The Gangster Space in Media

    Crime is one of the most captivating and interesting genres there is but, inside this space is the sub-genre known as Gangster, an area that mostly captures the life of organized crime. 

   
    These type of films issue a type of content that heavily relies on the rise and fall of someone who has made a name for themselves. A great example that perfectly illustrates this is Brian De Palma's Scarface, which follows a story of a young Cuban man that gets corrupted by wealth.  Another important aspect of these films is their constant use of the Mafia like the Godfather Series or Casino. A lot of the reason why the mafia is so apparent in this genre is due to the rise in popularity in the American Mafia during the 1960's-70's through figures in the Gambino family. The use of Mafia in these films is very consistent which is a reason why most of these films are located in places like New England, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. This genre also frequently cast actors like Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, and Joe Pesci, which mainly show up in the films involving the Mafia. 

  Now, while the Mafia is known to be the face of gangster films, another sub-genre within the sub-genre are stories surrounding African American gangsters. For example, Boyz N The Hood (John Singleton) a story that excels in explaining the struggles of gang culture. Another example would be The Wire which is a TV show by HBO that focuses on a group of detectives that try and investigate different murders and drug dealings.

    Something that lies within all of these different type of gangster movies is their similar style when it comes to color. Most of these films rely on the dark, likely to showcase the wrongdoings of the individuals which the stories focus on. In the Godfather this is extremely reliant especially in the first movie of the trilogy. Don Corleone (Marlon Brando) who is the boss of the crime family is constantly faced with dark tones of orange and black which resemble his strong love for his family and his will to do anything to protect them. Gangster films also try to portray crime as realistic as possible in order to create a more authentic representation and to build up suspense. These films are also very detail heavy as it can create a sense of reality that makes a person believe they are in the films world. 

    While gangster films are exciting and intense, they are marketed towards the older audience rather than the younger one. This creates a smaller margin which can be seen in the film The Irishman by Martin Scorsese as it features Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino whom are legends of the genre going back all the way to the 70's. This genre of film also relies on current events. The movie Goodfellas also by Martin Scorsese, goes through the real life story of Henry Hill, so through pushing the narrative that the story was true it got attention and weighed in on how the movie performed. This can also be said for Casino. 

    The movie Casino (1995) follows the true story of Sam "Ace" Rothstein. A man who gets to run a casino "legally" in Las Vegas. In this film Ace becomes filled with wealth and along side him a beautiful women. In this Casino he runs money is in a sense stolen from participants which generates a lot of money that is then distributed to many of the Mafia bosses around the nation. Due to the people that are acquaintances to Ace many things begin to go wrong and his long life friend Nicky Santoro tries to keep order and they do for a while, but after Nicky begins to turn crazier by the day Ace's money becomes less and less and his casino empire begins to crumble up. Ace is then placed in a situation where his long life friend Nicky Santoro turns on him and so does his wife. Now although, the movie is constantly inside a Casino with vibrant lights the tone of the lighting has a dark feeling that creates and embodies the genres portrayal of crime. The movie's marketing is very similar to Goodfellas as it is also based on a true story and allows for the audience to feel some sort of connection knowing these were real people. 

    The Godfather Part II one of if not the best Mafia movie ever, is a sequel about Michael Corleone who's the man that took over the family after Don Corleone's death. In this film their is a sudden back and forth between the starting years of the Don's criminal life and the start of Michael's criminal life. In a way it creates a comparison between the similarities and differences between these two incredible characters. This is a film that lives upon the dark colors that illustrate a strong sense of emotion. There are many scenes where Michael has a black shadow and it accurately depicts the change he has gone through since taking reign. The overall feeling and ambience of the film is dark and it also creates a symbolic relationship between both of the Corleone's and their importance when it comes to family but, compared if you compare Don to Michael their is a darker image portrayed in Michael as he does not have the same level of love that Don Corleone does. This film strategically markets itself by the time in which it was released as their was a lot of debate concerning the Gambino family. 

Here Are Some Great Gangster Films: