In both films – Goodfellas (1990) and Radio Days (1987) – the viewer is presented with a close-knit ethnic family that seems to value tradition above all else. In the former film, the ethnic family in question is the Italian mafia. Cooking and eating traditional Italian food – e.g., spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce – and participating in illicit mob activities are the “ethnic” traditions in question. In the latter film, the (nuclear) ethnic family is a Jewish one. Eating the fish Uncle Abe (Josh Mostel) constantly brings home for dinner, celebrating Yom Kippur, and listening to the radio are the traditions they choose to uphold. Regardless of each of their respective set of traditions, though, both families are ethnically close-knit and neither family can be considered “white” – at least, not by Richard Dyer’s definition of the word.
The mafiosos in Goodfellas seem perfectly complacent in their non-whiteness. They do not want to be white, and they do not try to be white – and in the end, when Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) does becomes “white,” it is only out of a desire to preserve his own life rather than any real desire to embrace the values of the “norm.” On the other hand, while the Jewish family is not white, it is clear that they are not entirely committed to their non-whiteness. As the Friedman and Desser article suggests, they don’t fully understand their own traditions, and – as the character of Grandpa (William Magerman) clearly illustrates during his brief conversion to Communism on Yom Kippur – they are easily swayed away from those traditions.
The only thing in which the family’s faith remains unwavering is the radio – a religion unto itself. Used as both diegetic and non-diegetic sound throughout the film, the music and the dialogue that is transmitted through the radio serves both as a “mood-setter” in many of the scenes – e.g., non-diegetic music adds comedy to the actions that are depicted onscreen, such as, in the scene where Joe (portrayed by Seth Green but voiced by Woody Allen) discusses how he associates certain songs with certain memories from his childhood – and as something that adds to the identities of each of the individual characters – i.e., the types of things (popular music, sports, action adventure shows, etc.) the characters like to listen to on the radio define who they are.
Most importantly, though, the radio serves as a way into “whiteness” (or pseudo-whiteness, if you will) for the family. Maybe they cannot truly be white, but by tuning in every morning to shows like “Breakfast with Roger and Irene,” they can at least pretend to be. They can pretend that they don’t actually live in a cramped house, and that they are also at the fancy New Year’s Eve celebration. They can pretend that success stories like Sally White’s (Mia Farrow) are not as uncommon as they seem – that anyone can drop their vulgar New York accent, learn how to enunciate their “R’s,” and become a radio star. By tuning into the radio, the family can also connect itself to the people who are listening in the broader community and imagine that, despite the family’s ethnic identity, these people accept them as well. The radio offers hope.
