Romani people in fiction

[1] The Roma were portrayed in Victorian and modern British literature as having "sinister occult and criminal tendencies"[2] and as associated with "thievery and cunning",[3] and in English Renaissance and baroque theatre as incorporating "elements of outlandish charm and elements which depict [them] as the lowest of social outcasts," connected with "magic and charms," and "juggling and cozening.

"[4] In opera, literature and music, throughout Europe, Roma women have been portrayed as provocative, sexually available, gaudy, exotic and mysterious.

[5] Hollywood and European movies, as well as popular music and other forms of pop culture, have promoted similar stereotypes.

[6][7][8][9][10] Particularly notable representations of the Roma appear in classics like Carmen by Prosper Mérimée and adapted by Georges Bizet, Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Miguel de Cervantes' La Gitanilla.

A more realistic depiction of contemporary Romani in the Balkans, featuring Roma lay actors speaking in their native dialects, although still playing with established clichés of a Roma penchant for both magic and crime, was presented by Emir Kusturica in his films Time of the Gypsies (1988) and Black Cat, White Cat (1998).