1. I thought that the Godfather was an excellent representation of early organized crime in the 1950s. I actually liked how it started out in the beginning when Vito's daughter was getting married. I like how the men talked business during formal events such as weddings and dinners in the movie. Vito Corleone could grant his friends wishes because he had so many connections in New York. If anybody failed or betrayed one of the families then they would be punished. I learned through this movie that the business side of things have to be separate from personal things. In the Godfather, both of those aspects got in the way of each other and created violence and hatred.
2. Vito Corleone is the "moral" center of the story because he is the head of the Corleone family that makes everything fall into place for the family. He is the one who had organized connections with police and judicial people behind his scheme. He made things possible for his family. I thought the way he died was unfortunate; it would have been better if he just died when he got shot. I guess in the grand scheme of things, the death of Vito would make the world a better place but I believe it does not. Vito desperately wanted to keep narcotics out of organized crime but other families thought it was an opportunity for bigger money. Vito claimed that the reason for all this violence was the involvement of narcotics in the business.
3. The main thing that is different from a "closed world" perspective is the relationships within the family and business partners. Also, the connections that the families had with police and judicial officials was very clear. From my perspective the movie isn't really a classic for me because I did not live during that time when organized crime was at its peak. I might have a different opinion if I experienced hearing things on the news about organized crime and just being exposed to it from the "outside" world.
I agree with you that Vito's death doesn't make the world a better place. I think you're right in saying that he really was a truly good person and did have a set of morals he lived by, and he was trying to keep the rest of the families from becoming more corrupted.
ReplyDeleteI like how you said "the business side of things have to be separate from personal things" and the Corleone family had rules not too talk business in front of women or on the dining table but these get a little out of order after Vito is injured. But later Michael brings back the piece his family once had. I don't agree with you on the part about Vito dying when he got shot, that would have made everything worse with no one to give suggestions to Michael to keep the family safe.
ReplyDelete