The 1930's and 40's were a famous time for gangsters, mobs and mafias. The God Father directed by Francis Ford Coppola and written by Mario Puzo focuses on this era. Gangster genre films always seem to have dark colors and low lighting, usually an urban city location and outfitting is formal, props in these films are guns, cigars/cigarettes, drugs and money. Everything is put in a film for a reason and all these elements combine to create a typical gangster setting. But, The God Father was not a typical gangster film. Mario Puzo used many, if not all of these elements but he refined the gangster genre using intricate editing techinques. In the first scene at his daughters' wedding, Bonasera asks Don Carleone to avenge his daughters assaliant. The lighting in this scene was dark and the camera angles high and low symbolizing who had the most power. It worked for this particluar scene because they were doing a back door dealing and also showed us how Don Carleone was looked up to and respected by others. The film is set in 1940's New York, Don Corleone and his men are always seen in formal wear, and Corleone had a cigar in a number of scenes although we dont see stacks of money all the time it is shown to us indirectly when we see his mansion and expensive cars and fancy dinners. This also worked for the film because it was historically correct, 1940's New York was home to many mobsters and crime families and the outfits represented their status in society. In my opinion I
In multiple Italian mafia inspired movies such as The God Father, an American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, family, companionship, and the community surrounding the characters is truly important. Relationships can be shown through the mood that encompasses a neighborhood; A Bronx Tale showed this by making sure
The gangster genre within films in America has accomplished numerous positive criticisms and constant willing audiences due to containing outstanding spectacles and mind-blowing action. The Godfather, being second on the IMDb Top 250 Movies, has set a new popular concept to life within the Mafia from their point of view. Doing so, creating a positive association. Yet within Italy, the same topic contains a complete different view. Movies such as I Cento Passi demonstrate unenthusiastic view by those whom are outside yet negatively affected by those members. Unlike American films, the gangsters are not as often viewed at the protagonist and are the main causes for the problematic events. But how different is Italian Mafia and American
Francis Ford Coppola directed the gangster crime drama film, The Godfather (1972), inspired by the novel of the same name, written by Author Mario Puzo. The film plays out in the beginning how Don Corleone declined to join the narcotics business with notorious drug lord Sollozzo. With this in mind, one of the greatest gangster films created by a man who decided to lead, and not follows. Moreover, explaining the formalist approach for this film which covers an array of elements that include plot structure, camera techniques, editing, mise en scene, and sound. The following film critique will analyze “The Godfather,” beginning by utilizing the formalist approach theory, camera technique and sound gradually introducing additional theories
In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, symbols are implemented to help the readers Identify and understand the leitmotif of the novel. One commonly found symbol is Janie’s hair, which represents her personality, individuality, and character. The state of her hair changes as the novel progresses and Jamie goes through different stages of life, struggling to find true love. Using Jamie’s hair to express her feelings and emotions throughout the novel, Hurston highlights the theme that finding true love and happiness requires one to be free and adventurous in life without letting any obstacles or events alter one’s character.
The United States is a notoriously patriarchal society in which men view women as objects and their own possessions. Through history, men consistently constrained the rights women have to equality and self-expression because they deemed women as inferior. As a result, feminist movements erupted and propelled the importance of self-identity in victims of oppression, not just in females. One element of these movements was the use of literature as social protest. Zora Neale Hurston is an author who predominantly wrote through the Great Depression to advocate for equality, specifically for African American women. In her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston employs the symbolization of hair and the motif of speech to substantiate that one must be confident in making decisions to have individual power.
The critically acclaimed film, Goodfellas, is a gangster crime drama that features an incredible amount of talent. Household names such as: Robert De Niro (Jimmy Conway), Joe Pesci (Tommy DeVito), Paul Sorvino (Paul Cicero), and promising stars like Ray Liotta (Henry Hill) and Lorraine Bracco (Karen Hill), attracted numerous Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. That type of cast power, linked with the signature talent of Martin Scorsese as a director, made for cinematic gold. Unquestionably, the actors and actresses did an excellent job augmenting the verisimilitude of this film and compelling audiences to empathize with their characters. But the cinematography in this film plays just as large a role in having audiences feel what the characters are feeling at a specific moment. Through the use of freeze frames, we learn of significant moments that shape Henry into the man that he is. By means of first-person narration we are able to know exactly what is going through a particular character’s mind. Finally, wonderful editing made great use of point of view and multiple jump cuts, which added to the sensation that we are undergoing the same experiences as the characters on screen. I will go into further detail and specify scenes that convey these elements as the essay progresses. Altogether, Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas effectively depicts paramount scenes and allows the audience to empathize with the characters by virtue of stylistic editing and cinematography.
Throughout the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, objects and symbols recur. Zora Neale Hurston’s writing is full of metaphors that illustrate the complex concepts that are significant in the novel. Hurston’s compelling use of these symbols help clarify the deeper meaning of Janie’s travels, thoughts, and experiences. The author’s tells the story by using copious amounts of symbols, some of which are Janie’s hair, the pear tree, and the horizon.
The American films The Godfather I and II directed by Francis Ford Coppola, included mise-en-scene to emphasize certain characteristics and themes during both films. In this essay I will discuss how mise-en-scene was used to portray the lives of the Mafia families in the 1940s and 50s.
To define a film by a certain genre, there are several elements and signatures that a film will display in order to signify its place amongst the genre. A film from the gangster genre is characterized by violence and lawlessness of american capitalism and The American Dream. The short lived classical era of the gangster genre in Hollywood is also greatly influenced by the production code which manifested the iconic moral narrative of the gangster genre. William A. Wellman’s 1931 film The Public Enemy can be considered a film of the gangster genre when one examines the conflict with the American dream, the rise and fall of the protagonist Tom Powers, as well as the visual storytelling employed to support the narrative.
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.
THE GODFATHER, made in 1974, details the Corleone crime family in Manhattan during the mid 1930s. The Don, Vito Corleone, played by Marlon Brando, leads his organization against a relentless narcotics push by a rival family, the Sollozzos. Vito Caleone does not want anything to do with drugs because he believes they will be the downfall of the Mafia. The story, covering a ten year time period, offers a rich tapestry of Mafia life from the inside, drawing the audience into witnessing the transfer of power within a close-knit family
Foremost, to be human means that geography can influence an individual and possibly one's community. In To A God Unknown, Joseph moves from California from Vermont. He develops a ranch over the time he is there. He worships the land and is able to provide a home for his three brothers. The land become a small community. Joseph became so influenced by the land he ended up killing himself as a sacrifice for it. When Joseph kills himself, it starts raining. All the townspeople celebrated by dancing and music. Father Angelo decided not to celebrate, but to think of Joseph. He remembered Joseph asking him to pray for the land and for rain to come. Joseph never prayed for himself or others, just for the land. Father Angelo thought of Joseph and “how
I am writing about the use of lighting in the opening scene of The Godfather, (1). The
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 juvenile delinquent or (JD) films, as which they have came to be better known as, started as a movie cycle and was very characteristic of hollywood in its prime. Looking back at another cycle which can be seen as similar and a precursor, both in the approach of the overall approach and the themes of the films would be the gangster films of the 1930s. These movies saw successful breakthrough in the box office and from this box office success saw a increase and spawn in countless