Goodfellas: American Gangster Film

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‘Goodfellas’ is a film about American gangsters; we know this because of the images that are in the opening scene. The first thing we see after the opening credits is a Pontiac Grand Prix which is a popular American car (during the 70s), you cannot find one of these cars anywhere but in the U.S., and this is the first image that shows us we are watching an America gangster film. After that scene we see a black screen with the words “New York, 1970”, this time period was infamous for mobsters/gangsters. The final piece of imagery that tells us that we are watching an American gangster film is the narrator; he (Ray Liotta) has a strong, distinguished American accent. A viewers’ generic expectations of a gangster film are fulfilled by the costumes,

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