The Gangster Genre

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The Gangster Genre

• The Mob Boss and Necrophilia
• A discussion on Gothic themes present within
  Italian organized crime media

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This is a crash course on the study of Gothic
themes

• The Gothic template stems from the biblical fall
  of man.
• There are two important characters within the
  Gothic set up
• The savior, light, or heavenly character
• The dark, earthly or doomed character, that
  is lifted to a more heavenly status through the
  savior, but in turn, drags the savior down to
  earthly levels

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• Women are more commonly portrayed as the savior
  character.
• Men are almost always the earthly characters. In
  most cases they are described as a Byronic
  hero, in that they are seriously flawed heroes.
• In rare instances, women may be considered the
  dark character. in which she plays a femme
  fatale or sexual temptress.

4

• Godfather Trailer
• Michael Corleone

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The Gangster Genre

• Lets look at the Gangster genre and how they fit
  into this Gothic set up so far. For simplicitys
  sake, well use the Godfather trilogy.
• The Dark, Earthly Characters?
• Michael Corleone, Vito Corleone, Apollonia
• The Savior?
• Kay Adams

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Why is that?

• There are a few reasons why Michael and Vito
  Corleone fit into this Byronic hero scheme.
• Specifically in the second film, we see how Vito
  has risen against the vile organized crime he had
  immigrated into and has become the hero of the
  Italian ghetto in New York.
• Michael Corleone states that he is trying
  desperately hard to create a legitimate business
  out of his fathers organized crime business.
• Family and religion are extremely important to
  both characters.

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What makes them Byronic?

• Michael Corleone fails to ever create a safe and
  entirely legitimate enterprise out of his
  fathers legacy, a failure that ultimately costs
  him two marriages and two children.
• Both Vito and Michael gain power by violent,
  illegal and morally corrupt means.

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So what does this mean?

• The Corleones present a common theme within
  organized crime movies and TV shows.
• There is a strong sense of moral ambiguity,
  another crucial aspect to the Gothic template
• The viewer feels inclined to show empathy for the
  mob boss, and also feels strongly against their
  means of achieving social status, and ultimate
  costs on the family and moral and religious
  values.

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But what about Kay?

• Kay is the savior character against the
  Corleones
• She is soft-spoken, understanding and eventually
  becomes an unintended victim due to her marriage
  to Michael.
• She encourages Michael to create a legitimate
  business, in addition to becoming godfather to
  his nephew.

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The Savior

• Kay presents the typical savior in most gangster
  films in TV shows.
• In Goodfellas Karen Hill
• Comes from a reputable Jewish family.
• In the end, is putting up with Henrys
  extramarital affairs, and is hiding cocaine in
  the toilet and guns in her underwear.
• In The Sopranos Carmela Soprano
• Consistently tormented by her children, husbands
  infidelity and lifestyle, but decides to put up
  with it in exchange for material gain.

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Apollonia

• In other films and TV shows, this character may
  be a mistress, rather than first wife.
• She is a dark character or femme fatale because
• She is presented in many instances in a very
  natural or origin-like setting an old town in
  Italy
• She is described as a tempter to men and a most
  desired woman throughout Sicily.
• While she is only in the series for no more than
  30 minutes, she is the only woman to show frontal
  nudity.

12
You mentioned necrophilia earlier

• Apollonia may seem minor to the plot of the
  movie, but is important from a Gothic standpoint.
• Gothic characters seem to continuously run into
  instances of necrophilia, intentionally or not.
• In this case, Michaels first wife is killed due
  an assassination attempt on his life.

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• Throughout the entire trilogy, Michael is haunted
  by their marriage, in which he continually thinks
  about her and her death, and thus fantasies of
  sex with his dead wife.
• This is also true for TVs gangster on General
  Hospital
• Sonny is so consumed with the murder of his first
  wife, he continues to search for women with
  similar physical features and repeatedly has
  romantic fantasies of his former wife.

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And Finally

• Gangster films and TV series rely on mystery and
  suspense, usually around mortality, as plot
  development.
• The entire premise of each Godfather film, except
  perhaps the final installment, is based on the
  fear that someone is plotting the godfathers
  death.
• This is also true for both for Goodfellas and
  Sopranos.
• This fear becomes an obsession and soon is their
  entire existence. This is what makes a gangster
  film or TV series gothic its how their
  lifestyle of violence becomes rational and
  morally ambiguous.