A new focus on Irish American working class figures is evident from recent TV shows and movie hits.
The latest is ‘Shameless’ which debuts on Showtime on Sunday night. Based on a successful British series, its American adaptation is the story of Frank Gallagher, a drunken, bar crawling, hippy-looking Irish guy living in the Chicago inner city.
As played by William Macy, Gallagher is a complex character, despite the drinking, surviving on a welfare check but somehow still trying to live the American ideal while his family life collapses around him. Joan Cusack is wonderful as a near neighbor suffering from agrophobia who has a daughter with a thing for the Gallagher boys.
As Salon magazine wrote, “This focus on Irish-American inner-city dwellers (and a couple of their non-white friends) feels faintly nostalgic -- less like a tough, funny look at plausibly real people than a bawdy 21st-century TV Chicago version of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." (This series, "The Town," "Winter's Bone" and "The Fighter" are all part of a mini-resurgence of sensitive white working-class drama.)
You can add to that list the new FX series 'Lights Out' about Patrick ‘Lights’ Leary a heavyweight contender who has fallen on hard times. Holt McCallanny, son of Irish producer Michael McAloney (different spelling), who won a Tony Award for his production of Brendan Behan’s 'Borstal Boy,' plays a former heavyweight boxing champion who must decide between returning to the ring or turning to a life of crime as an enforcer for money lenders.
McCallanny, who grew up in Dublin, told the Irish Echo newspaper that he used Irish boxer John Duddy as much of his ring character inspiration and Duddy has a small role.
‘The Town’ starred Ben Affleck as an Irish American desperately trying to escape the Boston Irish ghetto of Charlestown and repeatedly being dragged back into it by his gangster friends. There is even an IRA character, played wonderfully by the late Pete Postlethwaite.
'The Fighter,' starring Mark Wahlberg, is another gritty Irish drama based on the true life story of ‘Irish’ Mickey Ward, the working class hero of Lowell, Massachusetts who overcomes family issues, a drugged up brother and crooked managers to win his shot at a world title.
'The Fighter’ is likely to end up on the Oscar list, and ‘The Town’ may well get some nominations, too.
It seems working class Irish is back, especially gritty dramas about, crime, street cred, broken families and broken dreams. It clearly makes for good viewing.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.eva | Mar 17, 2012, 04:26 PM EDT
about what really goes on behind closed doors.
eva | Mar 17, 2012, 04:25 PM EDT
Shameless does not portray Irish people in a negative way, in fact, the characters are proud of who they are regardless of their obstacles and their situation. They stick together through thick and thin and have intimate and loving relationships which is a good thing. The characters are unique and have depth and are never shallow. Although some of the scenes are shocking if not obscene, it makes me wonder if they are only acknowledging the real world and being brutally honest.
JayneRN | Jan 24, 2012, 11:16 PM EST
I think it's a very nasty portrayal of people of Irish heritage, and if it was about a family named "Schwartz" or "Goldberg" it'd be banned from any network.
AltRockAddict | Jan 11, 2011, 02:10 AM EST
I was looking forward to this but it is nothing but low class smut. Will definately set parental controls, if not ban ShowTiem alltogether. how can Irish Americans be proud of this sheet?
oldboreen | Jan 10, 2011, 08:35 AM EST
Will be interesting to see how the British series'Shamless' translates on American TV-how Americans of Irish descent respond to it's portrayal of Frank and those around him.Generally speaking,here in the UK the show is enjoyed by the Irish-we don't take it seriously.
cillowen | Jan 09, 2011, 05:39 PM EST
Posted by Pittsburghkid on Jan 09, 2011, 02:38 PM ESTI hate to tell you this, but the term Irish-American does not exsist. ........ a term that is only allowed for Jews, Latinos and PRs.
Pittsburghkid | Jan 09, 2011, 02:38 PM EST
I hate to tell you this, but the term Irish-American does not exsist. We are all American. We are classified by our government as White. I am of mostly Irish blood, but my cousin are not. I have German, and Italian cousins. Irish-American is a term for my greatgrandfather, and grandfather. I do not relate to that term. I am a White American. I have to put that on employment applications, so that is my idenity. I can not say power to -----, because that would be racist.
Searlit | Jan 09, 2011, 01:59 PM EST
Not a good representation of most Irish Americans with the boxing, drinking and general lay about themes. Did I mention before I hate boxing?
seamusmoore | Jan 09, 2011, 10:12 AM EST
Patrick, do you think that maybe these portrayals are a continuation of a side of life that Jim Sheridan (an Irish immigrant from Dublin by way of Canada) began exploring in his film "In America". The NY Times review of "In America" (11/26/03) describes his neighbors in the film as "a harmless collection of addicts, hustlers and ordinary poor folk".