Category: Uncategorized

Henry Burby

MHC 10201

3/20/16

Ragged Dick, Horatio Alger’s feel-good, rags-to-riches tale, was the most influential defense of traditional societal values and structures in pre 1900s America. It portrayed the city in a positive light, and placed great faith in the idea that, by working hard, and living lean, anyone could be successful. However, these preindustrial teachings were incompatible with the rising heavy industry and capitalism in its New York City setting. Set against Alger’s optimistic, well meaning, social Darwinism was Maggie: A Girl on the Streets, by Steven Crane. It warned that, for the industrial poor, social mobility was often impossible. Both books held some truth. In the late 1800s, New York was the center of industrial America; the richest, poorest, and most corrupt city in American history. Some celebrated this new “Empire City”. Others feared its combination of both extreme wealth and poverty, of a level never seen before. Mark Twain called this period “The Gilded Age”; beneath its facade of success lay poverty.

The New York City of the late 1800s was changing fast. The cut-throat tactics of the robber-barons drove the country forward, and since these elites were based in New York City, their momentum brought electricity, gas, elevated trains, and bridges to Gotham. The city was swelled by the huge influx of Jewish and Italian immigrants. Politically, its hopeless corruption found new depths.

William Magear Tweed, aka Boss Tweed, successfully unified the local Democratic Party and the Tammany Hall Political organization, and embezzled millions from public funds as the first American political boss. He refined and ran the Tammany political machine, which used kickbacks, violence, repeat voting, and ballot manipulation to ensure almost constant political control. By 1869, Tweed had a “Ring” of friendly politicians controlling both New York City and Albany, which he used to promote home rule and power for NYC. He erected many important buildings, which advanced the city culturally, municipally, and socially. Though he avoided Blacks, and angered reformers, he was loved by any who sought to turn a profit. However, his downfall was triggered by three elements: rioting, which demonstrated his inability to control the lower classes he depended on, his grotesque portrayal in the political cartoons of Thomas Nast, and most importantly, the release of his financial records, which revealed the full scope of his corruption. He had, for example, raised $13,000,000 to build the $250,000 County Courthouse, and pocketed the difference. While tweed was out of office by 1877, the system he built kept Tammany in power 1933, and powerful till 1961.

Though the poverty divide in New York and America was severe, the release of Jacob Reiss’ “How the Other Half Lives” made it impossible to ignore. His photographs of the slums raised awareness among the powerful, and forced them to take action. The book was followed by crackdowns on police corruption and brutality, the building of public amenities, such as baths and parks, and education reform, both through the centralization and eventual desegregation of New York’s public schools. The book educated the rich, and led many to abandon their former Social Darwinist beliefs, and to raise standards of living. One such leader was Josephine Shaw Lowell, who began supporting workhouses and prisons, but later advocated for living wedges. She also fought for women’s suffrage and organized boycotts of exploitative businesses. Reformers fought to end child labor, helped and learned about the poor in settlement houses, and formed numerous private societies to aid the needy. Many new social ideas were first seen in NYC.

The American labor movement also began in the Empire City, as it was the nation’s industrial capital. Early on, attempts at labor reform were rabidly put down. Though unions began to form by the late 1860s, demonstrations and strikes were turned into battles, with the police, and even the military, working at the behest of the industrialists. Labor activist and leader Samuel Gompers learned the difficulty of change during the 1877 Cigar Makers Strike, which was put down by blacklists, evictions, and violence, as well as lack of resources and organization. He also worked with the brief Central Labor Union, which banded twelve New York unions together, recruited across color lines, and used various tactics to promote worker’s rights. 2,000 marched in NYC’s first Labor Day parade. However, violence ended the 1886 Horsecar Workers Strike, and the boycott, a powerful weapon used in conjunction with the strike, was deemed un-American, and outlawed. The reputation of labor organizers was further damaged when the bombing of a protest in Chicago’s Haymarket Square killed seven policemen.

Threatened, outlawed, and now branded Anarchists, laborers turned to politics. The CLU backed, 1886 mayoral run of reformer Henry James demonstrated the power and numbers of New York workers, and unified them under one banner. George’s nomination forced both Democrats and Republicans to nominate reform-friendly candidates. George found the support of union members and leaders. His Tammany rival felt that labor and capital should work together, and followed the Social Darwinism of Alger, which also prevailed in the minds of the powerful at the time. However, George’s campaign helped to dispel the idea that the poor were happy with the current system. Though he lost, the large turnouts in his favor, both in the polls and the streets, showed the strength of popular discontent, and began a brief national flirtation with labor politics. When this movement collapsed from without and within, the American Foundation of Labor used the “New York Model” to begin a more grounded national movement. However, as seen in the brutal repression of the 1895 Brooklyn Trolley Strike, both industry and government were still strongly apposed to the disturbance caused by organized labor. Four years later, the Newsboys Strike met with more success, partly because the newsies had been organized for many years, and partly because they attracted more sympathy and support from their elders. This last may seem to undermine the strike’s impact, but it showed an increased urge to protect children, which wasn’t seen previously. By the end of the Gilded Age, the social question had not been answered in New York, but the growing awareness between rich and poor had sown seeds which might sprout in the future.

Lucia Lopez

The final scenes of The Godfather Part II are quite interesting, especially in the camera techniques used. In a flashback, the Corleone family is seated at the dinner table ready to celebrate Vito’s birthday. This is also the day that Michael Corleone’s family discovers that he left college and enlisted in the Marines. Sonny, his brother who held onto the value of loyalty to family over loyalty to country very strongly, is angry and disappointed to hear about his enlisting. Hagen, the family’s consigliere, can’t believe the news and wonders why Michael would choose this path despite his father’s plans. Fredo, ironically, is the only one to support his decision to enlist as a Marine. Vito comes home soon after, and while the family goes to greet him Michael remains seated at the table alone. The film cuts to an earlier scene, where Vito and Michael are on the train waving goodbye. Finally, we see Michael sitting alone by the lake and the film ends.

In the beginning of the flashback scene, the camera is far back from the characters, showing the family as a whole as they prepare the table and talk. When the topic of dialogue turns towards the war and the military, the camera angle changes and the viewer finds themselves in the middle of their conversation. The camera flips back and forth from Sonny to Michael, which makes the viewer feel the intensity of their speech. When Michael reveals he enlisted in the Marines, the camera pans out to a view of the whole family again, showing their immediate disbelief. It goes back to the back-and-forth angle when Hagen tells Michael that his father had a lot of plans for him. When he claims he didn’t ask for any of his father’s plans, Sonny gets up to fight Michael. The camera only gets in the middle of the characters when their discussions are heated; it makes the viewer feel more involved and gives the viewer a closer look at the reactions of Michael’s family. The camera goes back out when the Sonny’s daughters in the background yell, “Mommy, Daddy’s fighting again!” This outburst shows the impact of the ongoing violence and aggressiveness would have on the children of those involved in the family business. Soon after, most of the family leaves the dining room, leaving Michael, Sonny, Fredo and Hagen seated. Fredo takes this opportunity to congratulate Michael and shake his hand, but Sonny slaps his hand away. Ironically, Fredo would betray Michael later on, and the camera angle from a distance shows the breaking of their bond as Sonny stops them from shaking hands. The camera goes back in the middle of the conversation as Hagen and Michael discuss Vito’s plans versus Michael’s plans, and returns to a farther angle when Connie tells them that Vito has arrived. Sonny, Fredo and Hagen leave the dinner table, leaving Michael sitting alone.

This scene where Michael is seated by himself shows that even from a much younger age, he was always different than his family. He is much more American and doesn’t share the same values as his family does. The camera being so far gives the frame a lonely feeling, and the noise Michael’s family is making in the background makes Michael seem even more isolated from them. It makes it seem as if Michael was destined to be alone from the beginning. The scene fades into a quick transition where a young Michael is on the train with Vito. Vito is waving Michael’s hand, and in a way Michael is waving goodbye to his old self. This scene is also a reminder of the innocence Michael once possessed. It transitions into the present, where we see Michael sitting alone by the lake. The camera goes closer and closer to Michael’s face, putting the emphasis on his eyes. He has sort of a dead look on his face that makes the scene quite sad yet powerful. The juxtaposition of the scene with his family and the scene where he’s sitting alone show how much things have changed since that happier time for the Corleone family. Most of the people sitting at the table would be dead, and it seems to make Michael think how differently things could have gone if he had listened to his father or stayed in college. His desire to be successful is what ultimately made him less successful than his father; Vito remained in the business while caring for his family and keeping his relationships, while Michael’s sole desire for power leaves him completely alone in the end.

“The Empire City”, Chapter 5 of Joanne Reitano’s The Restless City discusses the Gilded Age in New York. Ragged Dick, a dime novel by Horatio Alger, portrayed New York City as a place of fascination and opportunity, believing in the rags-to-riches myth of the American Dream. Ragged Dick showed the optimistic side of Social Darwinism: one did not have to be a ruthless person in the Big Apple to live. On the other hand, Stephen Crane’s novel Maggie: A Girl of the Streets showed the pessimistic side of Social Darwinism, and viewed New York City as a place of temptation and desperation.

Robber barons, merciless magnates of industry, dominated businesses by being cold-hearted and doing whatever it takes to be on top. Wall Street became the home of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust, Cornelius Vanderbilt’s New York Central Railroad, Andrew Carnegie’s steel trust, Jay Gould’s brokerage firm, and J.P. Morgan’s banking house. Rockefeller, especially, was the epitome of the rags-to-riches myth with his frugality, cleverness, and diligence. He believed in a survival of the fittest in the business world and used it to fuel his success. Trusts led to governmental regulation of businesses, no longer a strict laissez-faire policy. Along with the evolution of the economy, the city itself was transformed with the help of inventions like electricity and the telephone. The new rich developed and modernized New York City with many structures that became iconic to New York, like the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty.

In the late nineteenth century, New York became the center for finance, trade, industry, and immigration. With this fame came the infamy of political corruption led by the Tweed Ring. William M. Tweed controlled the Democratic Party and Tammany Hall. Tammany cheated democracy by having judges naturalize new immigrants in time for elections, pushing men to vote multiple times under different names, and using gangs to intimidate opposing voters. Tweed used his power for not only his own greed and selfish reasons, but for the improvement of the city. Under his domain, the Bronx was added to the boroughs, Central Park was completed, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Metropolitan Museum of art were constructed, He budgeted for orphans, schools, public baths, hospitals, public transportation, a paid fire department, and other improvements for the city. Riots like the 1871 Orange Riot plagued Tweed’s time in office and tested his control over the city. Tweed was finally arrested for corruption when the Ring’s account books were leaked to the New York Times. The Cooper Union rally led to the Committee of Seventy, a group set up to save the city from Tammany’s reigns.

Socially, the city showed a more Ragged Dick side, the hopeful and helpful face. Jacob Riis, initially a police reporter for the New York Tribune, released his book How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York. This book, filled with statistics, graphic images, and descriptions of the living conditions that people endured, exposed the sad truth and provoked social reform, like Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin had for slavery. Josephine Shaw Lowell, a dedicated philanthropist, was the first female commissioner of the State Board of Charities and the head of the New York Charity Organization Society (COS). She improved prisons, workhouses, and reformatories, and promoted a minimum living wage. The New York City Consumers’ League helped mainly females in the workforce who were treated unfairly. The League compiled a list known as the “White List” that named all the establishments that met their standards of acceptable working conditions. The National Consumers’ League worked to ban child labor for adolescents under the age of sixteen so that they can go to school. Private charities like The Salvation Army and the Young Men’s Christian Association reached out to the poor, while others like the Children’s Aid Society helped the children of the city.

Economically, the city strayed away from individualism and moved towards collectivism. Samuel Gompers, the most famous labor organizer, believed that the strike was a key weapon to fight for labor rights and that only an organization run of, by, and for the workers would persistently work to improve labor conditions. To combat unions and strikers, employers used strikebreakers, blacklists, lockouts and evictions. In contrast to the Knights of Labor, the Central Labor Union (CLU) used a broad range of strategies including boycotts and political activism, and accepted all races, immigrant or native. CLU nominated Henry George to run for mayor against Democratic Abram Hewitt and Republican Theodore Roosevelt. Although George did not win the election, he still secured almost a third of the votes, which surprised many and showed the power of the labor force.

In chapter 5, “The Empire City,” Reitano goes over the social, political, and labor reform movements of the Gilded age. According to Horatio Alger’s Ragged Dick, a rags to riches tory, New York City was depicted as the place of opportunities. However, this was not so much the case. The Empire City was home of the richest people in the nation, and the center of trade, finance, and industry, so incoming immigrants saw it as a land where they could rise in status. However, with the mass political corruption going on they came to realize that the riches of the city didn’t’ work so much in their favor. With the insane amount of wealth displayed on the upper east side, there was also insane amount of poverty on the lower east side. Late 19^th century New York was named The Gilded Age by Mark Twain because of the display of wealth that covered the time period in a later of gold, even though in reality there was immense poverty and wretchedness. Social Darwinism was the main social contract, and it led to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

The head of it all was William M. Tweed, the leader of New York’s largest political circle, Tammany Hall. Tweed was never mayor himself, but he helped nominees of the Democratic Party and Tammany Hall get their positions. Through his corrupt methods Tweed was able to appoint his choice of mayors, senators, congressmen, commissioners, etc. So essentially, he got to rule both the city and the state. And with businessmen in his favor, he was able to provide work for his supporters and earn money on his own. When Tweed’s bookkeeper died, the new one copied all of the Ring’s account books and exposed them, showing how Tweed was able to spend so much of the government’s money. Tweed had companies over charge the government for services for governmental projects, and then he would have them return 65% of the fee back to the Ring.

Many came onto Tweed and called him out in his corruption after a series of riots swept NYC. Tweed would give the immigrants money and services in order for them to vote Tammany, but he soon saw that he couldn’t control the growing working class with all the riots that were going on such as the 1871 Orange Riot. In 1870 during Boyne day, the Protestant Irish celebrated their Protestant Prince William of Orange defeating the Catholic King in the Battle of the Boyne. The Catholic Irish were offended and it all resulted in a bloody fight. The Protestant blamed Tweed. The following year, Tweed tried to stop it all from happening by bringing in policemen and militia. However, even more violence resulted and the riot got called, “the Tammany Riot.” Tammany went under investigation especially after the account books were exposed and Andrew Haswell Green along with Samuel J. Tilden were the lawyers who were able to get enough evidence to arrest Tweed. Tweed ended up dying in jail, in 1878 at the age of 55. Tweed’s exposure showed Americans that these Gilded Age bosses were corrupt individuals who were demoting democracy.

With the exposure of political corruption there was also an exposure of the level of poverty in New York City. The person who played the biggest role in it was Jacob Riis, an immigrant from Denmark who was originally a police reporter for the New York Tribune when he visited the Five Points and decided to take pictures of the wretched conditions these people lived in. These pictures were published in his book How the Other Half Lives in 1890. The book provoked social reform by exposing the inequality that the poor faced. It showed that it wasn’t just prostitutes and criminals that lived in these areas, that there were hardworking men and women, and innocent young children that had to live in these horrible conditions. In 1894, William Strong was elected as mayor and was able to start some reform campaigns to improve living conditions in the slums, by building public baths and setting up sanitation systems. Riis contributed a big deal in the effort to build parks in the slums so that children had a clean place to play. Another major reform issue was education for the children. In 1900, schools in the state were desegregated, and by 1901, all kids under twelve were required to go to school.

Another issue that arose was women’s rights in these areas. Josephine Lowell who was devoted to charity changed her views from social Darwinism to seeing that it wasn’t the people’s fault that they were poor, it was the conditions they had to face that were inhumane. Lowell focused mainly on women’s leadership, she became the president of New York City’s Consumer League in 1891, and had upper class women boycott stores which treated their female workers unfairly. In 1896 they got New York to set a minimum standard for working conditions. There was an increase in settlement houses which offered meals, free kindergarten, health clinics, and language classes to immigrants. Eventually Riis called New York, “the most charitable city in the world.”

Labor reform and unionization was another rising concern of the gilded age. Workers realized they had to group together, find power in their masses, in order to get what they wanted done concerning their working conditions. One of the main organizers which came out of the area was Samuel Gompers. Gompers realized the power of striking and he formed the Cigarmakers’ Union in 1877 to strike for better for better conditions for cigar factory workers. Unfortunately, the union didn’t have much success and taught Gompers the importance in having economic stability before striking. After, Gompers was a leader in the Central Labor Union (CLU). The CLU was a collaboration of twelve unions including variety of workers. The CLU learned the power of state was too strong. The state was able to send police to brutally attack arrest picketers and boycotters. The next step the CLU took was politics. They nominated Henry George to run for mayor, and while George didn’t win due to Tammany’s backing of Abram Hewitt he was able to win a reasonable amount of votes (1/3 of the total votes) which was surprising. It made politicians that labor was an important topic of discussion that future candidates couldn’t ignore.

By 1886, Gompers formed the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The AFL was the nation’s most important labor organization, but organizing strikes was still a struggle. In 1895, the Brooklyn Trolley workers decided to strike against wage cuts. But the combined efforts of scabs and the military and their overcome hunger and cold forced the strikers to quit. Even young kids participated in union organization. One of the most common jobs for young boys was selling newspapers in the streets. They were able to successfully strike with the backing of the community and the adults. These kids proved that the children shape future of the state.

 

Lucia Lopez

Although Jews had made up the largest immigrant population of New York City, the late 19th century and the early 20th century saw the rise of the second largest immigrant group: Italians. Immigration rose immensely from 1900 to 1914; by 1920 there were as many Italians in New York City as German and Irish immigrants combined. Despite the shared goal of a better life and the leaving of a home country of poverty, Italians differed from other immigrant groups in many ways. While Jews usually came to America with skills, many Italians were peasants or laborers who lacked urban skills, known as contadino. Also, Jews usually came to America as families and Irish immigration saw many women travel to AMerica alone; Italian immigrants were often young men looking to make money for their families. They usually held the prospect of going back home to Italy when they’ve made enough money for their families, meanwhile Jewish and Irish immigrants had practically no intentions of going back to their home countries.

Settlement patterns of Italian immigrants usually followed work opportunities. The first Italians in what would be known as “Italian Harlem” were brought over by Irish-American contractors to build the First Avenue trolley tracks. By 1880, Italian Harlem had about 4,000 Italian residents, and rose to its peak in the 1920s. In the Bronx, Italians settled in areas in which they were helping to build streets and railways. In Brooklyn, they first settled at Hamilton Ferry. Italian workers found homes near the waterfront where they sought employment. Labor contractors known as padroni also determined where Italian laborers settled. THey would take a share of employees’ wages in exchange for finding them jobs and housing, but also did other favors such as write letters home for immigrants who were illiterate and helped them find their way around new areas. Native-born Americans did not like the padroni and believed their systems of contract labor to be similar to slavery. Despite being outlawed, they continued their work until around 1910, when they became less important in Italian migration.

Another factor determining residence was the regions from which the immigrants came. The Italians coming in did not simply identify as Italian; they identified with the specific region they came from and normally seeked housing in areas containing people of their same region or village. Many immigrants also had relatives or friends who already lived in America, so they would move to those areas, creating neighborhoods made up of specific groups such as Sicilians, Neapolitans, or Calabrians.

Housing in New York City for Italian immigrants was often unsanitary and overcrowded. Many Italians could not afford decent living space, meanwhile German and Irish immigrants were moving up economically. The unfit tenements were not just in this condition from years of rotting; even new housing was of very  poor quality due to the working class community that built it. In “How the Other Half Lives,” Jacob Riis exposed the grim conditions of housing that poorly affected Italian immigrants, causing even children to live on the streets. To gain more income, Italian families would take in lodgers and boarders. Although this somewhat helped, they also contributed to the overcrowdedness of Italian homes.

These neighborhoods were also the hosts of criminal activity. Sensational news reporting didn’t help the situation as they gave Italian immigrants the reputation of criminals. They were soon known for Mafia activity, even though large-scale Mafia migration did not exist in New York City. This caused the New York City police to create an Italian division which investigated possible Mafia activity in Italian neighborhoods. Images of Black Hand criminals also fed this stereotype of Italians being criminals and heightened the anti-immigrant sentiment that had already existed.

As years went on, Italian immigrants began to get involved in kinds of work other than labor-based jobs. Most of the well-off immigrants were those who found municipal work in the sanitation department or in the Italian division. Others found work as barbers, shoemakers waiters, and bartenders. Because of most Italians’ intentions of not remaining in America, they were less interested in unions and used as strikebreakers. Although Italian women were expected to get married and stay home to raise children, they began taking on jobs as well due to the instability most of their husbands’ jobs came with. They mainly worked in the garment industry, making clothes at sweatshops or factories. Children were also forced to find work to increase their family’s’ income, making the focus work rather than education. This differs from Jewish immigrants that had arrived prior, who made education a main priority.

Although Italian immigrants came from a largely Catholic country, they were distrustful of religious institutions in America. Men regarded church-going as women’s work and only attended mass on major holidays or traditional occasions, such as Christmas or weddings. Protestant groups saw this and sent missionaries to Italian communities, successfully converting a few. Despite their attempts, not many Italians converted to Protestantism. Eventually this became known as the “Italian Problem” which was solved when Irish priests expanded church activities to italian neighborhoods and encourage Italians to serve as priests and lead mass.Eventually, certain churches such as Our Lady of Pompei became very important to Italian immigrants. The Italian parishes that now existed began to host festas, or religious celebrations of saints. Thousands would gather to eat food, dance, and join the procession usually led by a statue of the saint being celebrated.

Despite their struggles, Italian immigrants remained a closely-knit group and soon became accustomed to life in America. This was just the beginning of Italian immigrants seeing themselves as not just from their specific region, but as Italians or even Italian-Americans. World War I and the decline of immigration sped up this process, but nevertheless Italians remained closely attached to their ethnic background for years.

One of the scenes from the movie that were particularly striking was the scene where Kay tells Michael that she wants to leave and take their children with her. 

The scene begins with Kay walking into a room. The room, compared to many others in the movie is actually well-lit with lamps (and fully furnished). The background behind Kay is black and white. The camera initially follows Kay and gives a one shot of Michael before turning back to Kay. It then switches to reverse shot, frequently switching between the two. The camera then proceeds to follow Michael, using a medium body shot, as he moves around the room, while Kay stands at one place. Michael seems to have the upper hand in this relationship. 

Amidst their conversation, the camera switches to one out of the room showing their daughter playing and laughing in the hallway. The innocence of the child is striking as she is clueless of what is happening between her parents. A boy, presumably Anthony, is simply standing against the wall. Perhaps he knows what is happening. As we see the girl playing, we also hear the offscreen dialogue between Kay and Michael getting more and more heated. We hear Michael yelling “You’re my wife, they’re my children, I love you, I won’t allow [you to leave].” The force with which he tries to convince Kay of his love is almost a bit amusing. 

As the camera switches back to the one in the room, we see Michael and Kay arguing. After a brief pause, Michael tries to explains to Kay that he will not let the family break apart. He mentions that he knows in time she will be thankful for the decision he’s making of not letting her go. He also says that he knows she blames him for losing the baby but that he will make it up to her and with time things will get better. Michael’s expressions show that he is serious about this and he genuinely does not want to let her or the children go. Kay, on the other hand, has already made up her mind. Michael’s words, if anything, only agitate her. After Michael finishes, Kay, while shaking her head, tells him “Michael you are blind. It wasn’t a miscarriage, it was an abortion.” The changes in Michael’s facial expression are immediate. They change from almost the tenderness with which he was trying to explain himself to disbelief and anger. He stares at her without uttering a word. She proceeds to tell him that she does not want to bring any child of his into the world and calls their marriage unholy and evil. As the camera cuts to Michael, he is visibly furious. Out of anger he then lunges towards her with so much force that he pushes the sofa in front of him to the floor and Kay to the couch behind her. He then tells Kay “you won’t take my children”, to which she responds in an almost hushed voice, “they’re my children too”. 

This scene shows a lot about Michael as a person. Michael is so engrossed in himself that he does not understand what Kay is saying when she says that she wants to leave. He seems to be in denial and tells her that he will change, even though it is fairly clear that she has already made up her mind. It is understandable that Kay does not want her children leaving in the conditions and insecurity that Michael is in. When Kay reveals that she aborted the child, Michael is aghast, as expected. When he lashes out towards Kay, it is a sign of how powerless and helpless he feels upon hearing what really happened. 

In The Godfather Part II, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, there is a scene during which Michael Corleone’s sister Connie pleads with Michael to make amends with his brother Fredo for Fredo’s sake, since their mother has just died and Fredo “is so sweet and helpless without [Michael]” (The Godfather Part II).

During this scene, the camera angle on Connie is slightly high angle, which is an angle that creates a sense of vulnerability. This angle makes sense because she clearly acts very vulnerably toward Michael when she begs him to forgive Fredo. She even admits that she understands that while they have not always seen eye-to-eye, that Michael was “just being strong for [the family]” (The Godfather Part II).

In contrast, Michael sits in a chair and is filmed at eye level. While this angle is usually used to make the audience feel more comfortable with the character, Michael’s stern expression and and physically looking down upon Connie creates a slight feeling of dominance and power on his part.

The shots of both Connie and Michael in this scene are close-ups, for only their faces and shoulders are visible. This allows the audience to more clearly observe the characters’ emotions, which is necessary in this scene because of the tensions that exist between Michael and Connie, and Connie’s vulnerable and pathetic state.

After his family is killed, Vito Andolini travels to the United States. The wide shots and smooth, long panning of the camera through the interior of Ellis Island conveys the hectic yet systematic atmosphere of the immigration process, and Vito kind of fits somewhat strangely into this atmosphere as such a young boy on his own.

The scripting of this scene really gives it its poignance. When asked his name, Vito cannot answer, and one of the immigration officers reads his name and origin (Corleone, Sicily) off of his documentation; the other immigration officer then gives him the name of “Vito Corleone,” thereby giving birth to Vito’s new American persona, which would later become that of a powerful mafia leader, like that of Don Ciccio, the man who killed Vito’s father.

Perhaps the most powerfully scripted and shot part of this scene came when Vito was getting settled in his room, sits down, and looks out the window at the Statue of Liberty. At this point in the scene, Vito’s future as the Don becomes almost tangible, but as he’s looking out at the Statue of Liberty, he still appears so small, young, and fairly displaced.

Henry Burby

MHC 10201

3/14/16

Entering the Sanctum

The scene where Michael visits Roth’s Florida house (1:01:45) touches on several elements of mob life, such as its relationship with the straitlaced culture of the United States, the way its business is transacted, and the role of women in the mob hierarchy. The scene begins with an establishing shot of Michael closing the door of his car in front of the suburban Miami house of Hymen Roth. There are several signs of the dangerous mob presence under the surface of the shot. Both the house and Michael’s car are brightly colored, and cheerful in the dazzling white sunlight. However, their interiors are dark and mysterious, indicating that they hold dark secrets, and are not as respectable as they seem from the outside. The use of eerie music makes the audience feel uneasy. Cut to an eyelevel shot inside the house, facing the door. Michael can be seen approaching through the glass door. Michael wears light colors, symbolizing his outer respectability, but his bodyguard, who can be seen in the background, behind a vivid pot of flowers, represents the threatening and alien presence of the mob, with his black clothing contrasting against the brilliant colors of the rest of the shot. The camera focuses steadily on Michael throughout the shot. As Michael and enters the shadow of the house, Roth’s wife enters the shot from the right, slightly in front of the camera. Her pink dress and welcoming manner make her the perfect housewife, but, like all the women of the film, she holds no power at all in the world of the Mob. As such, the camera never focuses on her face. She welcomes Michael, offers him lunch, and is gone, her purpose served. As Michael enters through the door, the music stops, and the rest of the scene takes place with only natural sound effects, and dialogue. This creates a sense of realism for the audience. Michael and Roth’s wife exit on opposite sides of the frame, further indicating her standing. Cut to close shot of Michael entering the black double doors of Roth’s throne room. Cut to medium shot of Roth, slouched in his chair, watching the football game. He only turns to look at his visitor when Michael speaks. The seat of Roth’s power is shrouded in shadow. The camera is at Roth’s seated eye level, so when Michael enters the shot to shake Roth’s hand, his head and face are too high to be seen in the frame. This shows that he has not yet gained Roth’s close attention. When Roth invites Michael to sit, he accepts his visitor into his realm of power. This shot is followed by two medium shots of the two men. Instead of the classic two shot, the camera is positioned between Michael and Roth, perhaps indicating that they are sizing each other up. They still maintain the politeness of the outside world as they discuss small talk. Cut to a fairly long shot of Roth and Michael together. Their sharing of the shot indicates that they connect over the reference to the mob presence in the world series, the first time illicit activity is mentioned in the scene. However, the camera focusses on Roth, because he controls the power in the room. Similarly, the two men’s chairs are far apart, indicating that Roth and Michael are still separated. Their brief comradery is broken by the awkward silence as they discuss the attempt on Michael’s life. Roth expresses regret at the event, but he makes only sporadic eye contact, indicating that he is lying. Since he was behind the attempt, he is again separated from Michael. He makes solid contact again only when he expresses his opinion that good health is the most important thing in life, because he is again telling the truth. Cut to long shot of Michael closing the door, Roth rising to turn up the volume on the TV, and Michael drawing his chair nearer. The characters are moving their conversation to the next lever, so they share the shot again. As the scene becomes more intimate, the characters close themselves off from the outside world, and get closer to each other. The football game represents the presence of ordinary American culture in the scene, and while it gets louder, the mob world continues beneath it. Cut to the first close up of both men, as Michael sits. The next block of dialogue is expressed in a series of two shots, with both men sharing the frame. Michael’s line, “You are a great man, Mr. Roth. There is much I can learn from you” Expresses his true feelings. He knows that Roth ordered his assassination, but he respects the old man, and knows that he must learn to be as subtle and deadly himself. The final shot of Roth is interrupted by a car, passing behind the window shade. It foreshadows the entry of the wife, in the next shot. Cut to Shot of Michael, with Roth’s wife entering the room through the door. Again, because the camera is at the eyelevel of the two seated men, her face is cut out of the shot, indicating that she has no influence on the scene. Cut to long shot of Roth, Michael, and Roth’s wife, bearing a lunch table. More of her body is seen in this shot, but her head only enters the frame as she sets down the table, and turns down the volume of the television set, and her face is never seen. This indicates her role in Roth’s life: a pleasant, attractive, friendly, and powerless presence who takes care of Roth and the house. She has no place in the business of the Mob, and, if she is aware of her husband’s activity at all, she never mentions it. The door she opens to enter the room remains open until she leaves, and neatly cut’s Michael’s face out of the shot, further indicating her separation from her husband’s world. Once she leaves, Roth begins to speak before the camera returns to it’s former proximity, because, after the wife’s interruption, it takes a few moments for Roth and Michael to recapture their former intimacy. However, the next shot returns to the previous format of close two shots, and this closeness persists for the rest of the scene, as the two men return to Mob business.