Silly Questions About The Gangster Underworld example essay topic

From "Little Caesar" to "The Godfather" to "The Sopranos", America just can not get enough of a good gangster story. For many decades, any gangster related story has evoked both fear and awe in the average, law-abiding citizen. These figures are hated by some for the violent acts attributed to them, yet oddly respected by others for their Robin Hood-like folklore that clings to him. The gangster is often seen as a tragic hero, in which a tragic event leads to their downfall and eventually their death.

In Cawelti's "The New Mythology of Crime", he proves this theory when he states "man loves crime stories, because he has some basic traits which, among other things, manifest itself in a fascination with tales of crime" (326). The hit HBO TV series "The Sopranos" is the epitome of how America loves a good mob story. The idea for this hit show did not stem from the producer's head in one night but took a lot of time to plan, and carefully analyze the earlier films in the gangster genre. In other words, "The Sopranos" are deeply rooted in the legacy of other gangster films, in which the writers and produces give respect and acknowledge the old gangster world. In doing so, the producer and writers capture the major themes that are seen throughout the gangster genre, and either draws on or revises the genre. In analyzing the episode "A Hit is A Hit", several themes are presented that is no different from that of "Little Cesar,"The Killing", and various other gangster movies.

The gangster takes on a task to hoist himself into higher American social class, the gangster struggles to branch out into societal norms, the gangster's family hierarchy as embodiment of traditional, patriarchal values, the difference between a gangster and a gangsta, and the gangster like a businessman. The episode begins with the gangster's attempt to hoist himself into higher American social class. In a profitable hit, they were able to make a killing. They get a "refrigerator box" full of money and kill Juan Valdez, a wealthy crack dealer. This scene is a play on "The Killing", where Johnny Clay makes an offer to random people that they can not refuse. If the plan is successful, they would all be able to hoist themselves into a higher social class.

Of course, the plan was not successful and they ended up dead in a massive shoot out. It was interesting how the first scene in the episode was a play on an old gangster film. In "The Killing" and "A Hit is A Hit", the gangster is not directly involved in the actual heist. He plans the heist and informs the members of their role that must be done exactly like the gangster says. The members only know what they need to know. In "The Killing", they did not know who all the participants were because the gangster felt as though it was not relevant to their job.

George wanted to know who was starting the fight and who was Clay paying under the table. Clay told him it is none of his business, he just needs to worry about his task at hand. After everyone did their part, they were told to wait for a phone call to figure out where they will reap their rewards. Due to the massive killing, no one was able to reap the benefits of the profitable hit. In "A Hit is A Hit", the guys successfully completed the robbery and one of the guys had to report back to Tony to inform him that everything went as planned.

Once again the gangster is at a distance. When Tony received the update, he was in the kitchen talking to his neighbor, Bruce Cussamano. The message was relayed to Tony in codes, just to keep the secretive aspect of the gangster job. The conversation was as follows: Guy: Its done. It's the biggest fucking refrigerator box you " ve ever seen". Tony responds "What about the other thing".

Guy: "Juan Valdez has been separated from is donkey. You know, Ton'". During the celebration, one of the guys asked Christopher "Could this be end of Rico?" This was the exact line that Rico said right before he died in "Little Caesar". Maybe the reference was made because Chris decided to celebrate his good fortune with Adriana instead of celebrating it with the guys, symbolizing how the female can pose a threat to the male bond. Because of the successful profitable hit, the gangsters enjoy a luxurious celebration with fine champagne, beautiful women, and a jacuzzi. Chris decides to celebrate by taking Adriana to see the Broadway musical "Rent" and dine at an expensive restaurant called Le cirque.

As soon as the gangster makes a killing, he celebrates by stepping into WASP culture i.e. champagne, Broadway, and fine restaurants. Throughout the whole episode the gangster is struggling to branch out into normative society. Carmela suggests to Tony that he should meet new people. Tony feels as though it is a waste of time because americans are boring. He accuses the Italian Americans for having no connections to their traditions and heritage. He calls them "wonder bread WOP", or a patriotic citizen.

He decides to go to the barbeque and mingle with the Cussamano and his friends. This is an unusual setting for the gangster because he is out barbecuing, drinking a brus kie, and socializing about the stock market, but he realizes that they do not want to talk about stock markets. Especially since the gangster is known for being part of the underworld. He is not comfortable in trying to enjoy an American pastime.

After this adventure, he realized that Cussomano's friends were snooty, but he will still go golfing with them, in order to continue his search of branching out. During the golf bonding session, they are intrigued by the life of a gangster, by asking him silly questions about the gangster underworld. It seems as though his purpose of the invitation was to be mocked and humiliated about his underground lifestyle. The snooty men are similar to the detective, Jim Reardon in "The Killers", who wanted to be close to the gangster world. It is a secret world that everyone wants to be apart of. Reardon did not reap any monetary awards from solving the case, but he reaped the personal rewards by getting a chance to get an inside look on the gangster life.

For a split second he was apart of the gangster world in the same sense that for a brief moment Cussamano and his friends are given an insight to Tony's world. It is almost as if they are questioning his ties to the gangster history and traditions. Some of the questions asked were: "How close are you (Tony) to the old world?"Have you ever played golf on the course that Al Capone built?"How real was The Godfather"; and "Did you ever meet John Gotti?" These were all prominent well-know gangsters and if Tony can answer these questions then he must be a real gangster. The whole mood changed when Tony admitted that he knew and met John Gotti. They realized that they were facing a real life gangster. It is not just that mainstream culture is fascinated by the gangster life but often times the gangster wants to be apart of the WASP culture.

This is evident in Jay Gatsby in "The Great Gatsby". He would throw lavishing parties in an attempt to find his long lost love Daisy. Daisy represented a world of excess, mysterious, inaccessible, facades and fronts, and the American dream. He longed for her embodiment of the new world that would complete him. Unfortunately, his quest leads him to his downfall and eventually his death.

Whenever the gangster attempts to branch out, he is asked thousands of questions, in which some seemed as though they were a mockery of the gangster. Plus, it puts the gangster at a point of vulnerability because often the questions demand a sense of exposure of the gangster's secret underworld life. His struggle to fit in into mainstream society sends Tony running to Dr. Melfi. The fact that Tony needs a psychologist often is not seen in a typical gangster. However issues, dealing with the head, were prevalent in "White Heat".

Cody Jarret would have random serious migraines that would put him in a state of trauma. His headaches were an expression of vulnerability, an emblem of dislocation since he was away from the urban setting, and the gangster as insoluble condition in culture. When Cody would have these random outbreaks, he would become weaken and seek maternal comfort, from Ma Jarrett. For example, when the gangster and his family were in a cabin hiding out, he had a migraine attack and his mom helped him into the room to make him feel better. She said that "they do not need to see you in a state like this". In the same sense that Tony secretly has sessions with Dr. Melfi where he is often at a state of vulnerability.

He usually expresses himself to her in a way that he can not express himself to his family or the gang. Phillips offers his advice on the word struggle by stating "the older world "struggle"- the struggle for feeling and expression- might be more useful in this context than the limiting biologist of "adaptation"; but nevertheless, the infant has to be initiated into her culture" (135). Tony went into the mainstream culture head first and was not properly introduced gradually. He decided to become friends with the most snootiest WASP he could find. His sessions with Dr. Melfi can be seen as weak, and not capable to fit in the gangster lifestyle-basically seen as a pussy. After the day at the golf course, Tony seeks maternal comfort in his psychologist.

In a sense the doctor is his maternal comfort because he confides in her his deepest and darkest secret. He confesses about how he used to tease a boy they called Jimmy Smash, because his speech impediment made them laugh. Jimmy did not mind because he got to hang out with the popular crew. Once Jimmy's problem was not funny any more, Tony and his friends stopped hanging around him. Later, Tony found out that the kid would go home and cry himself to sleep. He felt bad.

The gangster is showing some type of emotion, mainly sympathy and a sense of regret. Tony knows the pain in being used for someone else's amusement. The way the Soprano family is structured, it can be viewed as a traditional patriarchal household. Tony provides for the family and Carmela takes care of the kids and domestic chores. Christopher said "that his cousin always had a brain but what does she use it for".

Tony does not tell his wife where the money comes from. Carmela's role in the household is similar to that of Cody Jarret's wife, Verna Jarrett. She was there to be his comfort and to help his mom out. She never had a voice in what goes on in the gang, even though she was with him most of the time. She knew her role and what lines she could not cross. She did not question what he did, just like a good wife should.

Even in the new millennium, women still take on that role. But in this episode, Carmela decides to branch out into the stock market world, Wall Street. She is educated about American biotics from her friend Barbara Wagner. She said that not only do they play the stick market but they win too. Carmela decides to buy 5,000 shares of American biotics. The stock market is a business in itself.

She did not confront Tony about her new hobby, she just made the decision on her own. She feels as though women are better savers and better nurturers. She expresses to Meadow that women, in the midst of high patriarchal beliefs, need to still have a sense of individuality. In this episode the two worlds collide, which is the world of the gangster and the world of the gangsta-Menace II Society meets The Godfather. The two worlds first meet at a hamburger joint in the city. The unexpected meeting is between Christopher and Massive Genius, a gangsta rapper.

Massive Genius invites Christopher and Adriana over to his party, because there is business that needs to be discussed. Christopher in a sense seems to be jealous of the gangsta lifestyle. Chris does not believe Massive is a real gangster because of his lavish house, and luxurious car, and the priceless items in his house, even though he is fascinated by the guns Massive Genius owns. Basically needs the Sopranos help and getting reparations for his family member from Hesh, a Jewish record label owner.

Things go sour when the reparations were not met and the Sopranos take the side of Hesh. Tony begins to question the "hardness" of the gangster rap shit. Massive lived the same lifestyle as that of O' Dog. The difference is that Massive made it out of the hood alive, wealthy and bigger than Steven Segal. Massive decided to take legal action to make sure his demands are met. Why is there so much hostility between the two underworlds?

There are distinct differences between a gangster and a gangsta. The gangsta lifestyle is on TV and very much out in the open, but the Soprano crew has to be a secret. He does not like how the gangsta lifestyle has taken over the music industry that the Italians once owned. After watching Menace II Society, the question was raised on whether not the class saw the gangstas as tragic heroes. Majority of the class said "no". There was a little sympathy but not as much sympathy as the class had for the organized crime, gangster film.

The gangsta is created in poverished neighborhoods, where the kids are often orphans, or in a drug house. The streets raised the gangster. There is no structure in the gangsta crew but just a sense of respect that must be earned. Ina class discussion, it was said that the gangsta and the gangsta world is created in a necessity for survival, owning the mentality of "Young, Black, and Don't Give A Fuck". The idea of the gangster being like a CEO took flight in "The Godfather". Don Corleone had power dependent on culture of personality, his family was a monopolizing industry, but yet it seemed as though the godfather exhibited a morality absent from contemporary CEO.

This is evident when he does not chose to partake in the drug business because it was too dangerous. The Don was a very humble man unlike many Hollywood producers such as Waltz. "The Sopranos" is definitely a play on the gangster being like a CEO and the gangster underworld taking the form of a business world. Even mainstream society recognizes the business aspect of the underworld. At the Cussamano's dinner party, they were talking about Tony and his lifestyle. One of the guys at the table asks the question.

".. And being a gangster what does it mean anyway?" Another guy responds "That's true. Some of the shit I see in the boardroom. I don't know if I can make the distinction". Bruce makes his little remarks by saying "Sometimes I think the only thing separating the American business from the mobs is fuckin' wackin's ome body". Bribes, lies, and loyalty are all prevalent in corporate America, where people are pushed down so others can make it to the top.

In organized crime, the gangster underworld is very similar to corporate America, in a sense that everyone is trying to get a piece of the American pie. So, what exactly makes the gangster such a menace to society? From taking this course, the gangster is the headache to society, because society created it and does not know how to control the gangster. Mainstream American culture created the gangster, through poverty strictened areas, oppression, and racism and know they must deal with him. "The Sopranos" is a perfect example of how the gangster lives among us all. Tony and his family live in the suburbs of NJ among upper class law-abiding citizens.

Mainstream culture is intrigued by this lifestyle because as Phillips writes "Freud presents us with an ironic progress myth: We want to be what we are already" (132). In conclusion, "The Sopranos" can be viewed as a tribute to the gangster genre, in maintain the same themes are present in the gangster genre and define the gangster. It is the longest running hit TV series on HBO. Every Sunday across the US, families are getting ready for the show to come on.

In fact, people are actually modeling their house to look just like the Sopranos house. People are viewing The Sopranos as an icon, well at least some more than others. However, many Italian Americans feels as though the show is a downplay on the Italian American heritage and is just feeding into the stereotypes of Italians as belong apart of the mafia. Despite its success, it is still a very controversial show, but I see it being on the air for several more seasons to come.

Stay tuned.