The Goodfellas: Film Analysis

The film, The Goodfellas portrayed a single man working his way into the mobster family. The troubled boy becomes a prestigious young man in his prime. The goal to be with the mafia is generally violent and commit illegal acts to obtain riches and power. The film depicted the rise to power as well as the failures involved. The conventions and attributes make the genre more distinctive towards organized crime and what one will do to obtain it. This film is gruesome and intriguing to the audience for the realism but also fantasy of committing crime without the punishments included.

Thesis: The gangster crime era is very distinctive to films and to portrayal of what organized crime has done throughout history.

The genre of gangster crime

When we think of organized crime the conventions involved give way to power and wealth. There is also the possibility of rivalry, betrayal and illegal or violent activity. Over the decades there has been a slight change from the beginning of the gangster era, which began in the 1930 's during the Great Depression. The illegal sale of alchol had occurred and the stock market crashed in 1929. The characteristics of crime became mysterious, and heroic in poverty- stricken communities, and punishable crimes committed. The mafia leader Al Capone introduced the term "public enemy number one" in 1930, which set the cultural utility of behavioral codes. The style and purpose of Goodfellas is to excite and danger of true crime and realism of style. The conventions of background sounds place realistic actions and cues in tension with crimes committed at night. There is quite a bit of violence, vulgar language and restrictions for anyone under eighteen. The attributes toward lighting is scarce when they are committing violent or illegal activity. Nevertheless, the gangster became a fascinating figure in American culture promoting certain values and practicing violence for certain reasons (Ruth 1996: 2). "Some of the most popular writers of crime fiction are Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler and Edgar Allan Poe and their inventions of such characters as Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple and Philip Marlowe" (Priestman 2003: