Myth is defined as a form of discourse, in that it is one way in which a culture makes sense of an unstable concept through more stable narratives. Mafia myths are used in popular films such as The Godfather, Goodfellas and The Sopranos. There are four elements according to George Larke-Walsh that distinguish Mafia from gangsters. The Godfather seems to fall into all four elements of the Mafia. One of the many things that The Godfather does is show how the omerta or the code of silence is used. But today, it is harder to follow the honorable code because of the RICO statute. The RICO statute allows the state to punish those who are associated with organized crime, harsher. Larke-Walsh states that before the RICO statute, The Godfather was a reality of its time because it depicted the honorable criminal correctly. Even though they were committing terrible things, they were honorable to the Mafia code.
The Sopranos and Goodfellas tried going the other route of The Godfather. Both tried to de-mythologize the mafia. Goodfellas might’ve had a slight advantage due to the fact that it was based on a true story but soon everyone started to realize that The Sopranos has added most to Mafia myths than the other two mentioned films because according to Larke-Walsh, The Sopranos alluded to real events and made them fiction. As in the case of John Gotti or Johnnie Sacramoni: both were convicted, jailed and died of cancer. The Sopranos exposed some Mafia myths but found themselves realizing that they needed to fall back on them to justify the show. Goodfellas does much of the same by mixing fact with fiction to show Mafia life to an outsider. It has also been view as relatively realistic portrayal of Mafia life. That’s why I think that Goodfellas is the worst at portraying Mafia myths because of how real it is. I think the film that best portrays Mafia myths is The Godfather because it’s what people think of when the word “mafia” is mentioned and because of the four elements that Larke-Walsh mentioned.
Recent Comments