"The Gun, the Pen, and the Cannoli: Orality and Writing in The Godfather, Part 1

The Godfather is an infamous movie, known for its one-liner's, violence, and the Corleone family. David Sutton, from Southern Illinois University, and Peter Wogan, from Wilmetter University wrote an article entitled "The Gun, the Pen, and the Cannoli: Orality and Writing in The Godfather, Part 1 which analyzes The Godfather using many different approaches, including nationalism, formalism, and ideologically. I will focus on the nationalism perspective, and how the Corleone family operates differently from the U.S. government.
The authors mention how many people have discussed how The Godfather deals with capitalism. These authors agree, and will examine capitalism using " 'orality,' which stands for the gift economy, and 'writing,' which stands for capitalism and its legal arm." They use three scenes to defend their claim. The first scene is the wedding scene, which is the beginning of the movie.
The opening sentence examining the wedding scene states, "In the opening wedding scene, the symbolism of writing and food establishes a stark contrast between American and Sicilian society." The American society is exemplified through the writing aspect, where as Sicilian society is represented through orality. One example used is the way the FBI agents are writing down license plate numbers on notepads, and use their FBI identification cards as authority. Another major example the authors mention from the wedding scene of the movie is when Michael Corleone tells his girlfriend the story about the Don making a bandleader "an offer he can't refuse." It is explained how a written contract is used to trap the Don's singing star godson, but a gun held to his head by Luca Brasi over rules the contract. This is a direct contrast between writing and orality. To clarify, the authors state, "Moreover, his style of power is different. Whereas the state's power is abstract (based on laws), mediated (communicated through writing, not through face to face interaction), and supposedly inflexible (tied to the letter of the law), the Don's power is physical (the gun tot he head), personal (the Godfather-godson relationship), and flexible (allows for changes in circumstances)."
Other example from the wedding scene are seen in the Godfather's office, and how he "forms bonds with his supporters." His two guests, the undertaker, and the baker are compared as one follows American society and the other Sicilian society. Bonasera is explained to represent American society because when he asks a favor of the Don, he doesn't approach him as a friend, and offers money for the Godfather's service, where as the baker represents Sicilian society because he approaches the Godfather as as a friend, and offers a favor and friendship to the Don in return for a favor from him. The baker says "and wait till you see the beautiful wedding cake I made for your daughter," which is a friend to friend favor rather than a service, according to Wogan and Sutton. Don Corleone appreciates the baker's friendly gesture and treats him kindly, but scolds the undertaker saying "You don't ask with respect. You don't offer friendship. You don't even think to call me Godfather. Instead, you come into my house on the day my daughter is to be married and you, uh, ask me to do murder, for money." The authors relate the orality is related to cake, and friendship between the Don and the baker, whereas the writing is aspect that the money acts a contract between the Don and the undertaker. The undertaker is also said to be related to American society because his first line, and the first line of the movie for that matter is "I believe in America."
I agree with the claims these authors are making and see the relationships relating the American and Sicilian society. However, think the terms orality and writing are misleading, and don't classify all of the examples the authors are mentioning. Two more scenes are examined by the author which are Michael's Murder scene and the Moe Green Casino scene. Each gives similar examples to defend the contrasting claims about American and Sicilian society.

Francis Ford Coppola

This link on Wikipedia provides a filmography of Francis Ford Coppola, who is a five-time Academy Award winning director, producer, and screenwriter, and also a vintner, magazine publisher, and a hotelier. His most famous films that he is known for is his Godfather trilogy, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now. This site explains his life and film career from 1960 to the present. He had received his MFA in film directing from the UCLA Film School and started making movies such as Dementia 13, and later became a renowned director by his movies Patton and The Godfather. He directed and produced many movies. His most recent movie that he directed was The Rainmaker in 1997. Coppola was in the process of creating a script for the fourth Godfather with Mario Puzo, but then abandoned the project due to the death of Puzo in July 1999, stating that "he couldn't do it without his friend."

"The Godfather was a very under-appreciated movie when we were making it. I almost got fired." - Coppola

The Mafia Genre

The Mafia genre can be seen in many movies today, but one of the greatest movies in this genre is The Godfather. In this article written by Murray N. Rothbard, he discusses this genre and the difference between The Godfather and Goodfellas. The success of the Mafia genre can be seen by the "realization and dramatic portrayal of the fact that the Mafia, although leading a life outside the law, is, at its best, simply entrepreneurs and businessmen supplying the consumers with goods and services." Rothbard states that the violence depicted in The Godfather should not be taken the wrong way because it is "productive and non-aggressive," while unorganized crime is "punkish and viciously aggressive against the innocent." He also talks about the difference between The Godfather and Goodfellas. Rothbard mentions that The Godfather stays true to its genre because Goodfellas has many contrasting aspects, such as the punkish crime and random violence, which is not true to the ideals of a Mafia. The Godfather depicts its genre of family and Mafia excellently, but still many people fail to realize the true meaning and portrayal of the film.

History Behind The Godfather

This link provides a short historical analysis of the The Godfather by stating that the film depicted "poverty, the turn of the century, a family, and the hypocracy of politics in America." Also, the link refers to The Godfather as an accurate portrayal of the Sicilian Mafia through the language and culture. However, this links doesn't give an indepth historical analysis as it does link the movie to key figures and events during the '20s. The link goes into descriptions of which characters in The Godfather resembled real-life gangsters, such as Johnnie Fontaine is most likely a link to Frank Sinatra, who was suspected of having mob connections. Also, Moe Green and Hyman Roth, in the movie, was closely related to Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky because of the related deaths and roles within the movie.

The Representation of Ethnicity in The Godfather

The writer of this critical essay is Nick Browne. This article was found in a book that he wrote called "Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Trilogy." this article is about how Italian-Americans have a criminal image. Browne states that although some Italians are offended by it, many feel it is "glamorous" and "fascinating." This film according to Browne has a central theme about power and order of "traditional" Italian qualities. The following quote shows the audience that The Godfather provides "authenticity" of Italian-Americans.

"It must be noted that The Godfather brings to us...the notion of authenticity when presenting Italian-Americans as an ethnic group."