In The Godfather, the role of women is a complex one. On the one hand, the women in the film are often shown as loyal and supportive, standing by their husbands and families through thick and thin. On the other hand, they are also depicted as being submissive and lacking agency, with little power to affect the events of the film or to shape their own lives.
One of the most prominent female characters in The Godfather is Kay Adams, the girlfriend of Michael Corleone, the film's protagonist. Kay is a strong and independent woman, who is fiercely loyal to Michael and his family. She stands by him through the violence and turmoil of the film, and even agrees to marry him despite the dangers of being involved with the Corleones.
However, Kay is also limited by the traditional gender roles of the time, and is unable to fully participate in the business and political dealings of the Corleone family. She is often shown as being on the sidelines, watching as the men make the important decisions and carry out the dangerous missions.
Another important female character in the film is Tom Hagen's wife, Theresa. Like Kay, Theresa is a supportive and loyal partner, standing by her husband even when he is forced to engage in criminal activity on behalf of the family. However, she is also depicted as being somewhat timid and submissive, and is never given the opportunity to fully participate in the family's affairs.
Overall, the women in The Godfather are complex and multi-faceted characters, who are both strong and supportive, but also limited by the traditional gender roles of the time. While they may not always be at the center of the action, they play a vital role in the film, and their presence helps to shape the events of the story.
The Godfather (1972)
Michael is the provider of light, sustenance, and protection; Enzo merely receives these gifts. When Sonny asks him what his decision is going to be, Vito raises his hand from his cheek before resting it on his chin, withholding his thoughts until the next scene. Michael is adjusting to the fluidity of his new power as the Don, and this is reflected in his body language, as he is both looser in the movement of his limbs and firmer in the way he carries himself among the other men. The car explodes in full view, but we do not see the full impact of the violence on her body. This scene was never released, although publicity photos were distributed of Al Pacino, who portrayed Michael, firing a shotgun. Amy, her youngest, marries both well and for love, gaining security for her whole family without compromising her ideals. Seemingly punished for his own insatiable rage and confidence in elements of traditional masculinity, Sonny is murdered in full view.
On top of the silk bedsheets is a stuffed rabbit, another object which signifies Connie as a girl, not a woman. Michael's American attitude about relationships gave Apollonia more freedom in their marriage than traditional Sicilian ones Apollonia had grown up seeing. He wants to be close to his father, but only at a certain distance, as intimacy often necessitates an emotional and physical vulnerability, one that threatens his male assertiveness. Out of focus in the foreground are a few objects sitting on the table, elements of the mise-en-scene: a cup, a small business ledger, some unidentifiable due to the shadows desk trinkets, and a pack of cigarettes. Her hair has the same champagne glow as the fabric.
And over the winter break, I knocked one of the titans off the list when I finally sat down to watch The Godfather. Pontellier had to first recognize the fact that she was being forced into a mold and was not happy doing so. Red wine is an Italian necessity. This is not the crimson of desire; she must pursue Michael, find him out, though he retreats to the bosom of Apollonia. Gone are the tomato reds and roadside dining patterns.
To my mind, if Kay recalls the sort of competent women played by the actress Theresa Wright in the postwar period, then Apollonia is a sort of Lolita figure. The scene shows a montage of many plots of murders. Women in the Millianial You may look at my title and say to yourself, women are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow; strong, beautiful, feminine, and self-confident. When Carlo finally admits to his involvement, Michael directs him to a car that is supposed to take him to an airport. This problem is tackled in The Godfather through Michael but extends to every man in his family. Family plays a major role in the Godfather.
Role of Women in the Godfather Analysis The role of women has changed tremendously over the years. The Godfather cast list, listed alphabetically with photos when available. Vito exercises his power as a means of protecting his family, whereas Michael flashes his influence to uphold his place and ensure the progress of the Family. By controlling their physical faculties, Vito and Michael maintain the appearance of authority: their power is dependent upon the suppression of their violent, primitive urges in the midst of things going amiss. Men and women are different in many ways.
The Godfather Cast List: Actors and Actresses from The Godfather
He is now located in the dark shadows at the edge of the frame, his body a shapeless mass that morphs into the limits of the shot, becoming one with the shadows, not only of the scene but of the shadowy criminal underworld. After Apollonia's death, Michael returns to the United States and marries Apollonia's death made Michael a man with an uncontrollable thirst for revenge, which would set a chain reaction of events in motion. In the hospital, Don Cicerone was taken care of by a female nurse because of this we can infer that one role of the women in this film is to take care of the men. A meal without a drink is no meal at all. He wants to take immediate action, but he does not act upon his impulses.
They exist only as objects for the men to use, whether it be sexually, romantically, in the roles of cooks and housewives, or as pawns in their never-ending battle to maintain their hyper-masculine ideas of dominance. Within this context, white wine serves more as a party drink. Fabrizio is hit in the chest, whereupon he bleeds to death almost immediately. In this scene, the women carried the children in to see the Don and then carried them out. Ultimately, Michael's attitude he gained when he was widowed would cause the self-destruction of the Corleone family. However, this evolution did not occur over night.
Role of Women in the Godfather Analysis Essay Example
Lawrence, their wealthy next-door neighbor is a kindly but distant patriarch, his son Laurie is an interloper, if a beloved one, and Mr. In the same sequence, in which Connie is a victim of domestic abuse, the mise-en-scene conveys the limits within which Connie imagines herself and lives her life. The cat, sprawled on his lap, luxuriates in his attention and infuses a playful energy into an otherwise dark and brooding room. Lastly, this also may have signified that women were all viewed as the same and that differentiation was only amongst men. From this, women were to only serve as housewives and that was the sole priority for them to do. Not to be confused with Captain Mark McCluskey is a fictional character in In the novel and film, McCluskey is a corrupt Virgil Sollozzo unsuccessfully attempts to assassinate Soon after, Sollozzo seeks a meeting with Michael to resolve the hostilities, although at Michael's urging, the Corleones view this as an opportunity to kill Sollozzo, which would, of necessity, also involve killing McCluskey.
One example of this was when Connie was pregnant and her husband beat her up because she was freaking out after a women called their house asking for her husband. She is interested in the role of health policies in addressing health inequities at the local and global levels. But this is a film whose aesthetic choices are excruciatingly deliberate, reflecting its grave polarities good vs. When Vito meets with Sollozzo to listen to his proposition only to decline , his blazer is unbuttoned, and he droops one arm over the chair while the other dangles from his hip. If Sonny had not been so quick to attack Carlo after the first incident, he may have never made an enemy out of Carlo and would not have met such a gruesome and sudden death.
Coppola gives us, then, both an untraditional way of framing them through his camera and a traditional way of framing women, in a larger sense, as characters. After Sonny is killed by Barzini's men, Vito resumes control and brokers a peace accord among the families, during which he realizes that Barzini masterminded the attempt on his life and Sonny's murder. The differences between the two groups are joined together at the climax where Michael kills his brother-in-law. Coppola portrays men and women with different roles while giving men more roles. Signor Vitelli gave Apollonia away in a traditional Sicilian wedding ceremony.
