Is Dave Skylark's line containing "Mangia. We're the people. Give us the sh-t." a reference to something?

Question

I've noticed a lot of movie and pop culture references in The Interview (2014). I was wondering if Dave Skylark's line here is a reference to something:

Aaron: We could be doing something positive. We could be having on authors, activists, politicians.

Dave: That's what people want. "Give us some shit. Mangia. We're the people. Give us the shit. Mangia, mangia, mangia."

Note: I'm not sure if "mangia" is the proper spelling. Searching for "mangia" shows links to Italian restaurants. While Wikipedia's article for "Mangia" is about a video game. I'm not sure if either is related.

Answer 1

Though my girlfriend disagrees, I am fairly confident this is reference to Salò, the 120 Days of Sodom (1975), an Italian art film that depicts characters eating feces.

Here's a YouTube link to the specific scene.

Answer 2

This is also a reference to The Sopranos where, after a long night gambling and drinking, Paulie Walnuts exclaims on their way to the diner in the early AM, I am going to "mange and sleep for the next 18 hours."

I think this is how the Amazon Prime CC spelled it. I will try to follow up with a specific episode number. It happens when they are dropping Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi) off at work at Kim's laundry.

Answer 3

I just think its meant to be funny, I know that mangia means 'to eat' in Italian.

Is he just jokingly trying to say we the people just want the shock value of the shit. the tabloid shit. I think he by saying 'give us some shit' it just means more of the same shock value headlines they had been doing.

Answer 4

Its absolutely 100% a reference to "Salò, the 120 Days of Sodom" (1975). The irony is that "The Interview" no different..just more of the same crap shoveled into our faces :)) and we continue to eat it.