The Godfather is a portrayal of an Italian family caught up
in the mobster lifestyle. With drugs, robberies, and murders taking place daily
within the Corleone family, it comes as a big shock when the patriarch of the
family hands off this deadly business to his son. What really interested me
about this movie was the idea of family and respect.
Throughout this movie, the central idea always comes back to
the idea of family as being the most important thing in your life. It was clear
from the beginning that within this society, you were to put family over
everything. We see this first through the character of the Godfather, Vito Corleone.
He delivers one of the most famous lines in this movie "A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real
man." He says this to his son Sonny, whom he perceives is not being a real
man because he doesn’t put his wife and children first. All of Vito’s motives
throughout the movie are based on bettering his family, and providing for them
the ideal lifestyle. This is also portrayed through his sons and their vengeance
on those people who attempted to hurt their family. They will stop at no length
to get the revenge they think is equivalent to the pain that they have felt.
All the way up until the end of this movie when Michael kills his sister’s
husband for betraying the family- we are shown over and over again the vital
meaning of family and what we do for them.
Another
strong theme in this movie is respect. From the very opening scene we are shown
the importance of respect within the mobster community, but also within the
Corleone family. Vito is meeting with a member of the Italian community who is
requesting a service and Vito responds “What have I ever done to make you treat
me so disrespectfully?” From this moment on, we are taken through a world where
respect is everything. The kissing of the hands, and referring to people with
names of respect and stature is a big sign of appreciation and gratefulness
within the community. It is regarded as having a high prestige. Disrespect is the
highest form of insult. Which is why the ending is so powerful when
Michael is referred to as Don Corleone.
Overall the underlying themes of this movie seem to come
back to the main idea that there is nothing above your family. And if someone
disrespects them or you- then you must seek retribution.
- Paola Ogadzhanvoa
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ReplyDeleteAn interesting thing to note is that Coppola used several of his family members throughout the movie. You're probably already aware of his sister playing the part of Connie. In the baptism scene, the baby that's being baptized is his own daughter, Sophia Coppola, who is now a filmmaker also. In the wedding reception scene, he used lots of different relatives as extras.
ReplyDeleteI think this ties in to your idea of family because it reveals how the director used his outside experience and love of family to emphasize the importance of the family in the movie. All of those documentary-style shots of the family singing and dancing are really nothing more than that. The way they were edited together with the closeups of all of the characters and their interactions and dialog makes it a very important sequence for the movie. And it allows us to, not only see the significance of the family, but also connect with the main characters.
It's odd, however, that the antagonist should appear that early in a movie (referring, of course, to Barzini). He was, as you know, implicated late in the movie, for the troubles that the Corleone family faced. His early appearance, perhaps, was a foreshadowing of this, considering that none of the other bosses showed up.
One thing is for certain though, this was a pretty unconventional movie, from an unconventional filmmaker.
-Brehnan Miller
I agree with this blog post in the fact that family and respect most definitely make up the thematic core of “The Godfather”. Aside from the importance of the family, every person who is a part of or involved with this family understands exactly how important the idea of respect in the family is. Just as you said so well in the last sentence of your blog, “And if someone disrespects them or you- then you must seek retribution.” The Godfather engrained the idea of family and respecting those closest to you so deeply into the minds of his sons that they are willing to kill anyone who threatens the lives or respect of the family. Both family and respect are important aspects in the movie, but there were many times when I wondered which of these two was actually more important to the Godfather, as well as the other Corleones.
ReplyDeleteAs you point out in your blog, Don Corleone spends half of his own daughter’s wedding in his office making deals with men to kill people in exchange for money and respect. He seems more interested in demanding this respect and making arrangements to kill people and uphold his prestigious reputation than to be celebrating his own daughter’s wedding with the family.
Also, you point out the part in the movie where Don hints at the idea of being a real man by respecting your family, or in other words, respecting your wife by not cheating on her. Yet at the end of the movie Michael lies to his wife about killing a man, which is disrespectful to his wife, so it is difficult to tell which is more important.
I think in the end, we see that family and respect are undoubtedly important aspects of the movie, specifically to the Godfather and his sons. It seems difficult to tell, however, which of these two aspects in their lives is more important, expecting respect or giving it to your family, primarily your brothers and father above everyone else.
Katie Robinson