Mafia Genre Essay

In Goodfellas, violence is a large part of the film, as is the case with The Godfather. The
two films use violence to drive much of the plot. In The Godfather, violence is only shown for
important reasons, wether this reason is provided by the filmmakers of the characters. In Goodfellas, violence does not necessarily have to occur for an important reason. The two films depict
violence as something that is just a part of the life of crime, but each film has very different reasons for the violence being shown, and the characters in each film have different overall attitudes
toward violence.
In The Godfather, Violence is only shown at moments in which violence is necessary to
move the plot along. There is no violence actually shown that is superfluous or unnecessary in
any way. This is reinforced by both the characters and the filmmakers. In the very first scene,
When Amerigo Bonasera is asking Vito Corleone to deliver justice to the people who beat and
raped his daughter he wants them killed, Vito says that this would not be justice because the boys
did not kill Amerigos daughter. Vito does not use violence lightly. He has people killed only
when it is necessary. At the scene in which the heads of the five families meet, Vito Corleone
says that he does not want to avenge his sons death. On the part of the filmmakers, violence is
not used lightly either. The scene in which Jack Woltz wakes up in his bed to find his horse Khartoums head in his bed is not preceded by a scene in which Luca Brasi decapitates a horse. It had
to have logically happened for the next scene to make sense, but the filmmakers did not include
that scene in the film. The only other scene in which violence is seen as casual, is in which
Michael is talking to Kay about his fathers work. He talks about the The acts of violence included in the film are only necessary to advance the plot. Luca Brasis death was necessary to alert
the Corleone family to the intentions of Sollozzo. The attempt on Vito Corleones life is needed

Mafia Genre Essay

to drag Michael into the life of organized crime. Bruno Tattaglia brings the Tartaglia and Corleone families to an equilibrium. The deaths of Sollozzo and McCluskey are used to convey that
Michael has cemented in place as an influential member of the Corleone family. The death of
Apollonia is used to portray the fact that Michael is not safe in Sicily and convinces him to return
to America. Carlos beating of Connie is used to make Sonny drive into the ambush set for him at
the toll booth. This ends in Sonnys death. Sonnys death provokes Michael into taking revenge
and killing Carlo. Carlos death, along with the other murders carried out at the same time, are a
way of planting Michael as the Don of the Corleone family.
In Goodfellas, violence is portrayed much differently. The violence is much more casual.
Not as much thought is put into the killings seen in this film. The first thing we see in the movie
is a guy in the trunk of Henrys car getting murdered. Henrys father beats him for not attending
school for several months. In the scene depicting Henrys childhood, Henry sees a guy who has
just been shot. Henry uses several aprons to try to stop the bleeding, but Paulie rebukes him for
it. Later in that scene, Henry blows up a bunch of cars. When Tommy DeVito kills spider, he
does so without much thought while gambling. When Tommy is insulted by Billy Batts, Tommy
kills him. After the Lufthansa heist, Jimmy has many of the heist participants killed after they
buy expensive things with the money. Tommy is killed in retaliation for Batts murder.
The films The Godfather and Goodfellas have many things in common, just as they have
differences. Both films employ the convention of having the organized crime groups be made up
for the most part, of people from Italy. Both movies have characters who cheat on their wives.
Both films show corrupt cops in one way or another other. Both movies have multiple betrayals
happen during the course of the plot. Each film portrays the Mafia as having some kind of prin-

Mafia Genre Essay

ciple that must be followed. Both Mafias have somebody at the head of the chain of command.
Each movie also has an important scene take place in a restaurant. Both movies have revenge
killings in them.
The Godfather and Goodfellas are very similar as films. Both films are about mafias that
are made up of Italians from Sicily. Both of the mafias have a top down structure to their crews.
Each mafia is headed by a single person. In The Godfather the leader is Vito Corleone. In Goodfellas the mafia leader is Paulie Cicero. Both movies involve corrupt police officers. In The Godfather the police corruption is tied to one person. Captain McCluskey is on Sollozzos payroll. In
Goodfellas the corruption is not seen so specifically. no one person or even group or police are
tied to corruption. It is just seen that some cops will turn a blind eye to the crimes committed by
the mafia members if they benefit somehow from those crimes, wether that be financially or otherwise. Both movies have betrayals occur as a part of the plot of the movie. In The Godfather,
Sonny is betrayed by his brother in law Carlo, and he gets killed. When Michael is in Sicily, Fabrizio, one of his body guards, plants a bomb in his car. The car blows up with Apollonia in the
car. In Goodfellas, Tommy is killed in retaliation for killing Billy Batts, after Tommy is tricked
into believing that he is going to be made. Tommy kills many of the people who were involved in
the Lufthansa heist. Both movies feature a character who is cheating on his wife. In Goodfellas,
Henry cheats on Karen with Janice Rossi. In The Godfather, Carlo Rizzi cheats on Connie Corleone. Both films involve an important scene in a restaurant. In The Godfather, Michael kills Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey in a restaurant. In Goodfellas, Karen and Henry first meet in a
restaurant. Also, in the Copacabana scene, Henry introduces Karen to the benefits he gets from
being a gangster, when she doesnt even know who he actually is yet.

Mafia Genre Essay

The films The Godfather, and Goodfellas, are very different, but they do share some similarities. The overall genre of mafia films does ensure that both films share the same characterization and world building. The way both films approach violence is a major difference between
the two films. The films end up as two very different ways to interpret the same genre of movies.