Teaching The Godfather
Version 2: 11 November 2013
Rick Instrell
www.deep-learning.co.uk
Association for Media Education in Scotland
1972 Poster
• Targeted at readers of the best-selling novel
• Brando regarded as “box-office poison” for mainstream audiences
• Other actors were largely unknown or not major stars in 1972
1972 Posters
Targeted at Brando fans who admire his method acting & remember past great performances
25th Anniversary Posters
1997 posters show several of the leading actors – Al Pacino now major star
Key Aspects of Media Studies
INSTITUTION
• internal contexts
• external contexts
AUDIENCE
• target audience
• differential decoding
TEXT
CATEGORIES
• medium, purpose, form, genre, style, tone
LANGUAGE
• technical & cultural codes, anchorage, mode of address
NARRATIVE
• narrative structure & narrative codes
REPRESENTATIONS
• selection, portrayal, ideological discourses, explicit & implicit meanings
SOCIETY
• individual, social, cultural, economic, political events &
ideologies
encode
decode
selectaffect
TECHNOLOGY
TIME
MEANING
CAPITAL
Note: key aspects are HYPERLINKED: click on them to see exemplification
through TV news
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Categories: Media
• Novel (1969) - bestseller
• Cinema (1972)
• Television (1974)
• Video & box sets
• DVD & box sets
• Music: soundtrack
• Computer game (2006)
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Categories: Form
• blockbuster (high-profile ‘event’ movie)
• 3h rather than standard 2h (so fewer screenings per day)
• mainstream feature film (plot-driven)
• ‘arty film’ (style amplifies plot)
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Categories: Purpose
• Profit• Story-telling• Spectacle• Star• Escapism from everyday life• Fantasy for audience: power• Demonstrate craft of filmmaking (seen by other
professionals which can lead to advancement/ better films)
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Categories: Style
• Classic Hollywood: continuity editing• Hyperclassical (Bordwell & Thompson):
style is more than strictly necessary to tell the story– teems with recurring motifs– opening foreshadows rest of movie– fresh, elegant solutions to storytelling– use of musical leitmotifs with transformations
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Categories: Genre 1Gangster• Syntax: chronicle of criminal career – rise & fall (mob leader, corrupt
cops, crime-spree couple, street gang, many films noir)• Semantics: iconography e.g.
– characters (wise guys, tough guys, psychopaths, gangsters’ molls, corrupt cops, bent lawyers, official heroes (good good guys), outlaw heroes (good bad guys))
– dress (hats, suits)– props (guns, cars, telephones, drinks, cigarettes)– setting (city locations)
Genre films should be analysed in terms of repetition and novelty
Apply to The Godfather
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Categories: Genre 2
Thriller
• Syntax: toys with audience expectations of violence – may occur or may be deferred & erupt when least expected; ordinary person thrust into nightmare who must eventually kill the monster
Apply to The Godfather
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Categories: Genre 3
Romance
• Syntax: boy meets girls, boy loses girl, boy & girl reunited
Apply to The Godfather
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Categories: Genre 4
Tragedy (Aristotle)• Central hero with tragic flaw • Dramatic high point which is a point if no return• Hubris: hero cannot see own flaw• Retribution for sins: hero dies when he realises
what he has done• Emotional catharsis for audience
Apply to The Godfather
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Categories: Tone
• Serious drama
• Aims at realism or verisimilitude (suspension of disbelief) –authentic period detail
• Ironic juxtapositions within frame & of sequences/shots
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Language: Technical Codes
• Analyse key sequences in terms of camera angle, distance, movement, lighting, editing
• Analyse technical codes relate to construction of plot, mood, themes
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Language: Cultural Codes
• Analyse mise-en-scene of key sequences in terms of actions, setting, props, dress, figure placement, recurring motifs, music, sound, speech
• Analyse how cultural codes relate to construction of plot, mood, themes
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Mise-en-scène
• What has been put into the scene i.e. setting, objects (props), people, make up, costumes, figure arrangement and movement, lighting, …
• Mise-en-scène can be motivated by realism or symbolise themes or comment on action
• What is the significance Michael’s costume in these scenes
The Godfather
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Repeated motifs
The Godfather
Fish and oranges are recurring motifs in the mise-en-scène
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Language: Anchorage
• Use of music & sound to fix down meaning of images & create mood e.g. use of music at wedding; role of use of screeching rails as Michael kills Sollozzo & McCluskey; use of organ music & sound in baptism/assassination scene
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Categories: ‘Auteur’ film
• Francis Ford Coppola has a distinctive style (set pieces, hyperclassical narration)
• He chose the actors & key production staff against advice of studio & film’s success is due to his cohering dedication & vision
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Narrative: Structure 1
• Kristin Thompson argues that mainstream Hollywood films have a 4-part structure:– (prologue)– 1. Setup: initial situation – 2 plotlines
• Turning point– 2. Complicating action: takes action in new direction
• Turning point– 3. Development: protagonists struggle to goals
(action, suspense, delay)• Turning point
– 4. Climax: resolution with sequence of high action– (epilogue)
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Narrative: Structure 2
Turning points e.g.• Character’s goal becomes clear & is
articulated• One goal is achieved & another replaces
it• There is a shift in tactics to achieve the
goal• There is a new problem which leads to a
new goal
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Narrative: Structure 3
• Thompson says that this structure helped coordinate all involved in pre-production, production & post-production
• Standardised guidelines with flexibility as every story is different
• Story structure implicitly understood by audience
• The Godfather is lengthy & has more complex structure – 5 acts with 4 turning points
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Narrative: Structure 4
1. Setup: initial situation – 2 plotlines: Don Vito & Michael– Turning point 1: Don Vito refuses Sollozzo (37.5min)
2. Complicating action: warfare– Turning point 2: Michael leaves Kay & goes to see father in
hospital (59min)
3. Development 1: Michael saves father & kills Sollozzo & McCluskey – Turning point 3: Michael exiled to Sicily (93 min)
4. Development 2: Michael marries Apollonia who is killed; Sonny murdered; Michael returns to woo Kay – Turning point 4: handover of power to Michael (133.5min)
5. Climax: Don Vito dies & Michael takes revenge; he is the new Don Corleone
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Narrative Structure 5
Can also use Todorov narrative structure of stability-disruption-return to stability
• Stability: Opening sequence showing Don Vito’s power
• Disruption: Sollozzo, Don’s shooting, war
• Return to stability: Michael succeeds father & eliminates opposition
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Narrative Structure 6
Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey:The hero is introduced in an ordinary world where he reluctantly receives a call to adventure. He is persuaded by a mentor to cross the first threshold & encounters tests, allies & enemies. He approaches the inmost cave, crossing a second threshold & faces the supreme ordeal to receive a reward. On the road back he crosses a third threshold & experiences a resurrection & returns with the elixir.
This is an extremely familiar narrative structure which is often used by Hollywood scriptwriters.
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Narrative Structure 7• Hero in ordinary world: peacetime USA• Reluctant hero• Crosses threshold into underworld through love for father (mentor)• Helped by allies: Clemenza• Tested by enemies: Sollazzo, McCluskey, Barzini• Approaches inmost world: becomes assassin• Supreme ordeal: assassinates Sollozzo & McCluskey• Reward: Apollonia• Road back: return to USA• Resurrection: new Godfather• Elixir: power
Perverse myth because family is evil – changes universal myth to tragedy in which Michael’s worship of his father turns him into a monster.
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Narrative: Codes
• Action code: instantly recognisable actions that we understand through our own social knowledge e.g. ritual of weddings, funerals, baptism
• Enigmatic code: posing questions & resolving them e.g. will Michael carry out the Sollozzo killing? Who was responsible for Sonny’s killing?
• Semic code: connotations of images, sounds, words e.g. opening: darkened room v. the bright sunlight of the wedding
• Cultural code: knowledge of architecture, cars, fashion, other texts
• Symbolic code: binary opposites that structure the narrative: e.g. good v. evil, male v. female (see next slides)
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Narrative Codes 2: Binary Opposites
Own family Mafia family
Church (God) Mafia (Devil)
Don Vito (good) Other Dons (bad)
War hero Murderer
Men (active) Women (passive)
Control Impulse
Don Vito (benevolent) Michael (vindictive)
Order (Mafia control) Chaos (Mafia wars)
Domesticity
(making a family)
Business
(making money & death)
Young Old
Honesty Hypocrisy
Sicily USA
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Narrative Codes 3: Binary Opposites in Michael
Defends country in a just war Mafia mobster
Upholds Constitution Kills policeman
Protects father Breaks father’s heart
Protects family Kills sister’s husband
Respectful to Apollonia Fails to protect Apollonia
Loyal to second wife Lies to Kay
Publicly renounces Satan Mass murderer
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Representations: Crime• Mafia loved their portrayal• Michael - who is a monster - is appealing to us (war-hero, intelligent,
composed, faithful, family man, not interested in money) in comparison with his brothers (sex, impulsive), other mobsters (drugs)
• We never see the results of the Corleone’s criminal activities on ordinary people – everyone who suffers deserves it in some way
• Police ineffective & corrupt (don’t see effective & honest cops)• Don Vito has set up an alternative policing system• If Michael was portrayed purely as a monster this would destroy
audience identification & pleasure• Could be said to represent audience desire for effective policing
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Representations: Italian-Americans
• Codes of Italianicity: food, faces, music, names ending in vowels, decor
• Carries connotations of the past: music, mandolin, rugged barren Sicily, old Sicilian ways of comportment for men & women, Rembrandtian interiors
• Vito & Michael are chivalrous, controlled, patient family men cf. stereotypes (dagos, palookas, romeos, wise guys)
• Those who offend good man’s code (Woltz, Sollozzo, McCluskey, Sonny, Carlo) deserve what they get
• Could be said to represent nostalgic desire to return to the old days which reflects people’s concerns about the modern world
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Representations: Gender
• Patriarchal male-dominated society• Man as breadwinner• But real men spend time with family• Women as homemakers, cooks, sexual objects• Kay (naïve), Connie (spoilt, hysterical), Mama Corleone
(would never question her husband)• Male child valued over female• Masculinity as machismo valued over femininity• Toleration of misuse of women for sex• Could be said to represent a desire to return to
perpetuate the patriarchal society – but we see the negative effects of this
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Representations: USA
• Coppola saw films as metaphor for the USA• Although set in post WWII 1940s, film reflects concerns
of early 1970s• Discontent at US role in Vietnam • Corrupt politicians• Failing justice system• Police corruption• Disintegration of nuclear family• Effects of the profit motive• Represents concerns over 1970s USA – original ideals
(the American Dream) corrupted
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Audience: Target Audience
• Mainstream naïve audience which likes a good story with action & thrills
• Smart audience which likes style, innovative storytelling, intertextual reference, deeper meanings
• Other filmmakers (need a reputation to succeed in the business)
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Audience Pleasures• Plaisir: familiar pleasure of a good story well told (nearly 3h but does not
drag)• Jouissance: bliss of experiencing something radically different e.g. opening
scenes, baptism montage• Pleasures of genre: represents what we have seen in the news; charismatic
characters to identify with; thrilling action sequences; mixes conventional gangster pleasures (identify with villain, thrilling action) unconventional (detail of Italian-American family)
• Performance: Method acting of Brando & Pacino• Script has phrases that have entered the language• Nino Rota’s memorable music• Revisiting film: each subsequent viewing reveals motifs across whole trilogy• Intertextuality: spotting references to film noir, Welles, Hitchcock, Visconti,
Penn• Fantasies: fantasy of power & defeating enemies• Structure of feeling of age: reflects feelings about 1970s USA (corruption,
break-up of nuclear family, modernity)
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Escapism
Social Inadequacy
Utopian
Solution
Example
Exhaustion Energy Michael saving his father; killing Sollozzo; taking revenge
Scarcity Abundance Opulent wedding
Monotony Intensity Love at first sight; emotions during Sollozzo killing; Vito’s grief for Sonny
Manipulation Transparency Love between Michael & his father
Fragmentation Community Corleone family
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Audience: Differential Decoding
• Italian-Americans may be offended by its portrayal of them as gangsters
• Some viewers will be offended by the glamorisation of the Mafia
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Society
Film captures structure of feeling of early 1970s• all institutions - including the family - are
corrupt• conspiracy theories about invisible forces
controlling world events
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Institution: Internal Context 1
• Robert Evans paid Mario Puzo $12.5k for early draft of The Godfather in 1967
• Mario Puzo’s novel(1969) became bestseller• In 1970 Paramount 9th behind 6 majors & 2
independent studios• Owners Gulf & Western wanted out of movies &
try to sell studios for real estate• Put Robert Evans in charge of production &
Frank Yablans in charge of marketing• Budgets cut to $2.5m per picture• Many directors considered before FFC
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Institutions: Internal Context 2
Budget: originally budgeted at $2.5m (low-budget) – cost $6.5m; 62 day shoot with constant threat of FFC being sacked
Results: ‘box office poison’ Brando plus unknown actors; Brando only paid £50k plus $10k per week for 6 weeks plus % of gross (he sold it to Robert Evans for $100k & so lost estimated $11m)
LA shots done by second unit; some NY car shots used ‘poor man’s’ process shots & stock footage
Wedding shots of Michael & Kay shot at night (Gordon Willis’ expertise crucial here)
Worldwide gross: $245m
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Institutions: Internal Context 3
Talented teame.g. cinematography Gordon Willis
(responsible for lighting; did not like FFC’s ‘stylish’ Orson Welles-type high angle shots – preferred to use motivated POV shots)
e.g. production designer Dean Tavoularise.g. music Nino Rotae.g. post-production Walter Murch
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Institutions: Internal Context 4
• Paramount retained right of final cut
• Wanted max of 2h15min; FFC delivered 2h20min cut which Robert Evans hated & wanted scenes reinstated; cinema ending was Evans ending not FFC’s (FFC had Kay lighting candles & praying for Michael’s soul)
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Institutions: Internal Context 5
• FFC brought his scriptwriting skills & his cinematic knowledge to make an arty movie out of a pulp novel
• Style influence by great auteurs he studied at UCLA e.g. Welles, Hitchcock, Visconti
• Different segments of the film show FFC’s mastery of differing ways of telling story e.g. opening wedding sequence & its foreshadowing; horse’s head sequence (leaving audience to fill narrative gaps in sequence); Carlo’s betrayal of Sonny (‘hanging’ enigma for 45 min); Sollozzo killing sequence & building of tension
• Makes gripping story for naïve readers as well as stylish movie for cine-literate audience & fellow professionals
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Institutions: External Context 1
Excerpts from US Production Code of 1930-1934:• “… the sympathy of the audience shall never be
thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin.”
• “Revenge in modern times shall not be justified”• “No picture shall be produced that tends to incite
bigotry or hatred among people of differing races, religions or national origins.”
Replaced in 1968 with a rating system (G,M,R,X)
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Institutions: External Context 2
By 1972 US ratings system was:• G: Suggested for General Audiences. All ages
admitted. • PG: Parental Guidance Suggested—Some
Material may not be Suitable for Pre-Teenagers • R: Persons under 16 are not admitted unless
accompanied by parent or adult guardian (age limit varied in certain areas).
• X: Persons under 16 not admitted (age limit varied in certain areas).
The Godfather was rated R.
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Institutions: External Context 3
• Relaxation of Production Code meant that a gangster film could finally feature Italian-Americans
• Also meant that the audience could be allowed to see films in which they could identify with criminals, where revenge seems justified & where crimes go unpunished
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Institutions: External Context 4
• Italian-American Civil Rights League (in fact a front for the Mafia) demanded that no reference be made to the Mafia or Cosa Nostra
• Used the “five families”
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Technology
• Film underexposed during shooting but processed normally to produce dark look of scenes in Don Vito’s office
• In opening shot used a computerised slow reverse zoom