Discussion»Questions»Outside the Mug» Can one really admire The Godfather movie based on its moral decrepitude of advocating violence as an enjoyable fictional pastime?
TGF was insipid compared to what went before it. I recall a detective show on 50s tv where two thugs knocked a man down and kicked him to death. Kids cartoons of the 40s and 50s were embarrassingly forthright.
Except maybe in your own gear. Right. Woe to the super impressionable though who may have bipolar.
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at February 10, 2018 10:22 AM MST
I don't like movies with shooting, killing, vulgar language, and sex scenes. But, just because a movie includes violence, doesn't mean it advocates it. Writers write for the entertainment of society......the norm of society. The public at large cannot produce taking into consideration every possible abnormal sensitivity that small percentages of the population hold. That's just the way it is....
This post was edited by Thriftymaid at February 12, 2018 8:57 AM MST
Let's be up front on this. We've admired a whole lot of worse entertainments. In "The Godfather" it wasn't personal it was business. Sorta like the family that slays together, stays together.
I don't think the violence was supposed to be enjoyable. It was supposed to be mind-bogglingly real.
I cannot get really all offended by this violence because it really happened. People needed to be reminded in this nice, cushy age of the 70's, that not too long before, maybe even less than a decade, that kind of behavior was still rampant. Even during the release of the film we were filled with syndicate crimes all over Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.
Now we have the Russian Mafia. And each major country has some crime representation. Japan, China, you name it, they have their own brand of Mafioso.
Anyway, it was in your face for that time because people needed to realize that these families, and they WERE just normal Italian (mostly) families with friends... were murdering other families and calling it business.
It was just business. That cold, tribal culture where it is our group against their group was sociopathic. You cannot love your family and all it's connections better than another group. It will cause bloodshed and animal behavior every time.
I've seen "The Godfather" just once. I wasn't floored by it or its violence.
However, I highly recommend director Michael Haneke's original 1997 "Funny Games." Haneke, similar to your question, believes violence should NOT be entertaining in movies. He believes violence should be disturbing to an audience. And that's what "Funny Games" is all about - - except in his genius (to me), he's created the gentlest, quietest, no-gore-at-all-is-shown-on-screen DISTURBING film about violence.
A masterpiece to me. Truly. THE most disturbing film I've seen but an incredible, excellent film.
I personally found the movie,The Godfather, riveting when it first came out and equally so when I saw it recently on cable.
And the murders during the baptism was a perfect example of another world that existed concurrently with the one I was blissfully living in. (Leave the gun, take the cannoli.)
At any rate, here's an interesting link: https://mentalfloss.com/article/62427/15-things-you-didnt-know-about-godfather
I never saw it but they might argue it is realistic in that things like that really do go on. Which doesn't mean I want to watch depictions of them. But can be done artistically and dramatically well or not well.
Thriftymaid 