# Movies that have accurately represented your ethnicity. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2007, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831 "2007-02-04T22:05:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/1 "2007-02-04T22:05:32Z")
I recently saw **Everything is Illuminated** and was surprised to see that they did a good job showing a Russian country. Not like the usually drunk or mafia Russians you see in mainstream media. So go ahead and name movies that have done justice to your ethnicity. I would also love to see other American movies that show Russians in something other than their stereotypical caricature. Anyone know of any? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/2 "2007-02-04T23:25:50Z")
**Invasion of the Body Snatchers** gets my people very accurately. ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/3 "2007-02-05T00:44:15Z")
Forest Gump. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/4 "2007-02-05T02:16:31Z")
I’m not sure Appalchian qualifies as an ethnicity, but I grew up in West-by-God-Virginia, and I’ve seen two movies that got it. [Matewan](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093509/) and [October Sky](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0132477/) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/5 "2007-02-05T02:21:49Z")
**The Squid and the Whale** captured overeducated, underachieving, blowhard New Yorkers to a T. Not really an ethnicity, I know. ---
**Author:** ![DevNull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c89c15/32.png) [@DevNull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DevNull)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/6 "2007-02-05T02:33:22Z")
[Polish Wedding](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119910/) Most people thought it was an offensive Hollywood mockery but they sure got my family’s number (My mother’s side, anyway). Spooky. Perhaps it is a second generation thing. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/7 "2007-02-05T05:30:09Z")
October Sky (I’m a hillbilly, German Jew) ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/8 "2007-02-05T05:42:22Z")
(Maybe I’m Jewish, I’m not sure. Probably a 70% chance I’m Jewish on my Mom’s side.) ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/9 "2007-02-05T05:44:27Z")
Pretty much any movie that stereotypes Italian family life - minus the Mafia, in my case at least. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/10 "2007-02-05T05:46:16Z")
Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say culture? Ethnicity doesn’t really determine your way of life or personality. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/11 "2007-02-05T05:54:48Z")
[QUOTE=pool] Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say culture? Ethnicity doesn’t really determine your way of life or personality. [/QUOTE] Culture-wise, then, **My Big Fat Greek Wedding** just about nailed it. Though I am Italian, I laughed through the whole movie at how much the family was like mine - even down to the regional dialect (“I was down at the Jewel…”) ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/12 "2007-02-05T06:20:12Z")
[QUOTE=pool] Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say culture? Ethnicity doesn’t really determine your way of life or personality. [/QUOTE] Race doesn’t determine a way of life, but ethnicity does. Culture is just too broad of a topic, lets stick to ethnicity. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/13 "2007-02-05T06:26:35Z")
The movie version wasn’t very good, but when I first saw Hugh Leonard’s play “Da” on Broadway… I swear, it was as if several of my deceased Irish relatives had been resurrected, and were up on stage. The play shows clearly both why Irishmen adore their families AND why they sometimes want to get as far away from them as possible! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/14 "2007-02-05T10:09:12Z")
_The Gods Must Be Crazy?_ Naah, actually, [Forgiveness](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382037/) captures a segment of my extended family quite well - West Coast Fishing Coloureds. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/15 "2007-02-05T14:25:48Z")
[QUOTE=Lakai] I recently saw **Everything is Illuminated** and was surprised to see that they did a good job showing a Russian country. Not like the usually drunk or mafia Russians you see in mainstream media. [/QUOTE] Ok that’s just scary. 'Cause I saw the title and thought **Everything is Illuminated**. A movie I thought no-one else had seen (everyone go see it now!) The only thing I have against it is it came out after my grandfather was alive to see it. HOWEVER I have to point out it wasn’t Russia or a Russian country, it was UKRAINE. Ya know the country you filthy Ruskies tried to starve to death (that’s ok, I’m not bitter 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/16 "2007-02-05T15:50:42Z")
[QUOTE=betenoir] Ok that’s just scary. 'Cause I saw the title and thought **Everything is Illuminated**. A movie I thought no-one else had seen (everyone go see it now!) The only thing I have against it is it came out after my grandfather was alive to see it. HOWEVER I have to point out it wasn’t Russia or a Russian country, it was UKRAINE. Ya know the country you filthy Ruskies tried to starve to death (that’s ok, I’m not bitter 😉 ) [/QUOTE] Really? Accurate? Oh, dear. I (not being Ukrainian or Russian, or having any familiarity with either culture or ethnicity) assumed it was a bit over-the-top and exaggerated. Really? That strange oddball played by Eugene Hutz isn’t a caricature? Weird. I thought he was about two notches below Borat on the “silly foreigner” memescale. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/17 "2007-02-05T16:12:09Z")
Well, I’m Scots-Irish, so I guess I’d have to say “Brigadoon” and “Darby O’ Gill and the Little People” did a fair job. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/18 "2007-02-05T16:27:14Z")
Since Scots-Irish has been mentioned (just above) and since “Southerner” is a label I wear proudly, whether my ethnicity is involved or not, and since WASP comes fairly close (except the Protestant part isn’t all that accurate), I’m having a hard time even thinking of a movie that tried to represent my people accurately. You have all the phony “Southern” things going all the way back to _Tobacco Road_ and _Gone With The Wind_, including almost everything Tennessee Williams wrote, and “progressing” to the _Fried Green Tomatoes_ and _Steel Magnolias_ claptrap of more recent times. But, that aside, I’d say that _Sling Blade_ was as honest a look at some aspects of The South (even though Arkansas is more likely the region to be discussed) as any movie I can think of. You don’t run into a Carl-type character everyday, especially out wandering around and fixing lawnmowers, but the other characters are certainly believable and to an extent representative. Interestingly enough, my wife and I tried just last week (before I ever saw this thread) to think of a movie that depicts the Real South fairly. Couldn’t even get close. Too much stereotyping to be fair. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/19 "2007-02-05T16:29:21Z")
Does it have to be movies? _All in the Family_ was the best representation of Queens (althought the ethnic mix has grown since that time). The DeNiro scenes in _Godfather II_ represent my father’s upbringing. Not the mobsters, but the families in Manhattan scraping by and the Don’s working for the immigrants (and charging for it). ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831/20 "2007-02-05T16:43:16Z")
“Movies that _inaccurately_ represented your ethnicity” would get plenty of responses. In movies, Irish-Americans are either portrayed as [Westies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westies) or cops & firemen who but for the grace of God would have become Westies. IRL, the rage, inferiority complex, alcoholism are all there; it’s just not as simple as in most movies except **Long Day’s Journey Into Night** [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-accurately-represented-your-ethnicity/390831.md?page=2)