#Rarely include immigrant groups that are largely Protestant (at least in the US- in Glasgow and London it's a different story) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

the-busy-ghost · 1 year ago

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Minor throwaway sentence in a book on corruption I've just finished was talking about 1930s gangsters and about certain organisations in Chicago which the author stated were more ethnically diverse than the Italian mafia, and whose members were said to have included 'Irish, Welsh, Italian, and Jewish' gangsters.

Now call me sheltered but I've seen MANY Italian American gangsters immortalised in film, I've heard of the Jewish mob, and the police Irish American gangs but I have yet to see a movie about the Welsh mob. As a rule I don't go in for gangster movies but I feel there's an unfilled niche here and also I need more info.

#Might delete this in a bit #On a more serious note given the context of the Great Depression and slumps in the coal mining districts of Britain #I can see why Welsh people who emigrated to America might be form an impoverished immigrant community targeted by organised crime #And possibly my surprise comes from outdated national stereotypes and the fact that popular stereotypes of 1930s gangsters #Rarely include immigrant groups that are largely Protestant (at least in the US- in Glasgow and London it's a different story)#Makes me wonder if all those Catholic Aesthetics that directors who make movies about Italian and Irish mobsters are so fond of #Would play the same with Meredith Davies who may be a crook but at least he regularly attends the Methodist chapel #And is a teetotaller and a fixture in various choirs #Welsh accents are often quite soft too I think I'd be fucking terrified of a Welsh gangster in a movie tbh #To be fair real life organised crime obviously encompassed people from all walks of life I'm more interested in movie depictions here #'More Welsh representation!' 'Ah yes how about as gangsters?' 'Er...'#Less surprised if I come across Scots because eventhough they're privileged in the US English media does seem to view Scottish accents #As threatening so Scots often get roped in to play tough guys and gangsters and villains in all sorts of media #And often they will get an Englishman to play a Scot and Scots to play Eastern Europeans which is also weird #But that's off topic; I am not however used to Welsh villains

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