Does the genre even matters when discussing about the portrayal of the mafia myth in movies? In my opinion, the genre only changes how you want a message to be read by a certain audience; but first, what is a myth? A myth is nothing more than a widely held but false belief or idea (definition from google dictionary). Now we are talking about the Mafia myth, and there is a truth behind every lie, or myth in this case. We are going to be talking about the stereotypes early movies such as The Godfather brought to us, or just made more obvious. We also need to draw a difference between Italian American mafia films, and Italian mafia films, because they do differ on the projection of the myth.
The typical stereotypes are those of power, of someone who is the head of the organization which is always mostly family and very close friends, and of course wearing suits (The Godfather I, II, and III, Godfellas, Mean Streets, etc…), and loyalty and omerta. Drama will take this stereotypes (myths) and romanticize them to appear more appealing to certain audiences. If the discussion is about drama enhancing this myth (which I dislike as a realist), then yes, it functions better. Drama brings this stereotypes and myths to exaggerations at times, but of course, this is mostly with fictional films produced for the American Audience. Once we switch to Italian mafia films, such as The Sicilian Girl or I cento passi, or series like Corleone, drama plays a different role. In those films (to be screened later in the semester I believe), drama brings seriousness, criticism, and awareness to what the mafia truly is, therefore destroying the myth and bringing back the reality.
Comedy, on the other hand, works on an odd manner. As the article suggests, movies like Goodfellas do both, add to the myth as they take away from it. The gangsters are still portrayed physically as the myth suggests, but the actions and the organization within differ from what the myth suggests. Something different happens whenever one switches to Italian Mafia comedy films, such as The seduction of mimi, keeping the reality close, and the myth far. It makes it more appealing to a wider crowd. For example, this film critics the involvement of the mafia in the government by playing l’inno di mameli everytime someone from that mafia family appeared on screen.
In my opinion, the biggest question should not be if the genre matters when making reference to the mafia myth, but we should rather focus on where the film is made. North American films tend to look the mafia as a romanticized topic and is based more on the Italian American mafia organizations, while Italian films lean more to criticizing it and exposing what the mafia truly is. At the end what truly makes a difference is what your culture see as mafia, and what you see as mafia, so again, does the genre even matters?
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