From a cross-cultural research to a film cross-analysis of Italian and American cultural generalizations and stereotypes. My name is tanino and under the tuscan sun

This article develops from a wider inter-university research project that focused on the analysis of reciprocal forms of representation of United States and Italy within media industries, and proposes a cross-analysis of the films My Name is Tanino directed by Virzì (2002) and Under the Tuscan Sun by Wells (2003). The aim is to highlight how both films refer to cultural generalizations and stereotypes in regards to American and Italian cultures in a complementary way. To identify the recurring elements of the communicative frame, the article takes an approach based on the recognition of high-context and low-context styles. Finally, to deepen the films’ shared logic of intercultural representation, this article proposes a further inter-pretative approach based on the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) (Bennett 2017), useful in categorizing recurrent attitudes towards cultural differences such as denial, minimization, defence, acceptance, integration and adaptation.