Sherry Chandler » On the social significance of the gangster movie
On the social significance of the gangster movie
From a NYTimes review of American Gangster:
The tradition is updated periodically, like science fiction movies or westerns, to reflect the anxieties of the moment. In the Depression, film gangsters like Paul Muni in “Scarface” evoked economic possibility and louche glamour; in the 1970’s, with the “Godfather” movies, they stood for family values and honor in a corrupt world; in the 1990’s, with “Goodfellas” and its ilk, they navigated the loss of empire. Tony Soprano adds the midlife anxieties of 21st-century suburban baby boomers, and, in recent weeks, “The Departed” played with the interchangeability of good guys and bad.
In “American Gangster,” which is based on the real-life heroin kingpin Frank Lucas and the detective-turned-prosecutor Richie Roberts, the themes are strictly corporate business.
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