Cocchiarelli: What is it specifically about The Sopranos television show that bothers you? Have you actually watched it? I’ve never watched one episode, and if someone were to offer the opportunity to see it, I wonder if I would.

Petracca: I have seen a few episodes because I was curious. I did not want to comment on them if I hadn’t. I watched a few and I was so appalled. They are despicable. They are also hard to watch. What upsets me most is that edge of danger. At any time, one of these characters might just knock off one of their best friends or beat up someone just for the fun of it. I remember feeling that it was so scary, so edgy. These people were killers on one hand and upright citizens on the other, interested in the well-being of their community, and the progress of their children’s studies. What type of lie is that? The script shows that the characters are good parents and belong to the PTA. The whole thing is just so disingenuous. I thought what a bad commentary on an ethnic group.

Cocchiarelli: I heard that the stereotypes of the wives in this show also require serious adjustment.

Petracca: The portrayal of women really offends me. The women on the show act as though they don’t know what’s going on, behave like dutiful mothers who have no idea that they are married to murderers. Or if they don’t portray an ignorant character, then they are simply powerless. Tony Soprano, the main character, is mostly estranged from his wife and is looking for other women, depicting base behavior of the lowest order.
Cocchiarelli: Recently, one actor from this show went on a crime and drug spree, clouding the distinction between reality and fantasy, and shot a police officer in the Bronx. How do you respond to this?

Petracca: Well unfortunately, that’s what is sad. He was a young actor who got caught up in who knows what. But now it is all over the internet and the news showing once again that these unspeakable horrors are perpetuated by a person of Italian descent. I wonder if anyone considers that he was an actor or just registers his Italian name. Now a lot of people are probably thinking, yes, Italians are dangerous people just like in the cinema and on television.

Cocchiarelli: We spoke about the audience response to your work, but in an ideal world how would you like your work to be understood within the context of the Italian American question. Are you a social radical in your art? In other words, are you attempting to alert society to an inequitable state that needs to be addressed?

Petracca: I don’t see my work as changing society, but I would like the viewer to think about his or her response to Italian American jokes or about the undervaluing of a colleague due to his/her ethnicity. It would be great if my imagery helps the viewer to empathize more and realize the harm created by the constant barrage of this degree of stereotyping. If I don’t look down on an Italian American, maybe the next person will stop doing it. Maybe if a person tells an ethnic joke, and I say no, I don’t appreciate that, I don’t want to hear any ethnic jokes, people would quit. I hope that eventually people will stop relying upon a stereotype to measure a person. Then for me, I would have accomplished something that would be very satisfying.