urban crime

Lecture Series: Space – society – economy
WS 2014/2015

Organized crime and its cinematic representation
How do they influence each other?

Barbora Holevová
Matrikelnummer: 65985
WS 2014/2015 [e-mail] Katholische Universität Ingolstadt – Eichstätt
Fachbereich Geographie
Professur für Wirtschaftsgeographie
Prof. Hans – Martin Zademach & Cornelia Bading

Table of Content

1. Introduction 3
2. Familiarization with an issue of urban crime: the mafia 4
3. Cinematic representation of a mafia life I 6
3.2 “It 's business, not personal.” 7
4. Cinematic representation of mafia life II 8
4.1 Gomorrah analysis 8
5. Godfather and Gomorrah: a comparison 9
6. Conclusion 10
7. Bibliography 11

“Crime is largely an urban phenomenon, but the specifically urban and area dimensions of the social processes that are connected with crime have been seriously understated in much recent criminological work ….Such a claim could not have been made forty years ago.” Baldwin &Bottoms, 1976, p.1

The above statement by Baldwin and Bottoms about the neglect in criminology of the urban dimension of crime was made in mid- 1970s. However, there has been a big upswing in theory and research on crime in the urban environment. The research literature on urban crime is generally of three types. There are studies that compare cities, seeking to understand why some have higher crime rates than others. There are studies that focus on explaining variations in crime levels within cities. And there are studies, which focus on the urban crime organization’s cinematographic representation through a comparison between particular movies and their concepts.
This scientific paper aims to introduce the subject of cinema and its influence on present - day urban crime whereas each movie represent different situation in a diverse way, which entails different consequences on real urban criminality. In recent years, relatively popular movies such as Godfather (1972) and Gomorra (2008) have told stories that attempt both to entertain and to connect audiences with important comprehensive issues.
The paper draws on a range of personally selected historical and current examples in order to explore the power an

Bibliography: 11 “Crime is largely an urban phenomenon, but the specifically urban and area dimensions of the social processes that are connected with crime have been seriously understated in much recent criminological work ….Such a claim could not have been made forty years ago.” Baldwin &Bottoms, 1976, p.1 The above statement by Baldwin and Bottoms about the neglect in criminology of the urban dimension of crime was made in mid- 1970s. However, there has been a big upswing in theory and research on crime in the urban environment. The research literature on urban crime is generally of three types. There are studies that compare cities, seeking to understand why some have higher crime rates than others. There are studies that focus on explaining variations in crime levels within cities. And there are studies, which focus on the urban crime organization’s cinematographic representation through a comparison between particular movies and their concepts.  This scientific paper aims to introduce the subject of cinema and its influence on present - day urban crime whereas each movie represent different situation in a diverse way, which entails different consequences on real urban criminality. In recent years, relatively popular movies such as Godfather (1972) and Gomorra (2008) have told stories that attempt both to entertain and to connect audiences with important comprehensive issues. The paper draws on a range of personally selected historical and current examples in order to explore the power an