I want to start by pointing out something that struck my attention in the Roediger piece on whiteness. The minute I read about the 50s as a significant decade in terms of whiteness being defined, it reminded me of the beginning of Goodfellas (1990). The minute I heard the music, I realized that it was the fifties. However, that’s not what struck my interest. In the reading, it says that, “this ‘white ethnicity’… gained force in major cities from the 1950s onwards in opposition to racial integration of neighborhoods.” And once I thought about it, I realized that it also says that “second or third generation immigrants… both see themselves and are seen as racially white and as belonging to definable ethnic groups.” The United States is a major factor in this form of whiteness. The 50s was a boom of the average white housewife, the standard white life, and it was full of commercials and the media showing that white is the “norm.”
Of course, in Goodfellas, the fact that Henry is Irish and Italian creates a whole crisis of white identity. It’s clear at the beginning of the film how Henry’s parents expect him to live. Once they realize he has been cutting class, his dad whips him with his belt for reasons they believed to be valid. Henry says in the movie that his parents know what he is doing as he cuts school. The first question that I want to raise is one that I couldn’t decipher for myself: do his parents want him to change, because they’re worried for his life as a potential gangster or because he’s not living the life of whiteness that is expected of them?
The second question that I want to raise has to do with the lifestyle of a gangster. After gathering what the life of one is like and what they’re after, I can’t decide if they’re after money or respect. I figured they’re after both, but there has to be a main goal. At the beginning, I didn’t understand why they didn’t just stop… “gangstering” after they would rob a plane full of merchandise worth millions. Wouldn’t they just stop after they have enough money to live comfortably? It’s more like the “badass” lifestyle and amount of respect earned is more important than the money. Yet, their purpose in quotidian business is all about getting the dough. I just want to raise the question again: What’s more important to a gangster: earning the money or earning the respect and fame? And if so, why is the risk of getting killed worth it?
