Thursday, September 12, 2019
Film Genre (English Class) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Film Genre (English Class) - Research Paper Example The success of the gangster film with audiences later influenced filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, whose 1972 epic The Godfather casts its criminal characters as appealing archetypes of good ââ¬Å"family men,â⬠doing whatever is necessary to survive and thrive in a dangerous world. The growing popularity of gangster films in the first three decades of the twentieth century owes a great deal to the American publicââ¬â¢s fascination with notorious real-life gangsters such as Al Capone. The gangster cut a dashing figureââ¬âhis sharp dressing style, marked by ââ¬Å"pinstripe suits, fedoras, and fancy neckties,â⬠created a whole new image for the American gangster, serving to ââ¬Å"legitimize their status as businessmenâ⬠and allowing them to represent themselves as ââ¬Å"a model of the new American ideal for the urban working classâ⬠(Beshears 197). Of course, his carefully-crafted outward appearance served to disguise the fact that Capone was, for all intents and purposes, little more than a common criminal. Like many of his criminal contemporaries, Capone made a fortune bootlegging liquor after Prohibition was enacted in 1920. Yet Capone and his cronies were not roundly vilified for their criminal activity. Instead, the public became enamored with the heady tales of the ongoing struggle between gangsters and the police who sought to shut them down. The ââ¬Å"old moral orderâ⬠(199) had broken downââ¬âin its place, many Americans had begun to embrace ââ¬Å"a nihilistic outlook on lifeâ⬠(198) driven by disillusion in the wake of World War I. The resulting lack of optimism and distrust of authority created an environment in which gangsters were painted almost as folk heroes. They were perceived by many to be Robin Hood-type figures fighting the establishment on behalf of the downtrodden. In reality, however, the gangsters were solely in it for themselves, eager to make a profit even through the most nefarious of me ans. Based in large part on the infamous persona of criminals like Capone, the ââ¬Å"gangster filmâ⬠became a popular genre, exploding into success in the early 1930s. The gangster film is a sub-category of crime films in which the main characters are part of a gang or are otherwise affiliated with a crime organization or mob. The film typically depicts the rise and fall of the main character, a man whose ruthlessness, cunning, and unrepentant narcissism take him to the top and cause his subsequent downfall. The movies are set in large cities so as to ââ¬Å"provide a view of the secret world of the criminal: dark nightclubs or streets with lurid neon signs, fast cars, piles of cash, sleazy bars, contraband, seedy living quarters or rooming housesâ⬠(filmsite.org). The movies are generally bloodbathsââ¬âmultiple characters die as a result of their association with the gangster. Though in the earliest gangster films, much of the violence occurred off-screen, later film s almost gleefully depicted the random violence associated with the gangster way of life. Additionally, these films are crafted as ââ¬Å"morality tales: Horatio Alger or ââ¬Ëpursuit of the American Dreamââ¬â¢ success stories turned upside down in which criminals live in an inverted dream world of success and wealthââ¬
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