What Are Gender Roles In The Godfather

Rafael Aziz
English 112
Professor Julian
8 March 2014
The Godfather The Godfather was regarded as the second best films of all time after the Shaw-shank Redemption. The Godfather employs a classic Italian-American mafia crime family in New York and Nevada. Vito Corleone as the founder of the Corleone crime family. An immigrant from Sicily who witnessed both his parents shot by a different don. He has four children and a step son whom he had adopted. Michael Corleone as the second Godfather to the Corleone crime family. Santino (Sonny) Corleone who is the eldest son and was to be the newly crowned don of the family until his death. Tom Hagen who is the adopted son and childhood friend of Sonny, he serves as the councilor of the don.
Connie Corleone as the only daughter to Vito. Freddo Corleone as the middle son to Vito Corleone. A trilogy of films that gives a representation of the corruption of politicians, police forces and even the Catholic church. I will be analyzing the difference between the two heads of the crime family, the roles of women in the crime family, and the corruption of major people throughout the films. Through the trilogy there have been a total of two Godfathers. Vito Corleone was the first and original Godfather. Michael Corleone was the second don and successor to Vito. There is a major difference between both. Vito is don who seeks respect from others, while Michael seeks legitimacy for his family business. He is portrayed throughout the movie as a man who is honorable of his word and will listen to reason. He serves as the protector of all of those around him. In the beginning of the Godfather movie he talks with Bonasera an undertaker who is seeking revenge for a crime against his daughter. Vito asks him why he has never invited him for coffee or talked casually with him. That his first instinct was to run to the police to save his daughter and not come to him for help. He asks Bonasera why he didn’t call him Godfather or kiss his ring. In this scene Vito shows his true motive which is respect from others by seeking acknowledgment to be called the Godfather. “People respect the don out of fear and the desire for his favors”. As a don he has to be respected because respect is an important part of the mafia business. If a person were to disrespect anyone above them, they would get “Whacked” or killed. Vito wanted to achieve respect whether that was through gambling or prostitution. He didn’t mind putting out hits on people who stood in his way. Michael on the other hand wanted nothing to do with the illegal business. He made a promise to his girlfriend that he would legitimize the family business. Michael wanted to make the business “criminality and immorality”. He does not want to make money through bribery, gambling or prostitution. He wanted to be “respected by American law and society”. In the end of the trilogy Michael died still believing he could legitimize the family business. Sadly he had failed to do so, therefore costing him his marriage and the life of his daughter. The two dons were both given major responsibilities. Vito started from nothing and through it he became a godfather, Michael took that and ran right into the ground along with everything he had ever valued. Vito reflects the basic immigrant who works from nothing in America to provide for his family and to have safety and prosperity for his children. Before his death he tells Michael “I work my whole life, I don't apologize, to take care of my family. And I refused to be a fool dancing on the string, held by all those big shots. I don't apologize that's my life but I thought that that when it was your time that that you would be the one to hold the strings. Senator Corleone. Governor Corleone, or something...”. Vito proves to the audience that he was just a man who wanted to be happy with his family. While Michael in effort to be an honest man, tore his family apart. Which shows the immigrants today, try to be honest and in the end lose everything the have. In various aspects of the films the roles of women are very little if not present at all.
The first film of the Godfather trilogy is portraying women as child bearers and not present in business negotiations in the presence of men. They have very little influence on the mens decisions if present at all. Throughout the movie mama Corleone was with other women and had an apron on her most of the time. She would reside in the kitchen as do all the wives of other characters. She is present multiple times carrying a screaming child and always calming a screaming child. Woman in the movie are not included in any business talks and are rarely seen in the study of the don. The women in the Godfather trilogy are shown as caretakers. Taking care of the house, the kids and ensuring the overall well being of the men. They are considered to be the least important worry that they may have on their list. They depend on the women to keep their personal life well taken care of. An example is the role of women when don Vito was hospitalized. Multiple grandchildren came to see Vito accompanied by their mothers and were escorted right back out and the door was shut on them so the men could talk business. The idea that women were seen as the least important task is protryaed in the treatment of Kay and Connie. Kay being the girlfriend of Michael in the beginning of the film and later to be his wife. After the killig of Sollozo and Captain McClusky, Michael fled to Sicily for a year. He had married an Italian native by the name of Apollonia and was later murdered in viscious car explosion. After the death of Sonny, Mike came back and asked Kay to marry him. He had expected Kay to just marry him and to be honored to marry a Corleone. Throughout his life as an Italian observing his mother and his sister laws, the women were always obedient in everything. Even when Mike went to marry Apollonia he had asked her father not her. When she was informed of the marriage, she had just agreed
without any say in the matter. Also with Connie she had never interfered in the family business. In the movie her husband Carl would always tell her to quiet down when she interfered with business talks at the dinner table. She was always treated harshly and was always given orders by her brothers and her husband. All through the 1900s women has no place in society and had no authority in anything. Now women are senators and business leaders. They are aspiring to be bigger and greater things in society as compared to their roles in the past. In this trilogy corruption is present all throughout the movies. It ranges from police captians in the first movie, to corrupt senators in the second and finally to corrupt cardinals and bishops in the thrid. The trilogy smoothly but firmly points out the corruption of major political actors all through the 20th century. Starting with captain McClusky, he calls away the guards from the dons room so another assassination attempt could be made. When it is foiled by Michael, he beats him and breaks his jaw. The drug dealer Sollozo bring the police captain in order to protect him from the Corleone family. A known drug dealer bring a police captain as his body guard. That shows the amount of corrupt and broken control that was present in the 20th century. The captain was on the payroll of the Barzini family and helped them wipe out his competitors. Many critics say that Vito is not such an angel himself. Which is true in many sense, but he had refused to back Sollozo in his new drug business. He did not want to poison the people he protected with drugs. That is why a hit was put out on his life. The Don is ruthless and at times cruel but he would never hurt anyone without proper reason to do so. He realizes his power and keeps well controlled. Sollozo wanted Don Vito to provide a “Political Umbrella”. The don had so many judges and senators in his pocket that he was in a display of power. Which also shows in the second movie Senator Pat Geary, who tries to skim more money from Michael for property licenses. He makes racial slurs upon all Italian-americans saying they are taking away from the honest Americans of the country. The senator then tells Michael that he will be eliminating him and his family for good because he has had enough of their way of life. He then proceeds to go out and greet Michaels family like its nothing. It wasn’t until the senator was caught with a dead prostitute that the family gained the upper hand. The whore house that he was caught in was owned and operated by Michaels older brother Freddo. Thats where the family held him hostage to them in everything they needed from the state. When Michael was investigated by congress, Senator Geary backed Michael due to the black-male that he was threatened by. In the third movie Cardinal Lamberto appeared as a corrupt Cardinal. He was smoking right in the Vatican and was asking Michael for money to let him buy a gambling company owned by the Vatican. Which shows that he was corrupt enough to buy a gambling company with the Vatican’s money. He is then elected as Pope John Paul I by bribing his way up to the position. Then he is poisoned by an Archbishop. That shows how ruthless important figures are during that time. A cardinal from the Catholic church was using church money to buy gambling companies. Then was poisoned by his own clergy and assassinated. Vito and Michael are criminals indeed, but neither have used their power as ruthlessly as these characters have. It shows two things, first that major actors in society were very corrupt and were easily bought by the highest bidder. Second The crime families were the ones that were not selling out their people for anything. They themselves could not be bought for any price. The were the real presidents and senators of the poor people they were protecting. If any of them had a problem they would go them and would seek help for their problems. When Kay asks Michael what role does his father Vito play he answers her “My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator.”. The people look up to him as an authoritative figure for guidance and leadership. Dons were criminals but they were good criminals, protecting their people. People always perceived the Mafia as just bad blood, but in fact the bad blood were the senators, police captains, and Cardinals. The Dons were always the good guys. Overall the