以电影《教父》探讨美国黑手党文化(2)
“The Godfather”. For example, “An Analysis of the Inpidual Psychological Traits of Godfathers in “The Godfather”, by Liang Yanjun, studies the movie from the aspect of character creation. Through her study she works out the inpidual psychological traits of two generation godfathers Jang Kleo and Mike Kleo. (Liang Yanjun, 2007: 99) “Appreciation of the American Dream in “The Godfather”, by Zheng Li, explores the book from the aspect of American Dream. He concludes that the root of the riot is the American Dream. (Zheng Li, 2008: 142) “Female Roles in the Film ‘The Godfather’ ” is written by Sun Jinyi. Sun studies the movie from the aspect of the significance of female roles, and he concludes that female roles play an important role in creating main characters as well as the plot development. (Sun Jinyi, 2007: 73) Through the investigations, the author of this paper finds that scholars have tried to analyze this movie from various aspects, from which people can learn different opinions about social values, outlook on life, humanistic morals, etc. This paper takes the movie “The Godfather” as the medium, from the perspective of culture, to study the American Mafia culture in the 20th century. After the introduction of the movie, the paper analyzes several important plots of the movie to show the real situation of American Mafia culture during that time and traces its historical development. Based on this analysis, the paper puts more efforts to figure out the reasons for the rapid growth of American Mafia in the 20th century and its influences on the American society then and later. 3. Synopsis of “The Godfather” The movie “The Godfather” is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert S. Ruddy from a screenplay by Mario Puzo and Coppola. It is based on Puzo’s best-selling novel of the same name, which is widely regarded as one of the greatest films, and was selected as “the best gangster movie ever by AFI’s 10 Top 10”--- ten greatest US films in ten classic film genres presented by the American Film Institute. The film was for a time the highest grossing picture ever made, and remained the box office leader in 1972.源]自[优尔^`论\文"网·www.youerw.com/
It also won three Oscars that year: Best Picture, Best Actor (Brando) and Best Adapted Screenplay for Puzo and Coppola. (“The Godfather”) “The Godfather” tells the story of Corleone Mafia family. Vito Corleone is the aging Don (head) of the Corleone Mafia family. Michael is Vito Corleone’s youngest son who has returned the USA from WWII, and is exeactly in time to attend his sister Connie’s wedding. All of Michael’s family are involved with the Mafia, but Michael just wants to live a normal life. On the day of his only daughter’s wedding, Vito Corleone hears requests as the Godfather. He uses some special methods to help several Italian Americans to fulfill their dreams. Shortly before Christmas 1945, Drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo asks Vito for investment in the emerging drug trade and protection through his political connections in exchange for a profit of the drug money. He approaches Don Corleone about it. Much against the advice of the Don’s lawyer Tom Hagen, Don refuses the offer, because he is against the use of drugs morally. It annoys Sollozzo who asks some hit men to shot down Don. Don barely survives, and this leads Michael to start a violent mob war against Sollozzo. When a gang war erupts at