and social disorder. …show more content…

The eleven Italians were murdered due to the stereotypes that all Italians are mobsters. Even though in the film Vito Andolini becomes the head of the mafia years later, many Italian immigrants were met with discrimination and negative stereotypes. The negative prejudice associated with Italians alike “viewed them as having dangerous social tendencies, especially criminality” (Alba 67). All of these stereotypes made its presence in the Film “The Godfather Part II,” through violence and lack of respect for human life. Through historical events, such as the death of President McKinley by an anarchist in 1901, many immigrants were met with prejudice. Many people feared that immigrants entering the United States would want to overthrow the government. “The hostility that greeted the Italian Americans grew out of a rising anxiety about large-scale immigration” (Rapczynski). Italian xenophobia arose when two anarchists, Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were tried for killing two people. Through the prejudice that Italian Americans endured within arrival, many Italians found it difficult to

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