I would like to pay my highest respect to the great Godfather trilogy with this article.
Few movies can profoundly influence a common vocabulary. If this phenomenon exists, it can well explain the wide and deep influence of this movie. Obviously, the Godfather trilogy is such a movie. As the greatest gangster movie in the history of movies (none of them), The Godfather series has redefined gangster movies, which made Coppola, pacino and the peak of gangster movies.
There are so many articles extolling Godfather in the world, and its historical status and influence also make most people stay at a respectful distance from it. But as a diehard, I think I should write something for it, not for any utility. The original novel of The Godfather was a big bestseller in the United States, and the author Mario Puzo became famous. Coppola was also a young literary artist, focusing on the creation of non-mainstream small pieces, and he didn't shoot commercial films. However, the market economy and the pressure of the film company forced him to take over the shooting task of The Godfather, but he didn't want to be the one who made Coppola famous. Perhaps this is a kind of destiny, sometimes it is not the director who chooses the film, but the film chooses the director. Just like Orson Wilson and Citizen Kane, Coppola's film temperament, in turn, has made Godfather. The fate between the film and people has always been unclear. The director's temperament is a part of the soul of the film, and the film itself is also the embodiment of the creator's soul. Perhaps the collision between Godfather and Coppola is a blessing.
About the original novel
The original novel of The Godfather is very interesting, hard-written, and readable. The detailed texture of the novel is neither complicated nor simple, and everything serves to better shape the characters. Mario's control over the inner burst of the characters is also very precise, not promiscuous, not repeated, erupting in a reasonable way, and being silent in a reasonable way. There are so many descriptions of the Mafia in the original novel that people go back and wonder if the author has anything to do with the Mafia. But on the other hand, it also shows that the content of the novel is very readable, and Puzo talks about the story endlessly, so you won't feel nagging and bored, but are completely immersed in the story. In the novel, Leon and his son's characters are all very distinct, without any hesitation, and the film has successfully created the image of these four fathers and sons. Compared with the film, the novel seems to be more detailed and clear in narrative, while the story context in the film is much more chaotic than that in the novel. If you don't read the original, you may be confused in some places. There is no lack of strong masculinity in the original novel. Women are completely marginal in the story. When the film is inked, it is very important to remind Corleone that everything is just to protect his wife and children. In the novel, the inking of this point is not as heavy as that of the film. The description of murder and death in the novel is very explicit, and some details of killing are written in detail, so that there is a pleasure of crime after reading it, or there is a strong desire for destruction in men's bodies.
Many people regard the novel Godfather as a male Bible, which is a manifestation of male chauvinism. The desire for destruction and manipulation in men's bodies is vividly reflected in the book. Whether it is a conspiracy buried deep in the bottom of my heart, the venting of distorted sexual desire, the abnormal bloody killing, for men, they are all subconsciously longing for it, holding the hand, manipulating power, killing, eradicating dissidents, revenge, sexual desire, male, Don Corleone, an invincible gangster emperor, an unfathomable man, and a man revered as a god by countless men, can always use his unique logic and reason to rationalize all things that seem unreasonable and unacceptable to social laws, and make readers have a sense of identity. The poor living conditions in Sicily make men violent. In order to kill and fight for their livelihood, Don Corleone brought this living condition to the United States. In this reinforced concrete forest, vulnerable people can become food for wolves, and Corleone, rather than fighting for his family, is a complete outbreak of masculinity, turning into wolves and men.
The godfather's philosophy becomes reasonable or acceptable under the expression of words. The complexity of American capital society makes this reinforced concrete forest lose absolute good and absolute evil. Fundamentally speaking, this can be attributed to the uneven distribution of social wealth, and there can be no absolute fairness under this inequality. Without absolute fairness, there are loopholes in this society. Corleone is the one who sees opportunities dominate the loopholes. The godfather's philosophy becomes reasonable and even more terrible under this unfairness. This kind of existence becomes reasonable and necessary. If there is such demand, there will be people who provide services. There is an idea that the government is an enterprise that provides public services, but for Mafia families, they provide public services to some people to a certain extent, and their operations are getting closer to enterprises. Therefore, it can be said that the Corleone family is a small prototype of the government, and existence is reasonable, because of the need for services, so they exist, but it is difficult to define whether this existence is reasonable or unreasonable. Corleone's rationality is based on illegal activities, and in this case, whose law is it? The order set by the people who provide public services is the law, while the godfather's philosophy is the law in this social loophole, and there is no distinction between legal and illegal. Everything comes down to the dispute of interests and people's profit-seeking, which are the foundation of our social existence and the supporting point of the Godfather system. Our society is originally built on killing and evil. There are many people who kill, which we call the country, but those who kill less are defined as "criminals". Those who take up the majority of interests are defined as those who have died in order to maintain order, and those who have small interests in the loopholes are crowned as "illegal". As the saying goes, those who steal the hook are responsible for it and those who steal the country are governors.
Although the expression of The Godfather is not deeply reflected in the above discussion, it actually confirms the above things, but the Godfather stays at the social level in most aspects, but does not rise to the political level. The Godfather trilogy has shown the social sentiment at that time with strong coverage. Mario Puzo did not raise the height of the whole novel, nor did he accurately embody "realism", but it reached its peak in other aspects. After all, people's initial position was to sell well.
Women are marginal in the novel, and women are only sexual tools and accessories of men. In this novel dominated by males, men's hormones can be smelled everywhere, and the female role in the novel generally stays at the level of an inward-looking housewife. MacCorleone can kill his brother-in-law without blinking an eye, without considering his sister's mood at all, and the setting of Mike's wife is more interesting. When MacCorleone inherits his family's career, The male characteristics of Corleone family began to appear, the wife can be deceived, the woman is just the edge of his great family business, and Mike, who blinded his heart, embarked on his father's road, but Mike gradually began to return after jumping out of several sequels other than the novel. To be honest, the third film did lose the charm of the previous one. "Never let the other person know what you are thinking" sounds very dark, but this dark is also a part of men's wisdom. It is not easy to have this awareness of high context in a low context culture, so it can surprise American society. Organization, management and power struggle in The Godfather are regarded as classic teaching materials in management. Compared with textbooks, it embodies a kind of management thinking more vividly, realistically and realistically, but it is covered with a literary cloak. The management thinking in The Godfather has certain guiding value for interpersonal handling, organization management and how to make decisions. Those who feel funny can be spectators, while those who feel profound will naturally be used as teaching materials.
The history of the first generation godfather in the novel only appeared in the second film, and the history of the old godfather is legendary. In the description of the godfather's history, there is a lot of ink about the influence of the family on the old Corleone. The old Corleone did everything for his wife and children. In his speech, the old godfather often mentioned that he should take good care of his family and children, and the family is the first thing. However, in practice, the Corleone family supported him after his success. This can mark a note for Victor Corleone's philosophy of life. After that, Mike's history is almost a replica of the old man's. At the end of the movie, Mike's heart was finally attached to the love of family. Although he died alone, his wife and daughter were still thought of before his death, and the last homesickness of Italian men was still the family. This is similar to the narrative of the old godfather's death. Compared with Victor Corleone's death in family happiness, When Mike died, he was relatively miserable, because Mike did better than his father. Mike grew up in the United States. He didn't have the Sicilian feelings of his father, or the homesickness of sicilian, although Mike died in Sicily. Mike is not as smart as his father in treating his family, but it also determines that Mike's career will be better than the old godfather's. The trilogy finally makes the finishing point, and the first part should be put in. It doesn't seem abrupt that the family belongs to this completely male-dominated film, but it makes the film more lasting appeal. Mario Puzo knows how to play with men's wisdom and feelings.
There is no obvious boundary between evil and justice. Nowadays, the boundary of society is judged according to law and morality, and these are dominated by the ruling upper class. If judged according to law, there is no good man in The Godfather, and the whole is a group of criminals' infighting. The difference between criminals is that some criminals are very bad and some are not so bad. Then why do so many people begin to advocate the "godfather spirit"? It is the injustice in real society that makes people start to need one Or is it simply attracted by the domineering masculinity of the godfather? This is a problem. This kind of hero worship can at least explain a subtle appeal. Whatever it is, it really exists and has a profound impact on movies and literature.