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Ayeka Bongato

Prof. Jonna Eagle

AMST 360

14 February 2022

Life As A Gangster

During the great depression, the life as a gangster was glamorized in films by the early

cinemas, one of the first and most popular of them was “The Public Enemy” in 1931s. In this

film, it introduces the audience to Tom Powers who lives a life full of crime, gang violence, and

sexual conducts. In real life, many of these things are forbidden and frowned upon by society

because of the danger, but the film tries to emphasize these actions instead of hiding them. In this

film, the audience is encouraged to identify with Tom Powers from The Public Enemy by

showing how appealing life is as a gangster.

The point of view shots invite the audience to experience the event through Tom’s eyes.

This can be seen from the shots starting from 6:14, when Tom’s father came out of their house to

see what’s going on outside. In the first shot is an objective point of view of Tom and his sister

talking, while their father slowly comes out of the door from the shadows into the light making

his presence known to the audience. The next shot shows another objective point of view where

it zooms in intensely on the father, which can represent the father as an intimidating figure. The

shot after goes back to Tom and her sister still arguing while the it slowly zooms out then shows

all of them in the frame, and in shot 6:33 shows his father, sister, and brother all looking at him

where his sister and brother stood closely to the camera and his father standing over the porch

which made Tom look the smallest in the frame, this can represent how Tom depicts the world

around him, that even though he is tough and fearless, everyone still looked at him as a child.
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This can also be seen in the next shot where a subjective point of view of Tom looking up is

shown from his father’s eyes, which invites the audience to also look at Tom as a little child. As

Tom was getting whipped by his father, the camera zooms in on Tom’s face to show his pained

but tough expression which once again invites the audience to resonate with his struggles as a

child. This scene is an important example of how Tom sees the world and how fearlessly he

reacts to it, even so early on in life.

Moreover, the mise-en-scene shows how grand Tom’s life is as a gangster that makes it

appealing to the audience. After their first ever illegal business with Paddy Ryan, Tom and Matt

can be seen arriving at a party in a fancy car at 30:38. In the next shot Tom can be seen going out

his car and being greeted by the valet, showing higher power than them and there are also two

women in the background admiringly examining Tom’s car which adds to this idea of Tom

having materialistic things that many people want because of the money earned from illegal

activities. There is also a big contrast between Tom and the valet based on what they are wearing,

the valet is seen with his black uniform while Tom wears a fancy light colored coat that makes

him stand out from the frame. The next shot shows the party where it’s being shown that

everyone is having a good time, there is alcohol, dancing, and a lot of women as Tom walks in

and as they take their coat off, there is even a maid who hangs his coat and hat for him. As soon

as Tom came into the room, the first thing he laid his eyes on were these beautiful women and he

wasted no time and quickly engaged himself with a woman by asking the workers to move the

drunk men in the table so Tom could take their place. Once again, this image of luxury and

power seen through the use of the setting, props, and some extra people in the background that

shows the audience how appealing it is to be in Tom’s shoes where he can get anything he wants,

which can be something appealing to the audience because a life like this is what they also desire
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but are scared to face. As the drunk men were kicked out, Tom quickly approaches the woman

and sits closely beside her and talks to her in a manner where he is not even asking for her, he is

telling her that she is his now. The way Tom projects himself confidently to other people and to

the audience and this makes people want to see more of him and his life.

Lastly, the humanization of Tom Powers by the film makes the audience relate to Tom on

a personal level. In the scene where Tom went to see Gwen to talk, Tom can be seen being

vulnerable for a minute. Starting at 59:02 shows a frame of Tom and Gwen, where the focus is

on Tom. For more than a minute, the shot does not move and just focuses on Tom talking about

his feelings and being vulnerable to Gwen, and even though Gwen responds, the frame still does

not move and continues to focus on Tom. This also invites the audience to fully concentrate on

Tom and what he wants to say to Gwen. The next shot shows Tom standing up and is about to

leave but Gwen grabs him and the shot slowly zooms in on them, as Gwen gives in to Tom’s

vulnerability. It zooms back out as Gwen sits Tom down and sits on his lap to give him a hug and

console him. In this shot Gwen also talks about how Tom is different, and that him being “the

other kind,” is what attracted her to him. This scene shows a significant change in Tom’s

character because he goes from this tough gangster who does not care about anyone but himself

to someone who just needed some comfort, and this is something that the audience are supposed

to relate to. This specific scene shows a more human side of Tom where despite being tough and

taking things by himself all the time, he is still a human that needs comfort from a loved one, just

like everyone else.

In conclusion, the film The Public Enemy invites its audience to identify with the

gangster, Tom Powers. The film uses certain techniques such as point of view shots, that

encourages the audience to see the world in Tom’s eyes and how he perceives things and people
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around him, and also the use of mise-en-scene also helps the audience to see how grand Tom’s

life is with all the luxury and power he gets as a gangster, which can appear appealing to the

audience because this is something they want as well. The humanization of Tom Powers in the

film also reaches out to the audience and shows them that Tom can also be relatable despite

being a gangster because he is a human just like everyone else. This is why the audience still

wants to identify with the fearless yet reckless Tom Powers.

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References

● “The Public Enemy.” Warner, 1931.