Masculinity In A Bronx Tale

In the movie A Bronx Tale the main character of the film, Calogero Anello is the main character. He comes from a family referred to as the nuclear family, where the family unit is composed of parents and their children, creating a small family structure. Calogero is an only child, which seems to only put more stress on the family. The Anellos are also considered a traditional family where the male is the breadwinner and the female cares for the home. In the movie it is clear that Calogero’s mother is not the breadwinner because, when Lorenzo finds $600 in Calogero’s drawer, she says that they should consider letting him continue to work at the bar because they could “use the money.”
Throughout the film gender plays a large role, which you

notice when Calogero becomes romantically involved with Jane. This allowed him to become more sociologically mindful, specifically with racism in his community. Calogero views Jane as an equal and you can see that he begins to become less understanding about why Caucasian people are racist towards people of African-American descent. Calogero starts behaving differently but acts out because of his desire to fit in with his Italian friends. For example, when his friends jump the two boys riding bike through their neighborhood, he doesn’t engage in beating up the two boys one of which later turns out to be Jane’s brother.
The relationship between masculinity and delinquency is particularly familiar when it comes to men, especially boys.

There is something about committing crimes and hurting people that seem to scream masculinity to them. For example, when Sonny and his men beat up the bikers that cause trouble at the bar, they beat them mercilessly and actually give one of the bikers to the young gang of Italian boys that Calogero hangs around with sometimes. The boys beat and kick the biker together as people just look on. I think that for the boys they feel it is proof of their bravery and strength; that it somehow makes them more

macho.
In the beginning Calogero and his friends would sit in front of his building and watch the mobsters hanging out on the street corner. They would even do imitations of the mafia men and tell each other to guess who they were. This is where I began to see the development of the gang even though they were still very young boys. By watching Sonny and his men the boys see how they interact and the glamour of the suits and the cars. After Calogero witnesses Sonny shoot someone, he lies to the police and becomes a friend of Sonny. C begins to start spending time with Sonny, against his father’s wishes, and becomes his favorite neighborhood kid.
Whereas C used to identify with his father, he now begins to identify with Sonny and takes his advice as well as his reprimanding. While C was somewhat of a leader to his friends and their gang Sonny tells him to stay away from those kids and pay more attention to his studies making C become kind of an outcast to his gang. This guidance from Sonny saves C’s life later on when the gang goes to attack the other neighborhood. I think that little C’s gang is true to the gangs of the 50s and 60s as described in the book. They commit violent acts and feel that nothing else is more important than keeping their neighborhood exactly as they think it should be.
Keeping their neighborhood in check may come off as their main goal in the beginning but it begins to shift into a more racial goal of keeping the “niggas” in check. For example, when the two black boys ride their bicycle through C’s neighborhood they jump them, nearly killing them. After that happens the other neighborhood retaliates by throwing eggs at their club. When the boys see this they immediately get ready to go kill the other gang. It is because of C’s gang feeling that the other race needed to be taught a lesson. Overall, it seems like the main goal of the gang is to commit violent and criminal acts for their own reasons.
Sonny seems to be the product of his environment because he grew up in a place with few real opportunities that caused him to become the man he was.

When he would talk to Calogero he would tell him that school is the most important thing and that he doesn’t want his life for C. In some aspects Sonny may seem like a bad man but he wouldn’t be if he had the opportunity to be a hard working man rather than the head of the mafia. When you look at Lorenzo he is what you would call a workingman. He earns his living by driving the bus and feels that it is more important to provide his son with a positive role model and a stable home than money and shiny cars. Lorenzo is really just a good man, who works hard to support his

family.
The differences in these two men are numerous; Sonny does illegal and immoral acts to make his money and support his expensive lifestyle, while Lorenzo has a family and drives the bus to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. They both live and work in the same neighborhood on the same block and yet they seem to be worlds apart. Lorenzo feels that dignity, morality, and his family are more important than if he looks cool driving the bus. Sonny wears a suit and hangs out at the bar all day with his friends rolling dice. He chooses to gamble with his life and his money unlike Lorenzo who works hard to provide a stable, supportive environment.
It is obvious from the start that Calogero’s friends were bad influences and his peer influence caused him to be guilty by association. For example, when his friends stole the car and was on their way to trash the record store, C got stuck in the car because he felt that he couldn’t get out without them losing respect and dignity for him. Sonny saved his life and was ultimately a good influence on C because he separated him from the gang, encouraged his education, and told him to follow his heart. It seemed to me that C’s friends were his greatest fault and that just because Sonny was a bad man didn’t mean he couldn’t have good intentions.