1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«This article explores how two Italian-Canadian families reassess their mutual coming-out stories in the film Mambo italiano [and it] explores the redefinition of family relations following the disclosure of their sons’ coming-out journey.» (p. 169)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
L’analyse porte sur le film québécois Mambo italiano réalisé par Émile Gaudreault et paru en 2003. «The film is based on Steve Galluccio’s theatrical play, which is inspired by his own coming-out story and is set in an Italian-Canadian family in Montreal.» (p. 169)

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

«This article has shown family members’ negotiations of a coming out in the Canadian comedy/drama film Mambo italiano […]. In order to understand how the families of the protagonist, Angelo, and his lover, Nino, can overcome the crisis provoked by their coming out, as homosexuality is strongly opposed on cultural and religious grounds, I mainly referred to diaspora studies and Italian-Canadian and Italian-American writers who had narrated their own experiences of coming out to their families, and I used the concept of resilience in immigrant contexts, as understood in family studies. Family resilience […] can be a useful tool to analyse Mambo italiano. […] I came to the conclusion that the acceptance of Angelo’s gayness is a process of familiarisation: it is the outcome of a journey back to the family’s migrant roots in which the use of rituals play a big part. […] Through the use of rituals, Angelo’s parents reassess and queer ethnic schemas, integrating gayness within them. […] Schemas like attachment to family and la bella figura […] mean that families may successfully familiarise themselves with the unknown by merging the themes and experiences of dislocated cultures and alienated sexualities. The film Mambo italiano seems thus to stress the resources available to ethnic communities when faced with coming-out realities.» (p. 183-184)