Gang Violence In The Film 'Scarface'

Film Noir was extremely trendy during the 1940’s. People were captivated by the way it expresses a mood of disillusionment and indistinctness between good and evil. Film Noir have key elements; crime, mystery, an anti-hero, femme fatale, and chiaroscuro lighting and camera angles. The Maltese Falcon is an example of film noir because of the usage of camera angles, lighting and ominous settings, as well as sinister characters as Samuel Spade, the anti-hero on a quest for meaning, who encounters the death of his partner but does not show any signs of remorse but instead for his greed for riches.

DePalma utilizes zooming and film cuts to show how the American dream is for everyone. Scarface, following the traditional film three act narrative structure, ends it second act with Tony Montana immediately after executing his old boss. The camera opens on a close up of Tony Montana. The camera then cuts to a shot of a moving blimp saying, ‘The World is Yours’. Before the blimp’s message can move to an advertisement, the camera then cuts back to Tony Montana, holds for a few seconds, the zooms out to a long shot encompassing the entire house. DePalma purposefully chooses to film this scene this way. Opening on a close up of Tony Montana show the audience that he is the focus of the scene. When the camera cuts to the slogan on the blimp the audience enters the eyes of Tony Montana for cut. They see the slogan the same way Tony Montana sees it. When the camera zooms out and shows the entire house and Tony Montana’s new wife, the audience understands that Tony Montana now has everything he could ever want. By keeping Tony Montana in the center of the frame, the audience can remember Tony Montana from the beginning of the film and see how far he has come. The audience can then see that Tony Montana has achieved the American dream. DePalma utilizes zooming and film cuts to show how the American dream is for everyone.

One of the main concepts when it comes to understanding film noir, first is the understanding of the definition. Film noir is “a cycle of postwar films that employed low key lighting and were literally dark” (Nichols, 500). In this particular genre, we are in a world where there is a lack of honesty and trust, many cases of seduction and betrayal, and darkness submerges people (Nichols, 250). Moreover, film noir reflects a tone of darkness, “exploring themes of seduction, betrayal, and murder” (Nichols, 58). In this film, we will learn more of how seduction and betrayal is used to express the darkness of the film. Some other traits of film noir that should be understood before exploring the two scenes is understanding the setting. In most cases, “film noir takes place in public spaces such as urban streets, cafes,

It’s the beginning of the 1950’s. The citizens of Chicago are awaken by gunfires of mobsters of the “Chicago Outfit's,” lead by Al-Capone. Al-Capone was one of the best mobster kings in America, he got away with multiple murders, bootlegged alcohol during the prohibition era, along with numerous other court cases.

The mise-en-scene in The Godfather I, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, plays a huge role in how the film is perceived by viewers. Mise-En-Scene is characterized as, “The arrangement of everything that appears in the framing – actors, lighting, décor, props, and costume” (elementsofcinema.com). The Godfather utilizes mise-en-scene perfectly. Coppola combined all the right components of a typical mafia film and made something extraordinary. From the clothing, to the homes, to the cars, and lighting; The Godfather was executed wonderfully. Lighting plays a huge part in The Godfather. The first scene opens with only one man talking, in low light. The relaxed lighting makes the scene intense and leaving the audience with a sense of fear. With the light just appearing on the man's face, the foundation is totally dark, highlighting the threatening tone of the scene. This scene uses the same lighting elements as chiaroscuro paintings would have. If you were to pause the scene at certain points you would be able to see the rembrandt light and the strong tonal contrasts between light and dark. Different props are also used throughout the film. When you think about the Mafia, you think Italian men

I have observed that individuals and communities, and institutions think that poverty, gang violence and child abuse is what represent who you are and where you belong. Going through poverty, gang violence and child abuse would lead individuals in the wrong direction in life. When an individual or a communities see a gang member or someone they don’t care about that person because they say once you’re in the hole it hard to come back out. I just think it wrong for individuals and communities to judge people the way they do. People are the way they for a reason. Everybody has a kind heart. They made not seem like they do but they do. Their mostly likely that because there not given love or support. Like in the story said they in need of attention.

Film Noir, a term coined by the French to describe a style of film characterized by dark themes, storylines, and visuals, has been influencing cinematic industries since the 1940’s. With roots in German expressionistic films and Italian postwar documentaries, film noir has made its way into American film as well, particularly identified in mob and crime pictures. However, such settings are not exclusive to American film noir. One noteworthy example is Billy Wilder’s film Sunset Boulevard, which follows the foreboding tale of Joe Gillis, the desperate-for-success protagonist, who finds himself in the fatal grips of the disillusioned femme fatale Norma Desmond. Not only does the storyline’s heavy subject matter and typical character

The authentic representations of the Mara Salvatrucha gang make a strong appeal to intrinsic ethos by displaying Fukunaga’s commitment and intelligence. It is important to establish intrinsic ethos within this film because it helps him gain his audience’s trust, which will greatly effect the overall acceptance of his argument. Fukunaga displays the results of his years of personal research by creating an extremely accurate representation of the gang’s culture. Through the use of several visual and audial elements, the audience is thrown into an experience as if they were experiencing the gang personally, as Fukunaga had. The authentic tattoos littering the bodies of the gangsters, the graffiti masking the walls of the cities and trains, and the reenactments of the brutal rituals and initiations of MS-13, along with the dialogue and hand signals, create both a shocking but authentic representation of the gang’s impact on Central America and Mexico. The tattoos were so authentic, in fact, that they put the actors from the film at risk. In an interview with Neal Conan of National Public Radio, Fukunaga explained the danger of sporting such tattoos: “We had to make sure that the tattoos for his face, and neck and hands, all of that needed to wash off and needed to be cleaned off before we send any of the actors home because they are real insignias and makes you a target.” Fukunaga’s ability to

Scarface portrays the Latino immigrant from a different perspective, as we can see in the character of Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino. He is a Cuban refugee willing to hurt anyone and do anything to gain power and wealth in the United States. He and his friends use guns, drugs, and sex to push to the top of the power chain, while of course pursuing the innocent Anglo woman. Once again we see the portrayal of Latinas as subordinate, weak and submissive to the domineering, overprotective male. We also see the same conflict over loyalty that we viewed earlier in West Side Story, but here the Latino puts family before all and kills his best friend in a rage of jealousy over the friend's relationship with his sister. In WSS, the loyalty lies with the lover instead of the family, as we observed when Maria continued to love Tony after he killed her brother in cold blood.

The purpose of this paper is to review and verify a recent study by Scott H. Decker of the University of Missouri – St. Louis, entitled Collective and Normative Features in Gang Violence (Decker & VanWinkle, 1996). The study will attempt to address why our local increase in gang violence has reached monumental heights causing an increase in gang members appearing your court.

     Charles leaves the room, and intentionally walks toward and past the two men as a challenge. They ignore him, but chase after their suspect (filmed from high above) in a desolate, abandoned lot, quickly losing his track and appearing astonished by his abrupt disappearance. The camera turns up and to the left, discovering the cigar-smoking character in profile on a rooftop. From a cinematography point of view this is the most Film Noir portion of the film. In a dark and dirty setting it introduces us to the good guys and the bad guy, culminating in a chase scene.

The gangster movie genre is one of the most popular among the modern movies and some of the best film directors have produced some very excellent gangster movies. For my first film analysis, I decided to analyze my favorite gangster movie of all time. The movie that I analyzed is called “Scarface” and is directed by Brian De Palma. It was released in 1983 and is still a super hit movie today. Let me go through a short summary of the movie.

Mario Puzo’s "The Godfather" was the first and most influential gangster movie that paved the way for gangster movies of the future. The movie was directed by Frances Ford Copolla, who made many different ingenious ways to portray this gangster classic. The movie was a very subversive movie, and one of the first of all time.The Godfather has a many different uses of light settings through the whole movie, in which the movie can be interpreted on.

The scene is set at night time so all the light in the scene is artificial from the street lamps; the light is dim but harsh casting dark shadows and creating a chiaroscuro effect, this is iconic of film noir and crime movies and it signifies that evil

According to Thomas Schatz, in most gangster films, the genre dictates that the gangster always gets killed or goes to jail. There is nothing different that will, or should happen, and Scarface closely follows Schatz’s model of Hollywood’s genres. Schatz’s model is concerned with the movie’s alignment with classical Hollywood setting and narrative.