The Godfather’s main motif in the movie and its reoccurring event is crime although in the eyes of the audience, or at least in mine, it does not appear to be as wrong as it should be. We are raised to identify crimes like threatening, killing and manipulating in violent manners as wrong but The Godfather makes us think that maybe in some cases, it is not necessarily a bad thing. But why do tend to let the violent events slide while watching this movie and why do we even find them cool? This is because Vito Corleone is the one manipulating the crimes and he makes it seem as if he’s doing it out revenge or friendship. We see that he cares so much about his ‘friends’ that he is willing to do anything for them and in our society, that loyalty makes the violent and potentially wrong part understandable. Additionally, Vito Corleone is not the one doing the crimes and instead, he hires people to do the dirty work so we do not portray him as being an evil man. He is the main character and because we think of the movie in a similar way as we think of the main character, the movie does not appear to be a movie full of crime.
- Katherine
I somewhat agree with what you stated, and I also somewhat disagree. Obviously hiring people to kill other people is morally wrong in the society we live in today, however it does happen in gangs and wars whether it is right or wrong. Don Corleone obviously views what he does as justified, and I can imagine from his point of view what it would be like to be a Don of a Mafia family. As stated in the scene when Santino, Tom, and Vito are discussing, they say that if they don't involve themselves, other families will and then immediately go after the Corleone's. Because they are a large Mafia family, they have no choice but to continue to do what they do, or else another family will find them, and then kill them. It is essentially a large competition between the Mafia families, and if they fall behind, then they will be killed off.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if that's true. If they fall behind, perhaps they will just be forgotten and ignored.
ReplyDeleteDo you think this film is mostly about violence or family, or perhaps something else?