Essays on Gangster

Born in 1958 in Shanghai China, Wong pursued graphic design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University prior to enrolling in the training programs provided by the local television station. He started his career as the screenwriter, initially in television, then in the movies, and established his debut as a director with the 1988 film As Tears Go By, in the prime of Hong Kong movies (Yeh 6). The movie, which had a gangster theme, joined genre conventions with the infrequent visual skill, representing the gift of the formal experimentation, which was still evident in the succeeding work—earning him ...

Introduction

It cannot be denied that gang activity has always been a recurring problem in the United States, but it is notable to know that gang activity in itself has a colorful history behind it. There are many gangsters and criminals throughout the history of the United States, and one of the most infamous of them is the iconic American gangster Al Capone. A criminal from the Prohibition Era, he was the leader of the Chicago Outfit—a crime syndicate known for illegally distributing alcohol during that time. Al Capone himself had a colorful biography worth detailing. Delving into details ...

(Student’s Full Name) The name of the film that is being reviewed is Goodfellas (1990), which was directed by Martin Scorsese. The movie’s symbolic value lies in the fact that the movie is about the main character’s desire to pursue the “mythos of glamour, power, and money” regardless of the means that are required (Friedman, Desser, Kozloff, Nochismon & Prince, 2014, p. 420). In Goodfellas (1990) is a “late-twentieth-century” gangster film, which subverts elements of other gangster film genre conventions that preceded it (Friedman, Desser, Kozloff, Nochismon & Prince, 2014, p. 420). Firstly, it sought to subvert the ...

(Student’s Full Name)

The Gangster Movie: Questions and Answers

1. VIDEO CLIP 1: Identify two classical conventions of gangster genre (e.g. theme, plot device, character type, and/or stylistic device) present in this image and briefly explain the significance of each one. (2 points) The two classical conventions of Gangster Genre present in the first video are theme and character type. The theme that is being explored in the video clip is the immigrant criminal, who has been left to die in humiliation and as a comic, as required by the Production Code Administration (PCA). The character type is the gangster, who has dark, ethnic ...

More than 60 years have passed since Al Capone’s death, yet the well-known gangster has continued to attract people’s attention all over the world. In fact, he is perhaps more famous than any Italian American in the history (Iorizzo, 2003). There are many controversies regarding Al Capone’s character. Some consider him good for his unusual good deeds while others consider him a ‘bad guy’ owing to his apparent unethical conduct. He was surely not a common criminal. He was rather different if one considers the literal definition of a criminal. However, his rap sheet consists of ...

Money laundering refers to the criminal activity in which money and funds that have been obtained illegally are used to fund or support legitimate and legal activities. In the process, the illegality of the original criminally obtained money and funds is, in essence, “washed” through its use in the legal activity. A more formal definition of money laundering defines it as, “the process through which criminals, hide, disguise, and legitimize the financial proceeds of their crimes” (FATF). There are a number of benefits that money laundering provides to criminals. First, by using the money to fund legal activities, money ...

American gangster movies have been in vogue for a very long time and have been a favorite of the American audience. The issues which surround law and order in the country have been captured well by gangster movies which depict criminals and vivid crime scenes. Although the movie is basically about letting the bad guys lose and the good guys emerge triumphant at the end, the movies usually swerve with the bad guys in the movie going about their crimes successfully without getting caught. Although the public has a clear recognition between the good and the bad, it is ...

«The City of God» - that is how they call the poor slums of Rio de Janeiro, it is a place where poverty coexist with the highest amount of crime - local kids get guns after they learn how to walk. Since the favelas were built to isolate the city center from the poor neighborhoods, the law eventually eft this place and the local gangs began to rule the streets. The narrator of the story, a guy named Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) tells about three generations of gangs, which lived in the favela. The film starts with a beautifully shot ...

GoodFellas, the 1990 gangster film directed by Martin Scorsese, has achieved legendary status as one of the best mobster movies of all time. A classic example of Scorsese’s signature energetic style and deep, abiding sense of mood, GoodFellas examines the life and times of gangster Henry Hill, played by Ray Liotta, and his friends Jimmy the Gent and Tommy DeVito, played by Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, and their rise and fall through the world of organized crime. What is most fascinating is the use of point of view and perspective through editing to tell the story ...

In an article about hip hop music and its intersection with jazz, Jared Pauley writes that both genres have often flirted with each other. Over the years, hip hop artists have utilized the flavor of jazz music through sampling. In the 1980s to the mid-1990s, hip hop acts "took jazz samples to the top of the charts while others worked directly with respected jazz musicians. With the new millennium, this trend continued" (1). One artist that has continued the trend is Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick Lamar is an emcee that has been on the scene for a number of years, ...

Bertolt Brecht’s seminal work, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, can surely be described as one of the very best creative works of literary fiction. As one delves into scrutinizing the work in context, the intricacies and subtleties of dramatic expression as penned by Brecht and as portrayed by the performance directed by Professor Barry Freeman make one comprehend the sheer aesthetic excellence and affective quintessence that constitute this particular dramatic work in context. The most intriguing aspect of the play by Brecht is the parallel with the historical character of Adolf Hitler. The play works as a ...

The genre of dark comedy is a fascinating subset of the standard comedy film, combining elements of drama and dark subject matter with comedic elements of the absurd and ironic to create unique works that poke fun not only at the foibles of mankind, but the inherent silliness of extremely serious things. Dark comedy can take many forms, and both American and English sensibilities in particular have their own attitudes and characteristics in their own examples. Two of the most well-regarded dark comedy films of recent years are 1996’s Fargo (directed by the Brothers Coen) and 2008’s ...

Introduction

Narrative movies are films that portray different style of filmmaking. This style shows believable narratives through its characters in order to convince the viewers that the subsequent scenes are real. The success of a narrative film depends on the camera movement and lighting, along with other cinematic effects, which make them very essential. In this writing, we will discuss the chosen narrative film along with its significant features as to why it can be considered a successful narrative movie. The purpose of this paper is to provide critiques to the movie “The Godfather II” in terms of its narrative ...

The film “City of God” by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund represents the issues concerning the urban planning and life in the suburbs of the big cities. The film demonstrates a chain of influence of the historic and natural processes on migration, unemployment, dangerous conditions of living in the suburb area, urban crimes, and the personal space of each person in the neighborhood. As depicted in the film, poverty and absence of security provided by authorities can be closely related in terms of development of crimes and robbery in the area. This essay will discuss the global planning issues ...

1. Briefly explain St. Anselm’s ontological argument for the existence of God. Explain one problem that this argument faces.

St Anselm’s ontological argument is an attempt at proving the existence of god through a purely. Anselm gets into the idea of the definition of God. In that definition he believes that God, he believes the definition of God is that nothing greater can be conceived. He believes that the greatest being conceivable must exist because otherwise it is not the greatest being conceived since existence is greater than non-existence. Anselm uses this line of thought to “prove” the existence of God.

There are a number of problems with this argument. Because if one believes that the ontological argument ...

The essay of Robert Warshow entitled “The Gangster as Tragic Hero” depicts the character of a gangster in a film as a protagonist, who holds admirable qualities such as grace, confidence, self-belief and individualism in the American culture. However, his tragedy begins when he goes beyond the acceptable and social norms to express himself to the public. The tragic fall of a gangster cannot be solely attributed to his own behavior since society is also partly responsible in denying him the opportunity of self-expression. The prospects that society offers to a gangster are limited in such a way that struggling and aggressive male individuals, ...

- What was your favorite film viewed in the class this semester and why?

I would mark out Reservoir Dog by Quentin Tarantino as my favorite because I am a worshiper of his creative activity. I liked it because once one had seen it he would never forget the scenes. Tarantino supposed the scenes to be disturbing and he succeeded. I do not like violence, but I like the way the scenes in the film were organized. I believe that the film leaves no one indifferent due to black humor used and Tarantino’s unique narrative style. Also, particular attention should be paid to social context of the film meaning the relationships between black ...

Through Rocket's eyes, the audience sees the birth of the when the poor, underclass were moved to the outskirts of the city. The forced poverty and seclusion led to petty crimes and robbing of trucks the passed through the dirt roads. Everything seems to be innocuous, until suddenly, a very young gang member, Lil Dice commits violent murders in a brothel. The scene shifts, the audience sees drugs and weapons in the film for the first time, and Lil Dice becomes the reigning godfather, Li'l Zé (Leandro Firmino da Hora). Like any film about gangsters, audience can somewhat expect ...

Al Capone was a gangster who ran an organized crime syndicate back in the 1920s in the Chicago area during the Prohibition era. Despite his role in various crimes, Capone was a charming gangster who was both charitable and amiable to others. His demeanor was opposite the power and viciousness of his personality, which is why he became an iconic image of the successful American gangster. He was even dubbed as the modern-day Robinhood for his knack in helping the poor people. Born in 1899, Capone was the fourth of nine children born to Gabriele and Teresina, both Italian immigrants. ...

Goodfellas is an American crime film that is based on the adaptation of non-fiction Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi. The film sheds light on the rise and fall of crime family over a time frame from 1955 to 1980. It is considered among the American cinema masterpieces. The paper makes an analysis of Goodfellas and what it is trying to put across to the audience. It discusses the major conflicts in the film and if there are flashbacks and foreshadowing. The essay looks at the film's use of symbols and the climax in the film. Examples from the film will ...

Gangs are considered the sources of violence and danger being treated as the cause of instability and threat to the state. The history of American gangs have a lot of peculiarities distinguishing street gangs of the US from the rest of the world due to uncommon social, ethnical and race background. Howell (2012) being a prominent expert in youth and traditional gangs in America examines the gang phenomena in several major US regions: West, South, Northeast and Midwest. In order to understand the specificity of gangs' activity we need to focus on cultural and migration peculiarities of the gangs. Population ...

And Chan-Wook Park

Given the increasing globalization of the film industry, Hollywood directors have begun to pull increasingly from international sources for their creative output. Looking into the small-but-potent international film markets, often directors from other countries are given the opportunity to cross-over into Hollywood. This is certainly the case with Asian cinema; many Asian film directors who have achieved success in Japan and Hong Kong have been given the chance to make films in America in order to provide a rapidly-consuming film market with the variety and quality it desires. In the 1980s and 1990s, two Asian directors in particular crossed over ...

This paper analyses the film Underworld: Awakening in terms of the three act structure and then compares it to two other films watched in class, namely: The Big Lebowski and American Gangster. This movie was the fourth in the Underworld sequel and was released on 20th January 2012. It was among the first films to garner more $ 100 million in revenues that year. It was the most watched of the four films in Underworld sequel. It fits well in the horror films genre but may as well fit as an action and science fiction movie. The film begins ...

Prison Gangs

Prison Gangs Gang violence has been a reality of the American people since not long after the Revolutionary War, though at that time the legitimacy of the predominant gangs was in question. The resurgence of gang life didn’t occur until after the 1870’s and then escalated into the 1940’s, when crime rates soared thanks to a nation that had become largely divided thanks to several contributing factors such as race, ethnicity, money, and control over illegitimate businesses. It’s not entirely clear when prison gangs became such a notorious aspect of the penal system, but one thing is ...

Ice T, Taylor Swift, and How Cultural Considerations Inform Their Music

“Fuck the police” chants Ice T, in his hit “Cop Killer,” “tonight we get even.” These are the some of the lyrics to one of his most successful, and most controversial, songs. Released in 1992, this song was written partially in protest of the acquittal of two police officers who beat Rodney King in LA. Conversely, almost twenty years later, we have another pop star, Taylor Swift, singing “Drew walks by me, can he tell that I can’t breathe?” She continues, “He’s the reason for the teardrops on my guitar. The only thing that keeps me wishing ...

Hip-hop is a youth subculture, consisting of several interconnected components: fashion, graffiti, art, DJs, rap, and breakdance. Other elements include beatboxing, hip hop fashion and slang. Hip-hop originally appeared in the South Bronx in the 1970s (12 November 1974, to be exact), and has become a part of youth culture in many countries around the world. Since the late 1990s the underground street culture with sharp social orientation, gradually became a part of the music industry, and by the middle of the first decade of this century, a subculture of hip-hop has become «fashionable» and «mainstream». However, despite this, there are plenty of ...

For many years, critics of gangsta hip hop have argued that this genre of music has created a negative cultural movement. Among the areas where hip-hop has influenced negative culture is on sexuality. Sexuality especially among the African American youth has been negatively influenced by hip-hop music. It is unfortunate that African American, who are dominant in this genre, are the worst affected by this culture. It is important to note that most African American people in America are living under poor economic conditions. In addition, most of them face numerous challenges in their daily life. Some of the worst ...

The American Dream is the idea that anyone can fulfill their goals and dreams if they work hard enough. It is rooted in American ideals set out in the Declaration of Independence, and usually focuses on upward social mobility and materialistic success. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is set in the summer of 1922, which is the beginning of the “Roaring Twenties” or the “Jazz Age”; and a golden age of American materialistic success. The stock market was booming, illegal alcohol was flowing and societal norms had relaxed after the horrors or World War I. (Saunders 343-358). In ...

In 2006 Martin Scorsese released “The Departed”, the remake of Hong Kong criminal drama “Internal Affairs”, which has brought the director a long-awaited Oscar. Andrew Loo was a co-director of “Internal Affairs” and as a gratitude for the successful picture, Scorsese decided to produce Loo’s first English-speaking film with Chinese actors as starring cast (Loo made his debut in Hollywood with his thriller “The Flock”, 2007) – and the “Revenge of the Green Dragons” has come on the screens. End of the 1980s. As children, sworn brothers Sonny (Justin Chon) and Steven (Kevin Wu) came from China to New York and ...

This paper aims to discuss the as well as comparing the generic and the historical evolution of the Hong Kong films. The films which are going to be discussed in this paper are the Internal Affairs, Better Tomorrow as well as the Fist of Fury. The thriller films are going to be analyzed in terms of theme, plots, stylistic features like the character and characterization, scenes, camera work.

Internal Affairs

This this is movie which is about a cop who is a gangster and at the same time a gangster who is a cop. The early scenes show them being placed in a deep cover. A ...

Gotti Junior is a son to late John Gotti, who was a powerful American gangster. He was vey powerful and famous. He was regarded as the most famous and powerful gangster in the American history since Al Capone. John Gotti had grown in poverty with his brothers and turned ton into a career criminal at an early age. His crime activities were mainly at the Ozone Park neighborhood, Queens. He easily rose to prominence because he was the family’s biggest earner. When the Federal Bureau of Investigations indicted several members of the family for selling drugs, Gotti took advantage of a growing ...

Film studies

The General (1998) by John Boorman. This film shows us the real-life story of Martin Cahill, folk hero and criminal from Dublin. He pulled off two restless robberies in Ireland with his team, but attracted unwanted attention from the IRA, police and UVF. This film was screened by the Biopic studio, with all accompanying elements. The General is a film, which revolves around a hopeless romantic, who lives in the universe of policemen and thieves. This film shows gangster epic about the Ireland kingpin Martin Cahill, who blotted his “jacket of the decent man” only by civil bigamy. Surely, he ...

Introduction

The “Los Vendidos,” play by Luis Valdez, is a magnificent blithe play that is full of paradox, sarcasm, ridicule, and humor to describe the status of the Mexican Americans in finding their identity within the realms of America. It is a play that sends a message about the paradox of American government needing the Mexican Americans, and how it does not return the support that the latter need. The purpose of sarcasm, ridicule, and humor in the play is to highlight the different marks and stereotypes of both White Americans and Mexican Americans. There are several stereotypical characters in the play. Huerta ...

Introduction:

The gangster we are all looking for was authored by a Vietnam's –American author Diem Thuy in 2003.The novel is a fragmented sequence of events that were undertaken by a nameless character in Vietnam and the United States is concerned about the immigration and family dynamics, war as well as liberation. Hence, immigration happens to be the focal point of the book. This is in relation to the effects that it causes to the female protagonist’s lives and daily encounters. The narrator and her father went to Singapore through the south china U.S navy ship (Lê, 2003 p. 46). They stayed ...

The story narrated by of Buscape proves the statement that anyone can change his or her fate. A boy who was destined to be a gangster since he saw only violence and injustice all his life discovered that he could see another side of life. He was the only one who avoided being dragged down into criminal affairs and corruption unlikely to the majority of other characters of the novel. Thus, his religious, historical, and social background do not influence his dream to become a photographer instead of being a gangster (Meirelles 24). However, Buscape was the only one who was ...

The story narrated by of Buscape proves the statement that anyone can change his or her fate. A boy who was destined to be a gangster since he saw only violence and injustice all his life discovered that he could see another side of life. He was the only one who avoided being dragged down into criminal affairs and corruption unlikely to the majority of other characters of the novel. Thus, his religious, historical, and social background do not influence his dream to become a photographer instead of being a gangster (Meirelles 24). However, Buscape was the only one who was ...

Thesis Statement:

This paper intends to discuss how the concept of zombie evolved over the time and impacted Hollywood cinema. Paper will also describes influence of zombie on Hollywood cinema over past few decades. Over the past ten years Zombies impacted Hollywood cinema in great way hence paper will also discuss that aspect.

Discussion:

Zombie impacted Hollywood by showing existence of neither dead nor alive people. The word, ‘Zombie’ is used for dead who is resurrected. If Zombies have been a concern of curiosity and fear, they have also entertained people by their portrayal in stories, comic series, and video games and in ...

The book is a young adult’s novel written by Gennifer Choldenko back in the year 2004 and published by Putnam’s Sons with approximately 215 pages in the first printing. As a young adult’s novel, the book is written for people ages 10 and up. Along with this, the protagonist is set to be 12 years old so that other young adults can relate to it more (Literature Circle) (Putnam Sons). The book revolves around the life of Matthew “Moose” Flanagan and his family moving into the prison island of Alcatraz Island in the year 1935 as his ...

Famous in Hollywood as the Hays Code, the Motion Picture Production Code was functional in the film industry before the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) came into existence. This code was informally adopted by the industry in 1930, although its full functionality could be traced from 1934. The Code implemented three major principles which all of the motion pictures which were produced in the land needed to abide by. It was instructed that films should refrain from flouting moral standards. Neither should it portray evil in a sympathetic light. Films were also barred from ridiculing the laws of the ...

Introduction

Scarface is actually an American crime film reproduced in 1983. Oliver Stone is its writer, Brian De Palma is its director, Martin Bregman is the producer, and Al Pacino as Montana is the movie starring. This movie is a remake of Scarface of 1932 by Howard Hawks. The movie tells a Cuban refugee story where this Cuban in 1980 comes to Miami with Mariel Boatlift. It is here that he becomes drug cartel kingpin in the 1980s cocaine boom. The movie is essentially dedicated to Ben Hecht and Howard Hawks, the principal screen writer and director of original movie respectively. The ...

Reflection on the Creative Interpretation of the Scene and the Roles

Our group acted out the Act II, Scene IV and Act II, Scene V of the play “The Spanish Tragedy”, together in order to complete the assignment given to us. As a group we turned the play into a modern style scene using New York to make it closer to the modern lifestyle and to represent the gangster life there. Also because that is how we perceived the tone of the play would best be represented - where Bel Imperia is the beautiful, smart and educated lady princess, on the other hand her boyfriend, Horatio, is trash. I guess our perception ...

Introduction

The 1920s was not only roaring with dance and music but also gangstersism .During this period America was characterized by high level of criminal activities, especially gangsterism and bootlegging. Bootlegging is the smuggling of unlawful commodities. Gangsters took part in prostitution, bootlegging, and organized criminal groups and gambling .Despite the risks linked with gangsterism, it was a rewarding job. With an increase in crime during this period, the congress had to pass a law, which prohibited alcohol. This seemed as a possible solution to the problem, but proved to be like a drop of water in an ocean people who had been ...

My Lobotomy is a memoir written by Howard Dully who is among the youngest people who underwent trans-orbital lobotomy. This procedure was performed on him while at the age of 12 and it was initiated by his step mother who disliked his behaviors. He explains how he was diagnosed by schizophrenia, the procedure and how it affected his life and how he learnt that it was not right for the procedure to be performed on him.

Dully’s mother died of cancer and left him under his step mother’s care. Dully grew up in an environment of emotional abuse ...

Reservoir Dogs, the 1992 independent gangster film that saw Quentin Tarantino's first foray into feature filmmaking, is a rousing tour de force of exploitation-level machismo, hip '90s nostalgia-cool and strong, theatrical performances. The film follows a group of color-coded gangsters as they fulfill Joe Cabot's (Laurence Tierney) orders to rob a jewelry store. Though the film shows the plight of various members of the gang before and after the heist, the heist itself is not shown. This treatment of time lends the film its incredible sense of urgency, energy, and desperation, as the audience is thrown into an unknown situation right along with ...

[Teacher’s Name] [Class Name/Period] [Date (January 1, 2012)]

Deception is defined as a collaborative method between a sender and the receiver to transfer and receive information. Deceptive communication can occur in a range of different settings, in relationships between strangers, friends, partners, family members and can be perpetrated by all age groups (Taylor, Gozna 1). In deception the sender transmits the information purposefully to create a wrong belief in the receiver. Deception can be done for a number of reasons and by various motivations. Depending on the severity of the consequences the lies can be high-stake, medium-stake, and low stake. There ...

Reservoir Dogs, the 1992 independent gangster film that saw Quentin Tarantino's first foray into feature filmmaking, is a rousing tour de force of exploitation-level machismo, hip '90s nostalgia-cool and strong, theatrical performances. The film follows a group of color-coded gangsters as they fulfill Joe Cabot's (Laurence Tierney) orders to rob a jewelry store. Though the film shows the plight of various members of the gang before and after the heist, the heist itself is not shown. This treatment of time lends the film its incredible sense of urgency, energy, and desperation, as the audience is thrown into an unknown situation right along with ...

The gang intervention program was initiated to reduce the gangster activities that took place in the neighborhoods by formulating research related interventions to assist curb the issue from the society. They incorporated methods that addressed personal, family matters and community as a whole that resulted to juvenile delinquency promoting the gangster activities. For the program to be successful it has integrated authorities from local and state and their resources to intervene prevent and suppress the gang actions from the society.

The History

The history of the Juvenile justice program was enforced by the statute in 1995 in December to unite the disparate ...

Gang Related Cases and Applied Theories

Popular movies have portrayed images of gangs and mobs scouring the city and committing crimes of all sorts. One example of that is the critically acclaimed movie “The Godfather” it is indeed an exact depiction of crimes groups in the society. John Gotti is no different from the mafia boss in the movies. He is one of the most recognized mafia leaders in downtown New York in the 90’s. He leads the Gambino organized crime group that startd in 1985. Gotti was the boss of all bosses in American mafia after Paul Castello was slain in 1985 in ...

Introduction

Hip hop culture began in the early 1970s. This occurred when a Jamaican artist, Clive Campbell also known as DJ Kool Herc moved from Kingston to the West Bronx, New York. In West Bronx, Campbell tried to incorporate his Jamaican style of Djaying into the music systems of the Americans. His style involved reciting improvised rhymes over the dub versions of his reggae records. During his initial performances in the city, he tried to adapt his style over the chanting over the percussion sections in the pop songs during that time. With the help of other Clarke Kent and Coke ...

19 May 2011

Black Masculinity in the Media

Introduction

Representation of black masculinity in the modern mass media is one of the most topical themes of our times. At present time there are a lot of studies which analyze portrayals of Afro-American men in the media and also play one of the crucial roles in creation of these images. However, still there are certain gaps in research. That is why in terms of this paper we would like also to focus our attention on the black masculinity and analyze images, which are shown in a variety of the media sources. In the course of our ...

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

Synopsis

The movie Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior shows remembrance for the chaos that arose after the decline of the oil- financial system and the start of the apocalyptic international war (Miller G. 1981). The narrator of the movie explains how gangs of foragers got into the roads looting oil and how common men were left for decay. The Road Warrior known as Max lost his relatives to the bunch of criminals became a lonely man in the area. Max, the Road Warrior and his dogs are chasing the gangs and Max outruns them but he ...