Stereotypes In The Godfather

The opening scene of the movie The Godfather starts with a man talking to the godfather, he says, “I believe in America, America has made my fortune.” Immigrants in the United States can relate to such statement because America has a reputation of having great opportunities for prosperity. Consequently, immigrants from other countries come to America looking for a better experience than in their own countries. As a result, the United States has served as the place for opportunities for various distinctive ethnic groups, immigrants, like the godfather and his family who are Italian immigrants, have settled down in the United States, yet they have kept their culture intact. Vito Corleone, the godfather, is the head of his family, and a powerful

He is willing to help anybody who comes to ask for his help, especially if it is his own family (Copola 1972: 00:22 minutes). At the beginning during the wedding Corleone’s godson comes to see him, ask him for a favor, he wants to be a Hollywood star and the godfather is the one who can help because he had helped him become a singer (Copola 1972: 00:22 minutes). The godfather seems to care about his godson. In the introduction to Street Corner Society by William Whyte, he writes, “ties between families were cemented by the establishment of godparent-godchild relationships.” In other words, the relationship in Italian families between godparent and godchild is indeed solid, but before the godfather agreed to help his godson, he asked him “[if he] spends time with [his] family because a man who does not spend time with his family is not a real man.” The godfather truly emphasizes the importance of family to his godson, to the godfather his family is first corresponding to “[the] first-generation [of immigrants] that was primarily around the family and secondarily [around people from the same town]” (Whyte 1943: xvii). In Street Corner Society, Whyte writes the organization of Cornerville included a gift system, and that it was the leader’s responsibility to be generous with those lower than him, but that was not the case with the

The godfather meets with Sollozzo and declines the deal of investing in the business of narcotics (Copola 1972: 00:34). At the meeting, the godfather thought it was dangerous to invest on narcotics because his political contacts would not agree with him joining the drug business, which he calls “dirty business” (Copola 1972: 00:34). The godfather needs politicians as the politicians need him, because “the underworld thus becomes an important factor in politics” (Asbury 1928: 34). According to Asbury, the underworld has been part of politics since 1843 when Captain Rynders was one of the first politicians to discover that gangsters could be used employed to make him rich and powerful (39). The only difference between Captain Rynders and the godfather is that one is a politician and the other is a gangster, but both are rich and powerful. Due to the godfather’s decision of not funding Sollozzo’s business proposal, he was shot and left to die in the middle of the streets (Copola 1972: 00:58 minutes). After the attack to the godfather, the entire family suffers until he comes back home from the hospital (Copola 1972: