Brian Bass
Essay Writing
Ceci Cravens
3.21.04
From War Hero to the King
of the Underworld:
Michael Corleone’s Image
and stereotype in The Godfather
The Italian mafia and all
that it glorifies have been scrutinized through film since the beginning of the
twentieth-century. The images that the
masses have come to know and accept as the Italian mafia were created from the
beginning stereotypes in Italy. Even
before many Italians arrived in the United States, it was understood that in
the old country there was a calculated system of families that thrived off
organized crime. When they immigrated to
America that stigma stuck to the Italian’s image.
In
Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, the stereotypes of wealth and
violence help perpetuate many of the blatant images of the Italian mafia. Throughout the film there are many obvious
stereotypes. For one, there is the
actual look of the gangster. The pin-striped
suit, the expensive jewelry and the heavy Italian accent are all presented in
the duration of the film. However these
stereotypes did not originate from The Godfather, but from gangster
films of the 20’s and 30’s like Scarface (1932). In these films the characters are very
similar to those in The Godfather in the way they dress, speak and
behave, but Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather is the epitome of all
the stereotypes of the Italian mob.
The protagonist of The
Godfather is Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), a decorated war veteran with
honor and principles who slowly finds himself descending into the mafia
limelight after a coup against his father.
In this film the stereotype of an Italian mobster creates the image and
identity of Michael Corleone, which the public then finds believable. Michael’s conformity into the Italian mafia
is caused by the pressures from both the corrupt outside world and the fast,
gaudy lifestyle of his family. Jessica
Hagedorn, a screenwriter and novelist writes in her essay “Asian Women in Film:
No Luck, No Joy”:
As I was growing up in the
Philippines in the 1950’s, my fertile imagination was colonized by thoroughly
American fantasies (355).
As how Hagedorn explains, Michael is a victim of the
American dream ideology of the 1950’s. This
theory of starting over and rising to the top of a capital empire helped and
hurt many people during this time period.
Michael, being a war hero, wanted to come home to a society of peace
where everyone lived a very average, communal life. What he experienced when he arrived was
something he did not expect. At one
point in the wedding scene Don Corleone (Michael’s father and mob boss)
confronts his son on why he is wearing a military uniform.
MICHAEL
I fought for my country. It was my choice.
DON CORLEONE
And now, what do you choose to do?
MICHAEL
I'm going to finish school
DON CORLEONE
Good. When you are finished, come and talk to me. I have hopes for you.
The Godfather is a film that questions
the brutality of absolute power.
Michael, who is pressured from everywhere by figures of heavy authority struggles
to find his identity and finally confides in his family; the mafia.
In the second half of the
film the audience witnesses the dramatic transformation of Michael
Corleone. After his father is attacked
by a rival family, Michael decides to run the family business while his father
recovers from the bloody diatribe. At
this point Michael adopts many of the images that the masses associate with the
Italian mafia. Since he is in a position
of great power, Michael must act as though he is harsh and heartless. He starts wearing pin-stripped suits, a
classy hat and even carries himself in a more-tough, adamant manner. All these changes he makes are to further
reaffirm his corrupt colleagues in the government into believing Michael is
confident enough to run the business. In
actuality, the changes he makes only distance himself further from being
accepted by society. In his essay “So
You Wanna Be a Gangsta?” Todd Boyd, a professor at the University of Southern
California’s film school states:
And though their desire,
being heavily influenced by the discourse of an ‘American Dream,’ was to
ultimately be fully assimilated into American society, the achievement of this
desire was revealed to be at the cost of losing their ethnic and cultural
heritage (345).
Ultimately, the pressure from the outside world
against Michael Corleone forces him into a dissident lifestyle; thus creating
the image of a “gangster” persona. In a
scene where Don Corleone is lying on his deathbed, he talks to Michael about
what he has become.
MICHAEL
Then why have I become a man like you?
DON CORLEONE
You are like me, we refuse to be fools, to be puppets dancing on a string pulled by other men. I hoped the time for guns and killing and massacres was over. That was my misfortune. That was your misfortune. I was hunted on the streets of Corleone when I was twelve years old because of who my father was. I had no choice.
At this point, Michael understands his personality
change into what his father knew what would happen a long time ago. Don Corleone saw himself within Michael and
knew that one day Michael would be the next Don.
Throughout the film many stereotypes of
family, traditions and violence arise.
Besides the many stereotypes, there are many overt images of Italian
mobsters in the film. With all of this
said, do the stereotypes of the brutal underworld and the gaudy images of
themselves accurately portray the Italian-American mafia in The Godfather?
The
full descent into the Italian ethnicity is evident in The Godfather. Todd Boyd, on The Godfather writes:
It is Francis Ford
Coppola’s argument that such oppression forced these Italian immigrants into a
subversive lifestyle and economy….Borrowing from their own cultural tradition,
some of these new Americans used the underground economy as a vital means of
sustenance in the face of ethnic, religious, and cultural oppression (345).
The level of detail Coppola creates in this film
allows the old stereotypes of Italians to regenerate and foster stereotypical
images of themselves as hard-fisted, greased up gangsters. With these constant images throughout the
film, Michael lies in the center being the epitome of the stereotype creating
the image. Before he was involved with
the family, he thought, dressed, and acted differently; but now that he has
fully immersed himself into the mafia he carries along the image of an Italian
gangster, just like the rest of his family.
When Michael goes to Las Vegas to meet with his older brother Fredo
about the gambling business, he says one simple line that fully explains his
own transformation:
FREDO
Mike, you sure about Moe selling. He never mentioned it to me and he loves the business.
MICHAEL
I'll make him an offer he can't refuse.
Before those words were only used by his father (which
meant his father would threaten their clients life until they agreed), but now
they are used by Michael indicating that he is using the methods his father
used. That simple line is very ironic because
when Michael returned home from the war he swore he would never be like his
father, but here he is in Las Vegas using the words his father used many times
in matters of business.
When many people watch gangster films
like The Godfather they are witnessing what may be their only base of judgment
of the Italian mafia. In all honesty,
not that many people know or have met a mafia member, so their image of an
Italian mobster is purely generated by Hollywood filmmakers. When the masses watch these films they are
witnessing the image and the stereotype being created right before them. In the common viewers eye a gangster is
someone who dresses in suits, acts violently and talks with an uneducated
accent; but in actuality many of these images and stereotypes may not be
true. In order for the public to
understand this Italian subculture, the filmmakers have to make generalizations
and from these generalizations come the image and the stereotype. These
depictions of how the mafia took actions into their own hands may be similar to
how the actual mafia behaves, but a lot of the brutal actions found in The
Godfather could definitely be exaggerated; and from these bluffs comes the
imprinted vision of image and stereotype.
The character of Michael Corleone is so vital to the core of this film,
but not only for the storyline, but for him to be an example how the stereotype
of his own people transformed him into the image of what we have all come to
accept as the Italian mafia.
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