ItalianAmerican Traditions in film
Work Ethic
A Bronx tale is a story of a father who tries to win back the love and pride of his son from a showy neighborhood mob boss. In my opinion this film is the best portrayal of work ethic. Lorenzo, played by Robert DeNiro, plays a father who tries to teach his son that discipline and hard work pay off from working, in the long. His son Calogero, played by Lillo Brancato, is exposed to the life of a mob boss Sonny, played by Chazz Palmenteri,, and doesn’t understand why he should live a life of difficulty when he can have a life of luxury. He tries to explain to his son that the men in the community don’t look up to him, but rather they fear him He also tries to make clear that it’s easy to do what he does, but try waking up every morning and working everyday, that’s a real man.
Throughout the film Sonny and Calogero develop a very close relationship. More than just a friendship, Calogero looks up to him as if he were a father figure. Sonny tells Calogero that he does not want him to do what he does, he does it because he has to; he has no other way out. He wants Calogero to finish school and make something of himself, and not to follow in his footsteps. Sonny feels like there’s always someone out there out to get him and never feels safe. He doesn’t want Calogero to have to go through the same thing.
In the film Sonny murdered another person because of the fact that he took he took his parking spot. This haunting feeling he has throughout the film finally comes true in the final scene of the movie as the son of the father that was murdered earlier comes back for vengeance and kills Sonny. This action of revenge is another stereotype of Italian-American men. As the film ends Calogero is in the prime of his life so we do not know how his life continues. The viewer, in this case me, thinks that because of this dreadful ending Calogero will follow the advice of Sonny and his father to complete school and life his life like every other hard working individual in America, because as his father mentioned earlier hard work pays off in the end.
The feeling of obligation that Pete and Sonny’s brother feel, results from their education. In both stories, the parents pass away and it puts the strongest brothers in front of their obligations as ...
According to his brother, who narrates "Sonny's Blues," Sonny was a bright-eyed young man full of gentleness and privacy. "When he was about as old as the boys in my classes his face had been bright and open, there was a lot of copper in it; and he'd had wonderfully direct brown eyes, a great gentleness and privacy. I wondered what he looked like now" (Baldwin 272). Something happened to Sonny, as it did to most of the young people growing up in Harlem. His physical journey growing up in the streets caused a great deal of inner turmoil about whom he was and what kind of life he was to have. One thing for sure, by the time his mother died, Sonny was ready to get out of Harlem. " 'I ain't learning nothing in school,' he said. 'Even when I go.' He turned away from me and opened the window and threw his cigarette out into the narrow alley. I watched his back. 'At least, I ain't learning nothing you'd want me to learn.' He slammed the window so hard I thought the glass would fly out, and turned back to me. 'And I'm sick of the stink of these garbage cans!' " (Baldwin 285).
He still buys him an alcoholic drink at the end of the story because, he has accepted his brother for who he really is. Harlem is the setting of this story and has been a center for drugs and alcohol abuse. The initial event in this story shows that Sonny is still caught in this world. Sonny says that he is only selling drugs to make money and claims that he is no longer using. In the story the brother begins to see that Sonny has his own problems, but tries to help the people around him by using music to comfort
In conclusion, Sonny’s Blues depicts the love of a brother through the narrator, who at the beginning was disengaged, unsupportive, and emotionally distant. However, the turning point was when Grace died. This triggered a great turmoil of feelings that overflowed the narrator leading him to a major and impacting change. Instead, he turned into being involved, supportive, understanding, honest, and accepting of his brother Sonny; regardless of the reality that there was no guarantee his pain would not consume his life.
As "Sonny's Blues" opens, the narrator tells of his discovery that his younger brother has been arrested for selling and using heroin. Both brothers grew up in Harlem, a neighborhood rife with poverty and despair. Though the narrator teaches school in Harlem, he distances himself emotionally from the people who live there and their struggles and is somewhat judgmental and superior. He loves his brother but is distanced from him as well and judgmental of his life and decisions. Though Sonny needs for his brother to understand what he is trying to communicate to him and why he makes the choices he makes, the narrator cannot or will not hear what Sonny is trying to convey. In distancing himself from the pain of upbringing and his surroundings, he has insulated himself from the ability to develop an understanding of his brother's motivations and instead, his disapproval of Sonny's choice to become a musician and his choices regarding the direction of his life in general is apparent. Before her death, his mother spoke with him regarding his responsibilities to Sonny, telling him, "You got to hold on to your brother...and don't let him fall, no matter what it looks like is happening to him and no matter how evil you get with him...you may not be able to stop nothing from happening. But you got to let him know you're there" (87) His unwillingness to really hear and understand what his brother is trying to tell him is an example of a character failing to act in good faith.
The first of these occurs on page 124, just after Sonny's older brother learns of Sonny's arrest, when he spots one of Sonny's old friends from their younger days. Sonny's brother immediately expresses his disdain for this man, thinking “I'd never liked him. And now, even though he was a grown-up man, he still hung around that block, still spent hours on the street corners, was always high and raggy. … Now, abruptly, I hated him.” In the aftermath of Sonny's drug-induced arrest, it is easy to understand why Sonny's brother would feel anger towards this person. However, he goes on to state “'don't tell me your sad story, if it was up to me, I'd give you one.' Then I felt guilty – guilty, probably, for never having supposed that the poor bastard had a story of his own, much less a sad one.” In this moment, Sonny's brother experiences a revelation that causes him to relate this man to his own brother, noting the parallels between the two. His newfound empathy allows him to view Sonny's friend in a completely new light, making an effort to understand how he ended up in such sad shape, rather than merely dismissing him as a lowlife. Sonny's brother realizes that any label he applies to this man could just as easily be cast on Sonny through the eyes of
The older brother, the narrator, finds himself struggling at the beginning of the story. While riding the subway, he reads in the paper that Sonny has been arrested for possession of drugs. During his day of teaching, he reflects on prior years with Sonny and their past adventures as young boys. He remembers Sonny's "wonderfully direct brown eyes, and great gentleness and privacy." The narrator sees his brother as a good boy, not "hard or evil or disrespectful." He wonders how many of his algebra students are similar to Sonny in appearance and personality along with his drug habits. This comparison allows the older brother to conclude that Sonny was probably not arrested on his initial use of drugs. It also allows the narrator is see that Sonny may be like most of the other young boys in Harlem.
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that, examining post classical at which time the relationship between them will become evident. It is my intention to reference films from both movements and also published texts relative to the subject matter. In order to illustrate the structures involved I will be writing about the subjects of genre and genre transformation, the representation of gender, postmodernism and the relationship between style, form and content.
...school. Under those circumstance, Sonny’s brother disprove the idea of being a musician. Therefore, even though narrator did not support Sonny dreams in the end he did accomplish his dream as a musician. Although the relationships are based on different events, it shows the same point that both narrator did have loves for their daughter Emily and Sonny. As a final point view family member was not be able to support cause of lack of circumstances in the family.
With the narrator having a responsibility to take care of his brother, he consistently forces the fact that he wants his brother to be well off and not care about his passion in music. The older they got, the more they drove away from each other because of the fact the narrator becomes overly protective with Sonny, and uses a “tough love” strategy though it does not making any positive effect. After they took some time apart, they both realized they cannot emotionally make it in this world without one
Sonny’s brother and him finally decided to reconcile when Gracie, Sonny’s niece, passed away at a young age. The brothers wrote back and forth and one thing became clear to Sonny’s brother, music affected him. Sonny’s brother always saw the music/jazz scene as an unhealthy lifestyle full of drugs and scandal. The only thing Sonny would really reinforce was that it was not because of the music. Sonny came back to New York after rehab from heroin and came to see the old neighborhood in Harlem. The brothers see that they have so much to be thankful for and that they will always have each other.
After discovering what has happened to Sonny, the narrator makes it seem as if he does not care and does not want interference in the life he has worked so hard to create. This is proven when the narrator discusses what has happened to Sonny with one of his brother’s friends. As shown through this quote, the narrator is not concerned about what has happened to his brother and believes it is not his responsibili...
This issue becomes a conflict for the two siblings that grows tension among each other. Sonny expresses to the narrator that he wants to become a jazz musician. For example, the narrator explains, “It seemed- beneath him, somehow. I had never thought about it before, had never been force to, but I suppose I had always putt jazz musicians in a class with what Daddy called “good-time people” (pg. 86). In my opinion I think the narrator feels appalled that his brother wants to become a jazz musician because he thinks of them as people who hang around clubs and clown around. Both siblings don’t see eye to eye, the narrator sees it as Sonny wasting his time and Sonny sees it as being his career. The exposition of the narrator finding his younger brother in a newspaper resulted on reconnecting their relationship. Also, the conflict of the two siblings was their argument of not seeing the same
Women’s roles in movies have changed dramatically throughout the years. As a result of the changing societal norms, women have experienced more transition in their roles than any other class. During the period of classical Hollywood cinema, both society and the film industry preached that women should be dependent on men and remain in home in order to guarantee stability in the community and the family. Women did not have predominated roles in movies such as being the heroin. The 1940’s film Gilda wasn’t an exception. In Gilda, the female character mainly had two different stereotypes. The female character was first stereotyped as a sex object and the second stereotyped as a scorned woman who has to be punished.
When "C" consulted his father about Jane, his father told him that he believed people should always marry others of the same race. Despite what his father told him "C" decided to take Sonny's advice and go out with Jane. In this scene, Sonny showed his influence on "C" because "C" decided to go out with Jane even though she was not of the same race as him. Although Lorenzo and Sonny both encouraged "C" in different ways, I think Sonny had the greatest influence on him. "C" showed this when he took Sonny's advice about dating Jane Williams, a black girl even though his father seemed to disapprove. This is evidence that the influence of Sonny took priority over his father's wishes.This was a moving film about a boy named Cologero and his life choices. Throughout the story he is faced with many choices he has to make based on the advice given to him by Sonny or/and his father, Lorenzo. Lorenzo is his real father but many times in the story he mentions that he considers Sonny to be like a father to him also. As a result, in more than a few situations he chooses to follow Sonny's advice over Lorenzo's. "C" grew up following the mob and eventually learned one important lesson. He learned that all the choices made throughout a person's life, would affect that person's life