The mafia myth
By David Magana
I think the mafia myth plays out really well as a plot for films, and as a convenient characterization device. The mafia myth conveys the idea of the Mafioso, as a “made man”, someone who rises up despite their circumstances to the top of the world, a man who is willing to fight the system for his beliefs, and a man who exhibits very traditional aspects of masculinity from womanizing, to expensive suits and tough attitude. All this attributes make the Mafioso a pretty malleable character, as each director is free to overplay or downplay any of these characteristics to portray the Mafioso as either an anti-hero or a villain depending on the side of the mafia, the film in question tries to portray. This range is very rare in film characters, and there are few archetypes that can be used this way
One of the best movies to best movies to portray this myth is the Godfather. Through the film Francis Coppola walks this fine line during the entire movie, making the Corleone look like anti-heroic figures, yet at the same time managing to portray the Tattaglia family as villains, despite the fact that the characters in both families behave in a similar manner and have similar actions. In this movie the mafia myth saw its height in popularity in the film industry, as Al Pacino, Marlon Brando and Coppola played with the mafia myth, in order to portray some of the most complex characters ever portrayed in cinema, as both Vito and Michael Corleone caught the public attention as strong men that raised to the top, while proving superior than their adversaries, while still being portrayed as flawed individuals with an allure of power and danger to their presence.
In that contrast the Seduction of Mimi failed to portray the whole potential of the Mafiosi as a character. Yet rather than bad writing this misuse of the Mafia myth is a product, of the Mafioso being used as a plot device to Mimi’s adventure rather than the focal point of the action. Despite the film having many Mafioso characters, these characters are barely explored, and the only part of the mafia myth portrayed in the movie, is the apparent omnicescence of the Mafiosi in Italy, serving as behind the scenes manipulators for the main character’s story.
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