The Public Enemy Genre Analysis

Films have proven to have significant impact on the ways in which we perceive or make sense of the society in which we live in. In an increasingly post-literate society, where aliteracy is becoming commonplace, there is no doubt that film is considered to be a major medium in the ways in which people inform and educate themselves. The use of film as a tool to understand history is becoming a popular approach and is a much-debated topic among historians who question the legitimacy of using films as a historical source. This essay will argue that film can be used effectively as a historical source in relation to studying ideas about gangsters. This will be demonstrated through examining the representations of gangsters in films and will also

　　　　The movie “The Public Enemy (1931)” revolves around the lives of two young men who venture into crime despite having solid

The film “Goodfellas” represents a clear in depth view of achieved deviant statuses within a large counter culture. The film details the lives of organized criminals, and their roles as gang members. The film is set in Brooklyn New York during the mid-nineteen fifties through the late eighties. This film expresses socialization, ethnocentrism, social sanctions, and three sociological perspectives.

The characteristics of crime films are illegal activities, violence, and conflict or drama between two or more characters.

In conclusion, The Public Enemy is a movie of multiple layers and oppositions made intentionally to stitch together a storyline that would have otherwise been a series of separate episodic events. The movie is reflexive of the time with the war, the Prohibition in the picture which, in a way, has established a somewhat opposing stand against established intuitional powers with the image of the

The movie traces the life of an aspiring gangster, Henry. At the beginning, he is an ambitious adolescent willing to work for the local mafia. He succeeds, gradually rises through the ranks, and wins respect from the boss, Paul Cicero. This protagonist also makes friends with his “colleagues” James (Henry’s personal role model) and Tommy (who is amiable yet almost sociopathic when offended).

The way in which gangster figures are portrayed with consideration to gender roles and ethnicity within each film will be analysed. ‘The Godfather’, ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Scarface’ are being explored because they are three movies known for being inspirational in establishing the gangster genre conventions at various points in film history. ‘Scarface’ was highly influential within this genre and when it was released there was not the same censorship as there is in the 21st century. The representation of gangster figures has been a controversial topic throughout the 20th and 21st century and Dr Fran Mason argued that ‘The gangster film has…been considered to be a subversive form of filmmaking’. Whether it was because of how Italians were portrayed

Gangster films have revolutionized cinematic filmography since the 1930s. In the article, it was mentioned that gangster films have a mixture of theory and history (Butters, 2005). As a result, several scholars looked at a variety of different essays dealing with criminality. They wanted to look how criminality within these films has transformed over time. They did this by focusing on the topics of gender, race, and sexuality. This was considered to be a unique approach since essays past focused on individualism.

Genre Study The film example that I have chosen for this gangster genre study is Brian De Palma’s Scarface (1983). Scarface written by Oliver Stone portrays the rise and violent fall a Cuban exile Antonio “Tony” Montana played by Al Pacino. He arrives in Miami, Florida initially working as a dishwasher and a hitman. The film portrays his rise through the organized crime ranks becoming cocaine drug kingpin.

Post World War II culture in the U.S was considered a very dark period as citizens were recovering from actions of the war.  However, citizens in America liked the fact that film noirs had reflected the harsh point-of-view of everyday people in the streets and they craved to see real actors in real settings, opposed to the “studio built streets” that they had watched previously in the 1930’s (www.librarypoint.org). There was also a constant fear in the heart of most Americans as the Cold War was present, and nuclear threats held their presence from the Soviet Union.  This sense of pessimism and mistrust in the American culture of the time had directly been portrayed in the U.S film industry in the 1940’s as, “Americans wanted a harsh view of society from the perspective of everyday people on the streets” (www.librarypoint.org).   Therefore, The Postman Always Rings Twice, is a perfect example of how Hollywood displayed these characteristics through the corrupt, unhappy fate of Frank Chambers and Cora Smith.

Description: Public Enemies is a film set in the United States during the depression era. It follows the escapades of infamous gangsters John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Baby Faced Nelson as they thwart the FBI’s efforts to capture them. The film primarily focuses on Dillinger, who it could be argued is the main character, though it also takes the perspective of FBI agent, Melvin Purvis. Purvis realizes that the only way the FBI can stop the gangsters is to play by their rules. After upgrading their equipment and their tactics, the FBI begins to make progress in their campaign to stop the crime wave.

 Martin Scorsese makes the gangster life, or the life of an unjust man, seem easy and preferable through his use of romantic elements in his film. His unjust man, Henry Hill, is protected from every angle from the law by way of his position in the mob, and thus is free from punishment. However, when the narrative form of the film switches, it is revealed that Henry is not protected from his own self-indulgence and that his life is much worse than that of a just individual – a man free of harsh personal burdens.

The two films I analyzed are Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944) and Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1992) they follow the film noir tradition, which, according to Blaser (2008) is a style more directors moved to employing after the world war. Averagely, film noir explores the many aspects of being human such as the greed, lust, love, truth, and lies. The two films move away from the tradition of the previous films that insisted on the family as central to humanity with women and men having different roles in society. While the first movie, as the name suggests, is about an insurance policy and the two leading characters manipulate others to their benefit, the second is about a group of thieves who ambush one another. A typical film noir follows and encounters the same traits could lead regarding, as Blaser terms it in A Short Description of film noir, “thematic content” (Blaser, 2008). The directors of both films use lighting and shadows to manipulate the mood of the films and the black and white, low lit scenes which compliment the dialogues between characters. Wilder’s Double Indemnity tells a tale of murder, love, and betrayal while Reservoir Dogs is about crooks who get caught up in a diamond heist that fails to run smoothly due to deception. Both films showed the underbellies of society by human actions led by greed and lust, they often make the perpetrators forget what could happen when things go wrong hence some of the characters in both films end up facing the consequences for their involvement.

Movies have changed and it appears that less of them fit the classic guidelines of what original film noir demands. Film noir is defined as a type of crime film featuring cynical and malevolent characters in an unflattering setting. Such settings may include an ominous atmosphere that is enforced by shadowy photography and foreboding background music (Dictionary). Accurate portrayals of the genre include, but are not limited to: Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Carol Reed’s The Third Man, and John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon. These films are perfect examples of film noir because they are stylized crime dramas with similar attributes.

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