The Music in The Godfather

I this post I will not be discussing all music within this film, but rather the music that plays during the ending credit of Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. The song is rightly labeled: The Godfather Finale. It is written and composed by a world famous composer Nino Rota, has written and composed music for hundreds of movies, and plays including all three of the Godfather movies within the trilogy. The reason why I think that music i so important in film and visual media in general is because it can add suspense or certain mood to scene, but as opposed to an expression on someone face the music does this in a much more subtle and subliminal way. This allows for the author to set a scene or even change the mood of scene. Another way that music is often used in visual media that I found apparent in the god father is through the use of music, to smoothen out transitions between scenes.

Women in the Godfather:

Throughout the movie, the men of the Corleone are depicted as dynamic that are well involved in the family business, where their wives, or even the daughters of the family seem to take no part in the business. In multiple scenes of the movie the women are often revolving around the men, they are seen in the background washing dishes cleaning up or other stereotypical womanly pastimes of the 1940’s. That being said however I am not accusing the director of being sexist, as I am not sure weather or not this was intentional. However what I do suspect is that this is for shadowing for something serious that is to later come take place in the movie, involving one of these women.

Glorifying The Mafia

Marlon Brando initially refused to be considered for the role of Don Corleone, saying, “I won’t glorify the Mafia.” Does The Godfather indeed “glorify” organized crime?

In my opinion, the Godfather does glorify the Mafia to some extent, as the characters in the movie seem to play off their – clearly illegal dealings, as a reputable and fair business. On the other hand however, they do also show the dangers of this business and how often it can cost people their lives. That being said however, the line between accurate representation and glorification is thin, and in my opinion it has been ever so-slightly crossed.

One Literary Feature I Found Interesting Within The Godfather

Juxtaposition:

The Denotation of juxtaposition is to place beside, authors and directors often use this literary device in their media, because it helps to better convey and stress a point. In The Godfather, the director uses this device with the music of the film to make more meaning-full transitions between scenes. For example in the early scenes of the movie where, Don Corleone is having meetings with his various associates, and at the same time the wedding is going on in the background. The director uses the switch of happy cheerful music during the wedding to a more mellow and dark music as the meeting go on with the god father, to try and stress a create a more dramatic transition between the scenes.