It is not until after the brief dialogue between Vito, Clemenza, and Tessio, where Vito declares “Be a friend to Michael,” that Michael’s dominion as Don takes hold. The combination of these two indicators of femininity—the softness and fragility of the pinks; the submissive and silent geishas frame Connie as a person who is expected, simply, to please her man and submit to him. We cut to a close-up of Enzo’s hand unsuccessfully igniting the lighter; he fumbles repeatedly, unable to control his hand muscles enough to turn the flint wheel and strike the flame. In particular, we’re focusing on how the actors’ … Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. The Godfather is a sensually ingenious movie: it lulls its viewers into a dream state with scenes of comfortable warmth, then shocks us awake through punchy pops of drama and action. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 833-44. He is in a suit (wearing the same tie he does at the baptism), and his body is active, his fingers lightly tapping the lighter and his crossed leg restlessly bouncing. The staging of the characters in each scene convey to the audience who is the main character of the scene/film. The lighter and its essential companion the cigarette have begun to function, then, as a cinematic trope expressing Michael’s control as Don, his observant nature, and his ability to destroy and be the hand of death.

The Don descends from the warmth and falls into the cool darkness of the street on both a physical and metaphorical level. The Godfather Part II Scene Analysis. (c) 2018, Inhale, Exhale: Cigarettes and the Power of Michael Corleone, Hemmed In: Kay Adams and Her Changing Fashions, The Sound of Nostalgia: Nino Rota’s “Godfather Waltz”, Ripeness Is All: The Death of Vito Corleone, Pop, Flash, Bang: Color Accents in The Godfather, “I’m With You Now”: Michael Corleone’s Journey to Become His Father’s Son, Coppola’s Reluctant Voyeurism: Gendered Violence in The Godfather, Navigating Coppola’s Maze: Editing in The Godfather, The Murder of Luca Brasi: The Curiously Moving Death of a Henchman, “Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli”: The Hit Man as Family Man, A Bitter-Suite Romance: Michael and Kay’s Hotel Scene, Mixing Business with Pleasure: Alcohol in The Godfather, Men of the House: Modes of Masculinity in The Godfather, A Family in Celebration, and in Transition: The Godfather’s Opening Wedding Scene, “Till Death Do Us Part”: Michael’s Marriage to Apollonia and the “Corleone” Way, Never Let Your Body Show What You’re Thinking: Gesture and Masculinity in The Godfather, A Son’s Devotion to His Father: Michael and Vito’s Garden Scene, Office Space: Don Vito’s Home Office, and Michael’s.

( Log Out /  Instead he moves back to his chair and sits, the cigarette firmly between his lips. They exist only as objects for the men to use, whether it be sexually, romantically, in the roles of cooks and housewives, or as pawns in their never-ending battle to maintain their hyper-masculine ideas of dominance. As Laura Mulvey has famously suggested, this domination has caused a clear masculine bias in how films are shot and presented to viewers who, sometimes unknowingly, consume examples of harmful masculinity. She does not bleed, she does not bruise, she only screams in an act which alludes to pain, but does not provide proof of its existence as blood does. Held gently but confidently between the two fingers of Michael’s hand, the cigarette claims its place in the hands of the Godfather whose hands do not shake, the man who does not allow the strings of the family business to tangle. He takes charge and pushes his father's              The smoke mimics Michael’s thoughts and actions, curling and twisting like his soul as he adapts to the complex situations presented throughout the film. The camera is located behind the Don’s table, in line with the perspective of someone sitting in the leather chair, an evocation of Vito’s presence despite his being in the hospital. The shot shows three other characters surround themselves around Michael, once again presenting that Michael is the center of attention.

The source of all attention, much less comforting and aesthetically sympathetic than Vito’s romantic red rose. What is most interesting about The Godfather, though, is how it negates these  conventions: Coppola created innovation not only through his manipulation of the film’s formal elements, but also through its depictions of the punishment of women. In a flashback, the Corleone family is seated at the dinner table ready to celebrate Vito’s birthday. Continue reading. If there is a depiction of sadistic punishment in the film, it arrives through Sonny’s death, as he is punished for being too masculine; his protracted death is performed for the unobstructed view of the camera, and so he perishes with his abjection, shame, and decay in full view—dehumanized in his demise. The violence against her is lethal, but there is no abjection present to further shame her. Enzo’s hands are shaking uncontrollably as he reaches into his coat pocket for his pack of smokes. This scene utilizes the editing technique known as cross-cutting, or parallel editing. These two scenes may be occurring simultaneously or happening at various times, in a montage manner. He lights up, first, when he is giving her his ‘one-time-only’ answer about the true nature of his business; and he lights up again when he is framed by the door as Kay prepares drinks in the foreground and members of the family filter into his office. Released in 1972, when Hollywood was barely coming out of a big financial crisis, directed by a mostly unknown Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather became one of the highest grossing films of its time. Sonny points to Michael, says something incomprehensible regarding “Do me a favor” (which loosely recalls the opening scene between Vito [Michael] and Bonasera [Sonny] who comes to the Godfather for a ‘favor’)—a comment to which Michael does not respond verbally. To understand these meticulous placements and punches of color, let us first delve into the most iconic example: Vito Corleone’s red rose in the opening scene. Although Kay is in the front of the shot, Michael is the one who is in focus. When his death begins, he is seated inside his car as the bullets begin to pierce his body and cause visible bleeding, visible abjection. The final scenes of The Godfather Part II are quite interesting, especially in the camera techniques used. MegaEssays. After this moment, the last instance of a warm color we see is once again the red accent of dripping blood from Vito himself. The ending scene starts with a deep focus shot, presenting Kay in the front and Michael in the back. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. The film cuts to a middle shot of Carlo as it is revealed he will be in charge in Nevada; it cuts to a middle shot of Tom, who will no longer be consigliere but instead the family lawyer in Nevada (the shot lingers to gauge Tom’s reaction); then we cut to a medium close-up shot of Michael, who is still standing. The Godfather is a sensually ingenious movie: it lulls its viewers into a dream state with scenes of comfortable warmth, then shocks us awake through punchy pops of drama and action.



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