Let’s get this straight. I don’t like Woody Allen. At all. Okay, now that that’s off my chest, I’ll get started.
The main difference between Radio Days’ ethnic family and Goodfellas’ ethnic family is the dynamic. The family, whether it’s nuclear or communal, in Goodfellas isn’t exactly what one would call normal. Henry is a gangster with no regard for his family in the most simple of ways. However, Joe’s family in Radio Days is more like a family that you’d see at your local supermarket or even live next door too. The type of family that would argue over the music playing too loud or listening in on a phone call. My theory is that Goodfellas was more so about the communal idea of family than the nuclear one. The film focused more so around Henry and his fellow mobsters than his children or wife. However, Radio Days showed multiple examples of Joe sitting with his family at dinner or talking in their family room. My favorite scene is when Ruthie is dancing in her room and her father and uncle jump in and join her. If that isn’t a beautiful display of family, I don’t know what is. The one thing I did find in common between the two films is the amount of love that each family had for one another. Joe’s parents were constantly trying to better him and have him get a good education. Henry was “working” hard and cutting corners to have money for his family. Even if they’re in completely opposite ways, both families were there to look out for each other through thick and thin.
The radio is so important to every one in the film because it allows them to channel their true identities. Aunt Bea and Joe’s mother love the romantic broadcasts, while Joe loves the Masked Avenger. Uncle Abe likes the sports broadcasts and Aunt Ciel enjoys the ventriloquist. Through the radio, the film expressed the inner thoughts and desires of some characters through the radio broadcasts. The radio is also very important because it is how the people in the film get the news. Everything big or interesting is heard on the radio at the moment it is happening, true or not.
The problem with this film, as well as other Woody Allen films, is that there is no challenge of ethnicity. Every one is white. Sheesh, throw in a little variety.
