Gangster movies are, by common knowledge stories, about crime and the lives of criminals Essay Example

Gangster movies are, by common knowledge stories, about crime and the lives of criminals Essay Example Gangster movies are, by common knowledge stories, about crime and the lives of criminals Essay Gangster movies are, by common knowledge stories, about crime and the lives of criminals Essay Essay Topic: Back in the World Stories Pulp Fiction The Godfather Gangster movies are, by common knowledge stories, about crime and the lives of criminals. Heroes of these movies are individuals who make their living through robbing banks, murdering, or any other illegal activity. Gangster movies are not concerned with the morality of the crime to great extent, but rather try to show the character of criminals free from judging them for what they do. The moral message of the movie is usually placed at the end of it, when criminals most often finish tragically. So, through the movie, gangsters are heroes, who gain respect because of their good style and power they have. The golden age of gangster genre started in 1930s during the Depression Era and the Prohibition Era between 1930 and 1932, when contemporary organized crime was on the rise. (www/filmsite) The genre became very popular through the time, when the problem of organized crime was widespread, and it continues to be popular today. The reason for the perpetuity of the crime topic is the persistence of crime in reality, and its constant development in the sense of variety. This progressive nature of crime did not allow the genre to stagnate in story, but the real changes within the characteristics of it came thanks to couple of individualistic directors like Tarrantino or Guy Richie. In this essay I will present the basic characteristics of a classic gangster movie The Godfather by Martin Scorsese and the changes brought into the genre in Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarrantino. The variances within the gangster genre on the example of The Godfather and Pulp Fiction are represented by playing wit h the gangsters manners, intellect, appearance, the degree and illustration of violence, through increasing speed of the actions in the movie, or simply by emphasizing the role of music in the movie. : The Godfather is a movie about powerful Corleone family, whose main business is crime. The movie analyses the structure and organizational culture of Sicilian Mafia, which is very similar to any other gangster organization, but also differs from it in many ways. For the purpose of the comparison with Pulp Fiction I will pay attention only to general characteristics of the gangster genre in the movie, leaving out the facts that are typical only for Sicilian Mafia. The boss Don Corleone (Marlon Brando) and his son Johnny (Al Pacino) are the heroes of the movie. They earn respect through businessman style in dressing, good manners in public, or power they have. The power of a gangster is his gun, that makes him dangerous, the coldness of his face expression, as he never smiles, his good style and manners being his reference power, and his mysterious unpredictability and determination. Johnny and Don do not talk much, all the conversation is mostly about business and there are no suffici ent words, or jokes. This is one of the things that Tarrantino broke in his Pulp Fiction. Tarrantinos heroes, Vincent (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) are not typical gangsters. They are dressed in black suits and have guns, but they rather earn laugh than respect. Jules and Vincent do not talk only about business but about hash in Amsterdam, French language or foot massage. So, seeing them on the way to kill someone while talking about cultural differences between U.S. and Europe makes us very confused about their identity and the identity of genre in the entire film, and we laugh in disbelief. Tarantino plays with the genre, not missing out the fact that these guys are dangerous as they cold-bloodedly shoot many people in the movie, but as well giving them the common-person characteristics and not making them icons but familiar people. In this way he rejects to make Jules and Vincent gangsters from the cliche, or absolute gangsters in any life situation. When they go out off-duty they wear shorts and funny T-shirt, Vincent is putting his belly out and loosing his authority and fearfulness among the viewers. Vincent and Jules are rather half gangsters-half comedians. The comedian side is emphasized, and the respect to Vincent is undermined more by the fact that he is on drugs most of the time. Unlike Don Corleone and Johnny who are soberly concentrated, serious and always alert, Vincent is dizzy, panicking and his mental detachment almost causes the death of bosss wife (Umma Thurman). Another material change within the genre between these two movies is the vividness of pictured violence. Martin Scorsese chooses to make the murders look clean and his gangsters, when killing, stay in control over the situation. Little blood is shown, and the murder is well planed and driven by the utility of the organization. Tarantino exaggerates in violence and amount of blood Jules and Vincent even kill by mistake, so they look clumsy, unorganized, and comical. Yet again, the respect for the gangster is undermined and it looks like Tarantino mocks the genre. The difference in the tempo of these two movies is substantial. The Godfather has slower flow of actions and breaks between the scenes of crime are longer and contain the analytical description of the gangster culture. Scorsese is showing us that all illegal activity is carefully planed in front and by that, at the same time he slows down the action and builds respectful figure of the gangsters. Pulp Fiction is chaotic in tempo. It has faster turnovers from one murder to another danger, slows down for a while and unpredictably thrusts into another action. Vincent and Jules are not putting much intellectual effort into their crimes, and they fall from one action to a trouble and so on. The background music in The Godfather is unnoticeable. It is mostly traditional music performed live on the weddings and funerals. It doesnt serve like a tool to reinforce certain atmosphere of the scene or situation. Tarantino uses music to provoke certain feeling or to mock the situation and make us laugh. The music is loud and plays its role, it speeds up the dangerous situations and often at the same time with its comic lyrics turns the situation into grotesque. The gangster genre is not dying. Its popularity is determined by the continuous existence of crime in reality. The transformation of gangster myth from The Godfather to Pulp Fiction doesnt necessarily mean the devaluation of the genre but is purely individualistic variance of it. Both Scorsese and Tarantino are enriching the genre with its movies. Tarantino manages to balance between parody and seriousness of the gangster picture, on the other hand Scorsese provides us with in-depth, but traditional portrayal of the world of organized crime. The Godfather in 1972, was determining the genre in the reality of 70s, and in 90s Tarrantino liberates the genre in the spirit of the age.