Moonstruck Nation: How Italian became American

In the postwar era, global perceptions of Italian culture shifted from the homeland of Dante, Michelangelo, and Vivaldi to a mythic America, where New York’s nightclubs resounded with the voices of Sinatra and Martin, Yankee Stadium continued to immortalize DiMaggio’s record-breaking feats, and Las Vegas glowed to the rhythms of Louis Prima’s lounge acts. In this course, we explore this reinvention of Italianness, rooted in the textures of working-class Americana and vividly rendered in film—from the immigrant journeys of Golden Door (2006) to the ethnic intimacy of Italianamerican (1974) and the disco-fueled subcultures of Saturday Night Fever (1977). By the late 1980s, Moonstruck (1987) stood as the quintessential Italian American film—ironically created by a cast and crew who couldn’t be less Italian if they tried. The wave of cinematic nostalgia that followed cemented the new identity, from the gangsters of Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990) to the matriarchs of Nonnas (2025). These films tell the story of how that shift happened—how Italian became American.