The ‘reincarnation of the gangster film, replete with glamour, extreme brutality and an uncanny eye for the humanness and rivals of their ink would later breath life into the T.V. creation, glorious bloody The Sopranos’[1].
Similarly the representations are also reflected in a diversity of contemporary gangster films, such as ‘American Gangster’[2]. The protagonist in the film plays a lead role of a gangster. Which in this case Frank Lucas (Danzel Washington) in several scenes enables the audience to associate his personality in relation to being a gangster due to the brutal stereotypical conventions that Frank fulfils.
In particular, during a specific scene[3] during the film, Frank exits a café after gazing out the café’s window and discovers his enemy walking along the same street of the café. Once catching up to him, Frank confronts him about debts that he owes Frank, which his enemy demands more time. As Frank Lucas does not approve of his command at that moment, Frank then fires his hand held pistol and unmistakably kills his enemy in public.
Evidently, the iconography with the use of the gun shown and the fact that it is even fired symbolises a murdering aspect of the lead character. Given that he also fires the firearm in public illustrates how it is a source of expression of anger. The fact that it was fired in public could possibly influence the audience to possible believe domestic violence is appropriate considering it could provide individuals with authority and allows them to expresses seriousness. Again, Frank’s character is portrayed as being victorious after committing bloodshed as it allowed him to simply vanished and defeat his rival.
To some extent, people may agree that particular films categorised under the Gangster genre ought to be banned from viewing due to the murdering and the criminal offences stereotypically portrayed by the lead gangsters as part of their nature. Typical ‘conventions of a 1930’s gangster genre are smart suits, acts of violence, murder, weapons, and luxury items associated with the lifestyle such as cigars and fine liquors’[4]. Despite films aging since the 30’s, they still have an influencing effect on today’s society (hypodermic needle theory; audience influenced and determined to perform the actions as viewed from text). The thuggish mentality the gangsters portray with their weapons (props) are in actual fact considered as being socially concerning to people as young as 10 years old. ‘Children aged 10 and 11 will be lectured against gun and knife crime under an Operation Trident programme. This should hopefully ‘prevent them getting involved in gangs, drug dealing and violence in some areas of the capital’[5] city. However on the other hand others may find gangster films extremely entertaining due to the misdeeds as well as the accessories the gangsters are associated with which connote their lives as being excitingly triumphant. Audiences are said to ‘like the concept of genre because of its reassuring and familiar promise of patterns of representation and variation. Elements of the genre are often repeated again and again and can be used over a long period of time. For instance in a gangster film, we expect to see some, or all, of the following elements, which will also properly have been in a gangster film from the 1930s: guns, villains, violence, urban meetings, mafia, beautiful women’[6].Following the concept of the Gangster genre as being appealing to some, the movies part of the genre are therefore thought as being entertaining considering they can be described as being a ‘source of information and knowledge’[7]. This is primarily because the antics preformed by actors such as the way they ‘operate outside the law, stealing and murdering their way through life’[8]. Unmistakably they are not usual norms that are considered in civilised society. When watching gangster movies, clearly the hypodermic needle theory is occurring taking into account that the activities that gangsters tend to perform are clearly against the law, thus enhancing scenarios to seem entertaining and as a route of escapism for viewers.
Again, the lives that the gangsters portrayed in the films can be viewed as being exhilarating given that they usually tend to do whatever they feel satisfied with in their lives (e.g. not caring if breaking the law). As the gangsters exploit living a wealthy and joyful lifestyle, the audience would therefore perhaps adore the behavior that is porteyed by the gangsters as the viewers may not be able to perform the actions of the gangsters in reality. When the audience gets pleasure from viewing the gangsters lifestyles, clearly ‘Richard Dyer’s Theory of Utopian Solutions’[9] with the intention of making the text seem astounding for the viewers. ‘Dyer (1992) proposed that media texts helped make up for some of the deficiencies of modern life. Intensity; most people’s lives consist predominantly of routine, such as going to work or collage, raising family etc. Media texts offer world where exciting things happen as a matter of course, and this is pleasurable for the audience. One of the key pleasures of the media texts is seeing worlds where people can drop whatever they’re doing and peruse adventures without any apparent financial cares. We also like to see glamorous and exotic locations and lifestyles that contrast with our own’[10].
The criminal is always the one ‘gaining status, and this rise on the social ladder makes him, in Schatz's definition, "the perverse alter-ego of the ambitious, profit-minded American male". The expensive clothes, flashy cars, and attractive women visually signalthe criminal’s growing status he acquires’[11]. The more activities such as killing and robberies that the gangsters usual perform, the more the professional they develop as being a gangster. The better they become, obviously the higher their income as gangsters primarily commit offenses in order to earn capital. After obtaining large sums of money, gangsters can at that point afford to splurge out their black money on luxuries seeing as they have so much.
A prime example of a gangster film that illustrates the main gangster to be living a glamorous lifestyle would perhaps be one of the greatest drug trafficking gangster films of all time, Scarface[12]. The films reflects the time it was directed as Miami (setting) had huge numbers of deaths leading from cocaine addition as well gang wars. Effectively the movie had in fact illustrated the life of many of the rich and famous also living within Miami at the time given that the lifestyle of Tony Montana (protagonist) is an exaggerated view of the American Dream. Unmistakably the audience is able to see the dramatic lifestyle change he face since he is a deprived individual whom suddenly becomes a multimillionaire within a period of 12 months. Living a lavish lifestyle as he has it all, the essential such as a house (mansion in his case) in addition to numerous delights such as bright colored designer suits, jewelry, technology (T.V. in bath tub, CCTV), a tiger as a pet and performance cars.
The gangster film is all about ‘law, order and crime, but unlike any other crime and police genres, it focuses upon the figure of the gangster. Therefore, while the gangster film is about law, order and crime it commonly takes a specific angle on the subject no matter which is represented through the character and the narrative of the gangster. It concentrates as much on power and corruption and the ambiguities of law enforcement as it does on the need for justice to prevail and for the gangster to be punished. This arises from its concern with the criminal rather than the police and how it treats the social world of crime and its relation to the institutions of law and order’[13]. Unmistakably with the misdeeds represented by the gangsters and possibly the law enforcements at times, the genre therefore gives the impression that characters (not only gangsters) are victorious and rewarded in some sort of way after breaking the law. Oppose to the gangsters, films tend to promote crime since characters such as the police force that violate the law are seen as living a lavish lifestyle superior to the officers that obey the law correctly.
In particular, the 2001 movie ‘Training Day’[14] illustrates the protagonist’s sidekick as leading a role of undercover police detective in California but however commits offences similar to the victims he targets to arrest (street gangsters). In a city where streets are overrun by drug dealers, the narrative includes the protagonist and his sidekick to commit several crimes throughout the movie thus illustrating the law enforcement fulfilling the role of being gangsters in order to earn a few extra dollars in order to become rich similar to the stereotypical gangsters.
Gangster films ‘are morality tales: Horatio Alger or 'pursuit of the American Dream' success stories turned upside down in which criminals live in an inverted dream world of success and wealth. Often from poor immigrant families, gangster characters often fall prey to crime in the pursuit of wealth, status, and material possessions (clothes and cars), because all other "normal" avenues to the top are unavailable’[15] to them.
In comparison to 1972 film ‘The Godfather’[16], the protagonist Don Carleone is known to be a wealthy hit man/gangster despite growing up in poverty after migrating to the United States from Italy during his youth. Family loyalty is seen as the strength to the success of the Corleone family. The lead gangster Don Vito Corleone and his family seem to be very well orientated and at the same time respected by other mob bosses in the city. In this case, the don carries on the tradition of his gangster lifestyle in his family unlike any other gangster film where the criminal lifestyle is usually separated away from the gangsters’ families. As the family loyalty code must not be broken, it is what makes all the gangsters in the film that much stronger and wise as they must always think before they act (such as making a kill). Relevantly the structure of the criminal lifestyle has not changed until today but however it still demonstrates and fulfils the traditional view of a nuclear family. It used a patriarchy structure similar to its time when it was filmed; the man of the family is the breadwinner (worker) whilst his wife simply cooks and cleans the house.
Dating back since 1912 when first ever gangster film ‘The Musketeers Of Pig Alley’[17] was released, the ideologies have always remained the same until to present films that are produced today.
Corruption in Gangster films plays a key role as it illustrates how characters strive for success despite the target they aim to archive is morally wrong. Corruption demonstrates how characters are influenced and can therefore reflect how the audience are influenced by elements in the movies and can show how far the teens are willing to go in order to achieve their aspiration (lavish lifestyles). Furthermore, another ideology includes the crime to never pay given the fact that the bad guys (either protagonist of associates) always tend to die or are punished in the end after committing their bad deeds and becoming rich (e.g. 1983 Scarface).
Similarly the representations are also reflected in a diversity of contemporary gangster films, such as ‘American Gangster’[2]. The protagonist in the film plays a lead role of a gangster. Which in this case Frank Lucas (Danzel Washington) in several scenes enables the audience to associate his personality in relation to being a gangster due to the brutal stereotypical conventions that Frank fulfils.
In particular, during a specific scene[3] during the film, Frank exits a café after gazing out the café’s window and discovers his enemy walking along the same street of the café. Once catching up to him, Frank confronts him about debts that he owes Frank, which his enemy demands more time. As Frank Lucas does not approve of his command at that moment, Frank then fires his hand held pistol and unmistakably kills his enemy in public.
Evidently, the iconography with the use of the gun shown and the fact that it is even fired symbolises a murdering aspect of the lead character. Given that he also fires the firearm in public illustrates how it is a source of expression of anger. The fact that it was fired in public could possibly influence the audience to possible believe domestic violence is appropriate considering it could provide individuals with authority and allows them to expresses seriousness. Again, Frank’s character is portrayed as being victorious after committing bloodshed as it allowed him to simply vanished and defeat his rival.
To some extent, people may agree that particular films categorised under the Gangster genre ought to be banned from viewing due to the murdering and the criminal offences stereotypically portrayed by the lead gangsters as part of their nature. Typical ‘conventions of a 1930’s gangster genre are smart suits, acts of violence, murder, weapons, and luxury items associated with the lifestyle such as cigars and fine liquors’[4]. Despite films aging since the 30’s, they still have an influencing effect on today’s society (hypodermic needle theory; audience influenced and determined to perform the actions as viewed from text). The thuggish mentality the gangsters portray with their weapons (props) are in actual fact considered as being socially concerning to people as young as 10 years old. ‘Children aged 10 and 11 will be lectured against gun and knife crime under an Operation Trident programme. This should hopefully ‘prevent them getting involved in gangs, drug dealing and violence in some areas of the capital’[5] city. However on the other hand others may find gangster films extremely entertaining due to the misdeeds as well as the accessories the gangsters are associated with which connote their lives as being excitingly triumphant. Audiences are said to ‘like the concept of genre because of its reassuring and familiar promise of patterns of representation and variation. Elements of the genre are often repeated again and again and can be used over a long period of time. For instance in a gangster film, we expect to see some, or all, of the following elements, which will also properly have been in a gangster film from the 1930s: guns, villains, violence, urban meetings, mafia, beautiful women’[6].Following the concept of the Gangster genre as being appealing to some, the movies part of the genre are therefore thought as being entertaining considering they can be described as being a ‘source of information and knowledge’[7]. This is primarily because the antics preformed by actors such as the way they ‘operate outside the law, stealing and murdering their way through life’[8]. Unmistakably they are not usual norms that are considered in civilised society. When watching gangster movies, clearly the hypodermic needle theory is occurring taking into account that the activities that gangsters tend to perform are clearly against the law, thus enhancing scenarios to seem entertaining and as a route of escapism for viewers.
Again, the lives that the gangsters portrayed in the films can be viewed as being exhilarating given that they usually tend to do whatever they feel satisfied with in their lives (e.g. not caring if breaking the law). As the gangsters exploit living a wealthy and joyful lifestyle, the audience would therefore perhaps adore the behavior that is porteyed by the gangsters as the viewers may not be able to perform the actions of the gangsters in reality. When the audience gets pleasure from viewing the gangsters lifestyles, clearly ‘Richard Dyer’s Theory of Utopian Solutions’[9] with the intention of making the text seem astounding for the viewers. ‘Dyer (1992) proposed that media texts helped make up for some of the deficiencies of modern life. Intensity; most people’s lives consist predominantly of routine, such as going to work or collage, raising family etc. Media texts offer world where exciting things happen as a matter of course, and this is pleasurable for the audience. One of the key pleasures of the media texts is seeing worlds where people can drop whatever they’re doing and peruse adventures without any apparent financial cares. We also like to see glamorous and exotic locations and lifestyles that contrast with our own’[10].
The criminal is always the one ‘gaining status, and this rise on the social ladder makes him, in Schatz's definition, "the perverse alter-ego of the ambitious, profit-minded American male". The expensive clothes, flashy cars, and attractive women visually signalthe criminal’s growing status he acquires’[11]. The more activities such as killing and robberies that the gangsters usual perform, the more the professional they develop as being a gangster. The better they become, obviously the higher their income as gangsters primarily commit offenses in order to earn capital. After obtaining large sums of money, gangsters can at that point afford to splurge out their black money on luxuries seeing as they have so much.
A prime example of a gangster film that illustrates the main gangster to be living a glamorous lifestyle would perhaps be one of the greatest drug trafficking gangster films of all time, Scarface[12]. The films reflects the time it was directed as Miami (setting) had huge numbers of deaths leading from cocaine addition as well gang wars. Effectively the movie had in fact illustrated the life of many of the rich and famous also living within Miami at the time given that the lifestyle of Tony Montana (protagonist) is an exaggerated view of the American Dream. Unmistakably the audience is able to see the dramatic lifestyle change he face since he is a deprived individual whom suddenly becomes a multimillionaire within a period of 12 months. Living a lavish lifestyle as he has it all, the essential such as a house (mansion in his case) in addition to numerous delights such as bright colored designer suits, jewelry, technology (T.V. in bath tub, CCTV), a tiger as a pet and performance cars.
The gangster film is all about ‘law, order and crime, but unlike any other crime and police genres, it focuses upon the figure of the gangster. Therefore, while the gangster film is about law, order and crime it commonly takes a specific angle on the subject no matter which is represented through the character and the narrative of the gangster. It concentrates as much on power and corruption and the ambiguities of law enforcement as it does on the need for justice to prevail and for the gangster to be punished. This arises from its concern with the criminal rather than the police and how it treats the social world of crime and its relation to the institutions of law and order’[13]. Unmistakably with the misdeeds represented by the gangsters and possibly the law enforcements at times, the genre therefore gives the impression that characters (not only gangsters) are victorious and rewarded in some sort of way after breaking the law. Oppose to the gangsters, films tend to promote crime since characters such as the police force that violate the law are seen as living a lavish lifestyle superior to the officers that obey the law correctly.
In particular, the 2001 movie ‘Training Day’[14] illustrates the protagonist’s sidekick as leading a role of undercover police detective in California but however commits offences similar to the victims he targets to arrest (street gangsters). In a city where streets are overrun by drug dealers, the narrative includes the protagonist and his sidekick to commit several crimes throughout the movie thus illustrating the law enforcement fulfilling the role of being gangsters in order to earn a few extra dollars in order to become rich similar to the stereotypical gangsters.
Gangster films ‘are morality tales: Horatio Alger or 'pursuit of the American Dream' success stories turned upside down in which criminals live in an inverted dream world of success and wealth. Often from poor immigrant families, gangster characters often fall prey to crime in the pursuit of wealth, status, and material possessions (clothes and cars), because all other "normal" avenues to the top are unavailable’[15] to them.
In comparison to 1972 film ‘The Godfather’[16], the protagonist Don Carleone is known to be a wealthy hit man/gangster despite growing up in poverty after migrating to the United States from Italy during his youth. Family loyalty is seen as the strength to the success of the Corleone family. The lead gangster Don Vito Corleone and his family seem to be very well orientated and at the same time respected by other mob bosses in the city. In this case, the don carries on the tradition of his gangster lifestyle in his family unlike any other gangster film where the criminal lifestyle is usually separated away from the gangsters’ families. As the family loyalty code must not be broken, it is what makes all the gangsters in the film that much stronger and wise as they must always think before they act (such as making a kill). Relevantly the structure of the criminal lifestyle has not changed until today but however it still demonstrates and fulfils the traditional view of a nuclear family. It used a patriarchy structure similar to its time when it was filmed; the man of the family is the breadwinner (worker) whilst his wife simply cooks and cleans the house.
Dating back since 1912 when first ever gangster film ‘The Musketeers Of Pig Alley’[17] was released, the ideologies have always remained the same until to present films that are produced today.
Corruption in Gangster films plays a key role as it illustrates how characters strive for success despite the target they aim to archive is morally wrong. Corruption demonstrates how characters are influenced and can therefore reflect how the audience are influenced by elements in the movies and can show how far the teens are willing to go in order to achieve their aspiration (lavish lifestyles). Furthermore, another ideology includes the crime to never pay given the fact that the bad guys (either protagonist of associates) always tend to die or are punished in the end after committing their bad deeds and becoming rich (e.g. 1983 Scarface).
[1] Sanders, Jon, (2009). The Film Genre Book, pg. 124
[2] American Gangster, 2007, Ridley Scott, U.S.A.
[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI8PFLRSjVQ
[4] Sanders, Jon, (2009). The Film Genre Book, pg. 158
[5] http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/nov/13/primary-anti-gun-workshops
[6] Rayner, Philip Wall, Peter and Kruger, Stephan. AS Media Studies, pg. 55
[7] Wilson, Pauline and Kidd, Allan, (1998). Sociology and Modern Studies, pg.34
[8] http://www.slideshare.net/newestprod/film-genres-presentation
[9] Andrews, Maggie and Stevenson, Elspeth, (2009). AQA Media Studies: A2 Media Studies, pg.144
[10] Ibid
[11]http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/egd_01/egd_01_00212.html
[12] Scarface, 1983, Brian De Palma, U.S.A.
[13] Strinati, Domonic, (2000), An Introduction To Stereotyping Popular Culture, pg.55
[14] Training Day, 2001, Antoine Fuqua, U.S.A.
[15] http://www.filmsite.org/crimefilms.html
[16] The Godfather, 1972, Francis Ford Coppola, U.S.A.
[17] The Musketeers Of Pig Alley, 1912, D.W. Griffith, U.S.A.
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