I don't know if this post belongs here or if it should have it's own thread or what. I'm sure the mods will figure it out for me!
Anyhow, last night while I was reading a book called "Shakespeare by Another Name" by Mark Anderson I happened to come across a source for the name Zanni!
First some background - the book posits that the writer of the Shakespeare plays is not the actor from Stratford Upon Avon that the world has come to know as "William Shakespeare" instead the writer of the plays is Edward de Vere the seventeenth Earl of Oxford. The Earl hid his identity due to the political climate of the time which made it dangerous to reveal himself as the author of the plays. For anyone who doesn't study Shakespeare this may sound like a kooky conspiracy theory but it is actually a widely accepted (though hotly debated) theory that "Shakespeare" is not the actor from Stratford. Anyhow - this is a very short, simplistic summary of what is in reality a very complex question of who really wrote the Shakespeare plays. I found it absolutely fascinating that - in the midst of a story of shifting, hidden identity, full of double meanings and strange characters - I would find a reference to Zanni.
A "Zanni" is the name of a stock character that was developed in the Italian theater during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. During this time "stock characters" emerged for the first time in theater. Stock characters have been around ever since then - for instance the uneducated country bumpkin who experiences comic culture shock in the big city, or the totally hot, blonde but completely stupid cheerleader who is clueless about the airheaded things she says etc...
The following is the Wikipedia definition I found:
"Zanni (from the Italian, dialectal nickname for Giovanni) was the archetype of the comic servant characters of the Commedia dell'arte. The character of Zanni was an older, impoverished man and hired servant of one of the other characters, typically Pantalone.
Zanni's costume was loosely fitting white smock and pants. He wore a black mask reminiscent of his more popular descendant, Arlecchino. His behavior is a cartoon imitation of the impoverished rural folk of Bergamo who were forced to move to Venice in order to make a living. As such, his interests do not always coincide with those of his master. His primary goals are his own comfort and the satisfaction of various immediate desires."
I found it interesting that this historical Zanni was a theater character (therefore an actor playing a role), was a servant (as a nanny could be seen to be), was probably not of the same ethnic background as his employer (like our latino Zani), wore a mask (to disguise identity and make the character less individual and more amorphous), had goals and interests contrary to his employer (like our Zani who supposedly turned the tables on Casey by kidnapping her child), primarily seeks his own comfort and satisfaction of his own immediate desires (gee- who does that sound like? Casey. As well as possibly the evil nanny who killed Caylee when the jig was up and the fun was over).
Obviously this is not a complete parallel by any means but it was close enough to make me think - whoa!
Also - I seriously doubt that Casey knew of this historical connection between the name she chose for her fictitious nanny character and all of these "stock traits" from the theater world. I don't see Casey as a serious student of Shakespeare or the Italian theater.
But isn't it a fascinating coincidence? It even plays into the way the line between Casey herself and the "Zanni the nanny" character merges and distorts at many points.
And I found it interesting that Zanni eventually led to the development of the more famous character Arlecchino - known in English as the Harlequin. Harlequin is a strange type of jester - masked, silent, in black and white and often serves as a serious, mocking foil for everyone else in the play, exposing their own flaws and idiocy.
Taking this a step further you could say that about sums up how this case has evolved as well. Zanni (Casey?) has retreated completely into a silent mask. She is black and white - either you believe in her or you don't. And the bugbear of Zanni has haunted the other players in this case like a ghost exposing them as the real fools.