The themes that surround the violence in The Godfather coupled with the political corruption the movie portrays makes the violent actions of the Corleones and other crime families seem almost justified. The themes in the violence include violence being a matter of business, justice, asserting power, or a threat to be used for intimidation. The corruption in the government goes beyond political figures into law enforcement. Not even the captain is immune being bought out by the crime families.
The movie depicts violence as being a matter of business and a matter in which emotions should play no role. The members of the organized crime ring that is the Corleone family have made a point of not only acting in this way, but outright stating in regards to violence “it’s not personal, its business.” The grief that he corleones go through when Vito is dead at the end of the film made obvious the fact that they understand the sanctity of life. They were able to justify their complete destruction of life by drawing the line between their personal lives and the business they must attend to as a part of the Corleone family. When Michael was punched by the obviously corrupt McCloskey, he is reminded by his family the next day not to take it personally. Moe Green admits to “straightening out” Fredo though violence but states that the family should not take offense to it, that it was merely something he had to do as a businessman. When Sonny found out that his caporegime Tessio had betrayed the family to a rival, he arranged for Tessio to be killed. Sonny was able to remove emotional attachment from someone in his crime family to punish him as he saw fit.
Violence can be used as a very effective means of attaining and holding on to power. Hi...
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...from Vito showed clearly that he was taking sides in the battle between families. He wanted to clear out the guards so that Vito could be assassinated. He later shows his biased position against the Coreleons when he punches Michael in the face.
In all, the existing system of justice is broken from corruption. Having people take matters into their own hands is common and seems to be the only thing that gets results. In addition to using violence for justice, the characters in The Godfather use it to achieve their business objectives. This includes intimidation to bend people to do the family’s will and the outright murder of other powerful figures in rival families. The corruption present in the movie and the effectiveness of using violence to accomplish business objectives makes violence seem like the only plausible solution to the problems the characters face.
The example in this movie is the leader of the Ax gang being able to bond all this criminals even from other gangs to him. An example is the crocodile gang joining up in the beginning with the Ax gang. The next theory in the film is Marx’s theory of crime. His theory states that everyone sees everybody as a rival to be exploited for personnel gain. This is relevant in the film with every conflict in the film Sing vs pigsty alley he sees them as an easy target for personnel gain by exploiting them. In the part of theory that crime serves who parasitically live off criminal function. This part of the theory is met by The Ax gang who live like parasites off the crimes the commit. The next conflict theory that we can see in the movie is Bongers theory. Bongers theory is crime is function of criminal thought and egoist societies are more likely to have more criminal activity over ultraistic society. This theory is shown in the movie by the egoist criminals the ax Gang vs Ultraistic society of pig sty alley. Since it is more of an egoist society in the movie that is reason why there is so much crime in the movie. The next theory is Quinney which is law is applied by visibility and degree of threat to perceived
Social Control Theory: Hirschi’s social control theory has been pervasively used to explain the occurrence of gangs and specifically gang membership. However, rather than focusing solely on why individuals choose to become involved in criminal behaviour including organized crime, Hirschi begins his analysis by asking, “Why do most persons conform to societal norms?” (Abadinsky 2010, 25). Consequently, according to Hirschi individuals choose to engage in delinquent behavi...
With this fact, we can apply sociobiological theory to explain why Igagni was killed. Since the days of the first people, people have always assumed a need for territory, which correlates with the human need for survival. For example living on top of a hill, would have been smart in the middle ages as they could have seen their enemies coming. Through evolution, this genetic impulse for Territory has simmered down into a constant feeling of needing more. Most humans fulfill this desire with materialistic possessions such as the new iPhone and a big house. But for members of society from lower classes who can’t purchase these things, or for people who can’t find satisfaction in material, participating in gang activity can sometimes fulfill this lust for power and territory. Igagni’s murderer could 've committed the murder for many specific reasons but whether it have been for money, revenge, land, information or just an example, all of these traits fall under the umbrella of territorial desire. This desire can be illustrated using the approach taken by Wilson, affirming the thoughts of territoriality and how the approach can create criminal actions. In the textbook, they specifically give the example of gang violence saying “the violence associated with street gangs would be a good example of the aggressiveness associated with territoriality.” (O’Grady, 2014, 78). The evolutionary desire of territory can be demonstrated by gang violence, specifically the murder of John Igagni, therefore the sociobiological theory of crime gives us a clear and concise approach to analyzing gang homicide in
... Mafia, had helped criminals obstruct the justice system (10,13). It was claimed to be “impossible to get a jury of men courageous enough to try criminals” because of their power and ruthlessness (10,14). This prevented any violent criminals from being incarcerated and kept many of them on the streets to keep creating violence. Crime groups such as the Mafia run by Torrio controlled elections for their benefit, like in Cicero in April 1924, where gunman and mafia members stood outside election ballots to intimidate the voters (11,909). Criminals such as Dion O’banion, an Irish bootlegger, were treated as celebrities. When O’banion died in 1924, his funeral was attended by nearly 20,000 mourners (12,137). It was clear that due to the power and wealth that the illegal smuggling had given criminals, law and order was certainly at the mercy of organized crime (12,137).
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 Mafia in cinema?
more clearer when put in the light of an analysis of how the mafia enterprise
The bosses often used prostitutes to "sweeten" deal between rival leaders or crooked politicians. They were as dangerous as the trained killers were, because they possessed something more powerful than guns. They were just as ruthless as the men that put holes in people's heads; they only came in a nicer package. The Mafia men of the 1920's and 1930's were some of the most influential men in American history. They robbed banks, killed people, stole, cheated, lied and corrupted an already corrupt country. They were not role models, and they did not aspire to be. They were businessmen, men who had only two objectives, money and power. They saw a need for something and they produced it.
In the study done by Alleyne and Wood (2010), gang members often commit more crime against people in comparison to individual criminals as they are influenced in committing crime by their peers. Some of these gang members would commit crime to gain higher ranking within the gang, or use it as a means to prove their worth to the gang. However, amount of violence these gang members would commit would vary depending on their rank and status. Anti-authority attitudes are also developed by a gang member once he is a part of the group; however, this may vary in gravity depending on the experiences held by the member when engaging with the authorities. If they engaged with these authorities properly, it would lessen the degree of anti-authority. However, should their contact result negatively, it may instill further aggression towards the authorities. Anti-authority attitudes are seen by many experts as one of the common justifications and reasons why people are lured into joining these gangs (Alleyne & Wood,
The Mafia is an Italian secret criminal society. The Mafia, or syndicate, impacts cities all around the world. Most of the effects of the Mafia are negative, but there can be several positive effects on the culture and economy of the cities in which it frequents.
Values of Gangs/Gang members are defined as collective ideas on the job whether in office or in the field about what is right or wrong, good or bad, desirable or undesirable in that specific culture/gang. Examples from the movie are being able to prove you are touch enough to be in the gang by getting jumped in, seeking revenge on another gang, and what illegal activity needs to be done for survival and respect earning reasons.
Growing up with one’s family shapes and defines them. The lessons they learn early in their childhood, carries throughout their life and it determines if one is prone to violence or not. Similar to the novel, In Cold Blood, the healthier the relationship with family, the more likely the attempt to have a better life is.
It is the Godfather that demands the family stick with family and never side with any one out side of the family no matter the situation. Vito the Godfather would remind them family is family and no one will miss treat or use any member of the family. He proves this point when his godson comes to him about a problem with a director name Jack Woltz. Because Jonny Fontane is the godson the Godfather Corleone will send his step son who is consigliere to the family to California to advise the director to hand the part over to Fontane.
The film begins with a wedding, and this setting sets the stage for the basic theme of the movie, which is family. ?The Godfather?, isn?t necessarily about organized crime. Crime is merely the family business, and crime is the way in which the author of the novel in which this film is based on used to set up the interactions and conflicts between the members of the Corleone family. In fact, this film could probably work even without the Mafia themes. At heart it is just a movie about the structure of a family from generation to generation.
When we hear the words gangster or mobster, the first picture that comes to mind is bloodshed and violence. But Warshow shows us in his writings that this is not necessarily the case by giving us examples from the movie The Godfather of how the family is very similar to a normal everyday household yet very different at the same time. The family has this unique kind of courage that allows them to do what they want without having to care about what they can lawfully do. The family does not openly talk abou...
Crimes are considered unlawful acts that can be punished by authorities. Crimes can be done individually or groups known as gangs. “A gang is a group of recurrently associating individuals or close friends or family with identifiable leadership and internal organization, identifying with or claiming control over territory in a community, and engaging either individually or collectively in violent or illegal behavior (Wikipedia). Prior to watching World 's Most Dangerous Gangs, the only gangs I ever heard of were the Bloods, Crips, Yakuza, and Russian Mafia. Gangs in general are considered a nuisance and dangerous. Hollywood depicts gangs like the Yakuza and Russian Mafia to be brutal,