Gangster Film Analysis

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Behind Every Good Man: Women’s Role in the Early Gangster Film The women of Regeneration (1915) and Little Caesar (1931) share a similar role: to lead their men away from the morally bankrupt life of gangsterism. The women exist to elevate the men into upstanding citizens – being a good citizen and being a good person in the early gangster film is intrinsically linked. Men face complex moral issues. Women are unwavering in their goodness, beacons for the men to follow. A crux of the gangster genre is the gangster’s low class status. The system offers the gangster no way to dig himself out of poverty so he must work outside the system to save himself. As Regeneration declares, “the prizes of existence go the man who has the most daring in defying Karpf’s analysis of Little Caesar does not look at Rico as a gay-coded character but his breakdown, which identifies Rico’s possessiveness of Joe as his fatal flaw, still speaks to that interpretation. To be gay in the 1930s would be seen as character flaw, one both pitiful and revolting. Like a gangster character must pay for his crimes, a gay character would have to pay penance for his supposed Owen and Joe show qualities that make them worthy of redemption. Owen stands up for the underdog and Joe is modest compared to Rico. Whereas Rico is insatiable in his power-hunger, Joe wants to get out as soon as possible. Joe and Owen display healthy masculinity, whereas Rico is blatantly morally reprehensible. However, the fact that Rico cannot be redeemed is not just in his character flaws. The way he speaks is unpolished and distinctly Italian. When meeting with the upper-class syndicate overlord, Big Boy, Rico fixates on a portrait of Napoleon. Big Boy tells him that the portrait costs $15,000 and Rico proclaims “Boy, them gold frames sure cost a lot of dough!” (LeRoy 54:30). Rico’s word choice is crude and he lacks the understanding of upper-class culture to realize how much money the painting itself is worth. Owen and Joe are able to mingle in mainstream society and Rico cannot. Similarly, Owen’s fellow gang members look and act vulgar. Regeneration and Little Caesar show men engaging in healthy gender roles – if only to hold them up as the ideal compared to the unmistakably lower class and ethnic

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