Symbolism In The Departed

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

Shortly after Tom had visited Mr. Wilson, he arrives at a party, at which Myrtle, and several others, are at. Myrtle taunts Tom by repeatedly shouting Daisy’s name. Tom cannot keep his anger to himself and recognizing Myrtle’s lower class background, he makes “a short deft movement (...) and broke her nose with his open hand” (Fitzgerald 37). Despite Tom’s aggression, his violence towards the lower class is disrespectful. By tolerating or putting up with the lower class, the higher class allows them the opportunity to obtain the desirable American Dream. However, Tom’s intolerance obscures the reality of living in prosperity, which gives the lower class no purpose to work towards their unreachable goals. In other words, not being tolerated and being disrespectful gives the lower class no hope or ambition to achieve the 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

“It’s a funny thing. You’d think that if there was a war going on in your own country, it would make your life different.” (Collier 38) Tim, the protagonist, is trying to live an ordinary life during time of the Revolutionary War as he works on his family’s tavern. However, his brother Sam wants to join the Rebel Army and wants to defeat the British, otherwise known as the Loyalists who Sam and Tim’s father support as they support the king. In My Brother Sam Is Dead the author’s James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier use the Brown Bess to symbolize power and authority.

The house is where Carl and Ellie first met each other as kids, where they chose to spend the rest of their lives together and turned it into the home of their dreams. As the movie gets going Carl 's house symbolizes his connection with Ellie and how he is holding on to her memory by staying with the house, even if it’s inconvenient or unnecessary. Carl isolates himself from the rest of the world and his house seems a refuge from everyone and everything that want something from him.

Of the many literary devices used by writers to make their work more powerful and layered, symbolism is one of the most effective, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a text that relies heavily on its use to develop its narrative. The novella recounts, in the form of a pseudo-journalistic reconstruction, the murder of Santiago Nasar in a small Colombian town in the mid 1900’s. Through the course of the novel, Marquez employs various symbols to reinforce key ideas, themes and techniques. This helps the novella break the monotony of a linear storyline and unfolds the plot in a unique way that compounds both effect and meaning.

Another character development showed an example in the move, “Spirited Away” when Master Haku, a boy in the spirit world who assisted Chihiro seemed as though he couldn’t be trusted; however, the scene flipped where Haku was shown as a loving caring person. Additionally, in “Ponyo” an example was also shown of Sosuke, a little boy helping Ponyo when she was trapped in a jar; at first, the way the director depicted that scene, it seemed as if the boy was going to hurt Ponyo which turned out not to be the case, that he too, like Haku was a loving caring human being. From the narrator’s point of view all of the characters looked suspicious, that some of them needed something; towards the end of the movies, the audiences could tell that the director was trying to alter the human perceptions.

In the novel A Long Way Gone, there are many examples throughout that emphasize the theme by using symbols. The hip hop cassettes that Ishmael carries around with him are an important symbol as without them he would not have been able to survive. It also provides the image of his lost childhood. The music was able to assist him in many ways of survival. On his journey Ishmael uses them to show his talent and passion, and to prove to other’s that he is just a teenage boy trying to escape from the war. “I ran toward the fire, but the cassettes had already started to melt. Tears formed in my eyes, and my lips shook as I turned away." (Beah 110). Once the cassettes were gone, he lost all hope. Beah created a clear and evident meaning behind the

Tom has been controlled by wealth ever since he was born into a rich family. Tom and Daisy’s negligence is what eradicates their morality. Their view of life is absurd which causes their foolish actions. Money is their leverage against society and the world. Tom also continues to show his licentiousness through his affair with Myrtle. When Tom and Myrtle first exchanged looks at the garage, Myrtle “walked through her husband as if he were a ghost, shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye” (Fitzgerald 26). Tom then says, “I want to see you. Get on the next train” (Fitzgerald 26). Being already married to Daisy, Tom still decides to have relationships with other women, clearly indicating the his indecency. He acts as if what he is doing is acceptable because his possession of money provides him a sense of self-conceit. The upper class assumes that since they have money, they are able to do anything they want, whether it is ethical or not. Based on the events in East Egg, Fitzgerald is able to explicitly stress how wealth is one of the factors that intensifies moral decay in society.

Pat Conroy’s memoir, “The Water is Wide,” is about his life on Daufuskie Island, also known as Yamacraw Island in the book. Conroy spent a year teaching on the island in a little two room schoolhouse. The Yamacrawans were rural African-American people that by leaving on the island had basically no knowledge of anything beyond the island. Conroy tells of all the troubles he faced while teaching on the island and all the struggles he faced with outside forces. Conroy uses the setting, the title of his book, symbolism, and different themes to express what the year he spent teaching there was like.

In literature authors always have a theme to their book. Typically, authors make use of elements in their book to paint the picture for the central theme. Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five is no exception to this norm. Slaughterhouse-Five uses symbolism to support the theme that free will may not exist.

Ray Bradbury, perhaps one of the best-known science fiction, wrote the amazing novel Fahrenheit 451. The novel is about Guy Montag, a ‘fireman' who produces fires instead of eliminating them in order to burn books (Watt 2). One night while he is walking home from work he meets a young girl who stirs up his thoughts and curiosities like no one has before. She tells him of a world where fireman put out fires instead of starting them and where people read books and think for themselves (Allen 1).

The movies describes a major theme of “The Departed” as one of the oldest in drama—the concept of identity—and how it "affects one's actions, emotions, self-assurance, and even dreams.” Many years later, an older Sullivan, now in his mid twenties, (Matt Damon) is finishing his training for the Massachusetts State Police with classmates, including fellow cadet Barrigan (James Badge Dale). In another class are Cadet Brown (Anthony Anderson) and Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio). All four men graduate to become state troopers. Sullivan is a sergeant, and has just passed the state trooper detective test. He goes in to meet with the calm and collected Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen), and the aggressive and

The Departed, a film written by William Monahan, Alan Mak, and Felix Chong, directed by Martin Scorsese, was in my opinion a spectacular crime-thriller deserving of less criticism from overly sentimental viewers. Though this film is in some scenes brutal and vicious, I praise Martin Scorsese’s refusal to cower away from the undeniable truth that organized crime in the United States is murderous in nature just to satisfy certain viewers as critics advocated he should. Being a four time Oscar winning film with sixty-three other awards for numerous aspects in the movie industry, I don’t believe anyone can contradict that The Departed is profoundly unforgettable to masses of moviegoers.

Khaled Hosseini writes the novel, The Kite Runner to make readers think of how his use of symbolism and other