The Italian American Prizefighter: Ethnicity in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull

Abstract

This chapter analyzes Scorsese’s portrayal of Jake La Motta in Raging Bull, highlighting the director’s craft in balancing realism and expressive stylization, along with his attention to ethnic themes. The exploration of the boxer’s Italian American cultural background intersects Scorsese’s memories of the Italian American community in New York City and the description of La Motta’s ring experience stimulates a discourse on the ethnic concerns associated with the boxing world and on the public perception of Italian American prizefighters. Moreover, the relevant presence of African American boxers among Jake’s opponents alludes to the racial categorization of prizefighters and the juxtaposition between white and black athletes that occurred as African Americans assumed greater proportions in professional boxing. The exposition of Jake La Motta’s body is also discussed in terms of ritualistic gestures that call to mind Catholic practices, as is the case in many other films directed by Scorsese. Finally, in her conclusion, the author stresses that if the director has been able to find himself in Jake, that if he has been able to ‘see’ thanks to his character, it is because the portrayal of La Motta has offered him a vehicle to represent and explore his own ethnicity.