HOLLYWOOD AND VIOLENCE As we know, gangster life doesn’t merely tell the problem of fighting or killing people. Actually, it’s the world that has a specific organization, and it’s honestly dangerous. Specially, the gangs are controlled by the heads who are really intelligent and tricky. They could be strong enough to threaten even control the government. Thereby, I would like to discuss two films relating to violence and one article which is “NOTHING PERSONAL, IT’S ONLY BUSINESS” by Jon Lewis. The first film is The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola (1972). In this film, Vito Corleone is the head of the family, and he is also one of the most powerful people in the business. While the family was having the difficult problem, Michael Corleone, who was Vito’s son, replaced his position and continued the successful business. The second film is Scarface by Brian De Palma (1983). The film tells the story of a Cuban refugee Tony Montana who comes to Miami and becomes a drug cartel kingpin during the cocaine boom of the 1980s. Both the two movies deal with gangster life, so it’s obvious that self-interest is one of the important elements in their business. Personally, I think Scarface is more self-interest than The Godfather, and Scarface is also more appropriate to convey the old Hollywood code notion that “CRIME DOESN’T PAY”. In The Godfather, the Corleone is honestly powerful. Therefore, there are many people who want to depend on this family. For instance, at the beginning, “The opening line of The Godfather is delivered in the Don’s warmly lit study as a wedding guest, an undertaker seeking a favor (a hit, of course), intones: “I love America””, noticed Lewis. Instead of saying “I love your power, your family”, Bonasera said : “I love America”. It shows that the Corleone is a strong family like America. Because of that, in the wedding of Don’s daughter, Bonarera makes use of this good time to meet Don and ask for help. He got a big trouble for his daughter, and he wanted to claim for his justice. As can be seen, Don just accepts his help when he understands what Don needs. Therefore, he realizes that money is not solution. He thinks true friend is willing to help everything, so he needs to be reliable with Don and call politely: “Godfather”. Actually, Don doesn’t care about the money even Bonasera’s situation. The only thing he wants is the power which is more useful than money because he could control and do everything with his power. However, he still didn’t trust Bonasera even though he got what he wanted, so he gave this business to Clemenza. Moreover, Nazorine is a kind of people like Bonasera. He also comes to the Corleone to need the help. He wants Enzo to stay in the USA to marry his daughter. As a result, Don did the same action which was giving this job to other people. Honestly, he just cares that how to get benefits such as power, honor and money to improve his family. Beside the problems outside the family, Don also has to solve the problem inside it such as John’s situation. John is a famous person whom almost girls really like and love. In fact, he cannot reach the success by himself. His appearance looks like superstar and full of experience, yet he becomes weak and cries in front of Don when he insists on the help. After all, John just depends on Don’s help because Don is John’s godfather. Therefore, he can do everything he wants. Actually, he just comes to the wedding in order to ask Don for help. We can see that Don doesn’t want to have the wedding picture without his true son Michael, and he doesn’t mention to John. It means he honestly doesn’t care his godson, but he still helps John as the godfather because honor is important as well. However, for Don, his family is like his body, and he is willing to take care of that. Therefore, Don helped John to please his ambition that he wanted to have a coveted movie role in Woltz studio, “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse”, said Don. He even
