Goodfellas (1990) at first glance seems to be a movie simply about life in the mafia in New York. Upon further analysis however it becomes more a movie of identity and belonging. Even though Henry can never really be one of them because he is part Irish, he identifies with the mafia lifestyle. Throughout the movie, I think Henry makes a journey from being white, to becoming less white, to regaining some of that whiteness. Once Henry becomes more involved in the mafia, he begins to deviate from the “norm” thus becoming less white. The acts of the mafia are obviously not normal behaviors. They steal and kill without giving it any kind of second thought. According to Richard Dyer, anything that is weird or different or deviant constitutes a shift from whiteness. When Henry goes under the witness protection program, he begins to gain back some of his whiteness because of the normal mundane lifestyle he is now forced to live, but his continued desire to identify with the mafia prevents this to fully occur. He will never be completely “white.”
There are specific instances in which I think that this deviation from whiteness becomes very obvious. When Henry steals the truck from the driver who enters the diner to get something to eat, the reaction is, “A couple of niggers just stole my truck! Can you believe it?” By the action of them stealing the truck, they became more black than white. This is not typical behavior for anyone and causes them to move away from the “default” setting in film, which according to Richard Dyer is white. They are only significant in a film because they exhibit traits that are supposedly not normal. Another instance of this is when the police are searching the Hall’s home and Karen is sitting on the couch watching The Jazz Singer. This is significant because the struggles between the Hills (and for that matter the rest of the circle in which he runs) and Jakie from The Jazz Singer are actually pretty similar crises of identity. Jakie wears blackface to give a sort of physical manifestation to his desire to be more “black” and to reflect his actions that deviate from typical “whiteness” such as performing jazz music. Henry probably can identify himself with this because his desire to be in the mafia parallels this situation.
The mafia is arguably an integral part of the history of New York City and its presence is important to the city’s identity. Even television shows such as The Sopranos profligate this identification of New York City and the culture of the city with organized crime. New Yorkers almost need to allow mafia activity to happen and never go away because there will always be some desire to identify with it. There will always be some kind of, even subconscious, need for there to be mafia presence in New York.
