I agree with everything you said (but not so much the part about my applying modern standards to Mama, which I'll get to shortly ). That certainly was the tenor of the times, and Mama was portrayed accurately in that milieu. In fact, I wouldn't want FFC to change that one bit.

But speaking hypothetically about the character of Mama, there are two things I wonder about that are independent of her era. One is the absence of an independent, feisty personality. The second is her seeming unwillingness to admit hard truths to herself.

I think the generalizations of mafia wives of that era are correct; but then beyond that, I don't want us to paint them all with the same brush. They each had individual personalities. I'm not expecting Mama to nag Vito into dismantling his criminal empire; but I didn't see her individuality within her own purview, which was the running of the household. She didn't ask young Vito, for instance, where he got the expensive rug he brought home one day. And, years later, when Carlo told Connie to shut up at the dinner table, Mama likewise didn't say something like, "I know you're not used to hearing this Carlo, but I don't like you to talk to my daughter that way while you're under my roof." (She had a good opportunity since Vito wasn't around.)

Standards of what was acceptable for immigrant wives did change over time, as Don Cardi pointed out. But that change was made possible by women like Mama showing a little sass and taking baby steps to make things different, at least inside their own domestic domains. Mama obviously didn't have this type of personality, and FFC portrayed her as such.

I can also understand Mama not challenging or questioning Vito's more nefarious activities; but I think it was her obligation to the brains God gave her to admit certain things to herself. I don't think she could look at her son Michael and see a mafia don or a murderer. She thinks Connie is wrong about Michael's killing Carlo and tells her so. It is no wonder she has no help or advice for Michael when he talks with her. She doesn't see the toll that building up a criminal empire is taking on his family life. She probably sees him as a junior Vito, using his fearful reputation to help the downtrodden.

So I think Mama was portrayed just fine as she was; she was the traditional Italian wife content with the status quo. But I just wonder if she would be more worthy of adjectives like strong, wise, savvy, and admirable had she gone against the grain of tradition once in a while within her own home.