Tyree
Task 2.1
Scarface Blog Journal
Target Audience- The target audience for the
classic mob film, Scarface has certainly turned out to be something that
the film- makers and the distributors weren't expecting. Initially, the film
was made for mostly a male audience, due to the tone of the film and the
subject matter, as well as how men are portrayed as something of great
superiority as opposed to women, who are very much seen as objects for the
mobsters to look good, in fact, Michelle Pfeiffer’s character, Elvira, who is
at first a trophy wife to Frank Lopez, played by Robert Loggia, eventually
becomes Tony’s trophy wife, and she is extremely unhappy with both men, who
treat her exactly in the same way, although, I think that Frank treats
her a little bit nicer. But, as everybody knows,
the film was not really that much of a success, it didn't make that much money,
it made $65 million on a $25 million budget, so it didn't become the big hit
that the studio were expecting. The film even gathered a mixed to positive
reaction from audiences and critics. But, as time went by, the film developed a
cult following with the most unlikely of audiences; gangsta rappers. Through a documentary that I watched, it is revealed that gangsta rappers adore
and worship the living Hell out of this film to the point where they have tons
of memorabilia of the film in their houses, all the way to the point where they name themselves after the
lead characters' nickname, Scarface. The reason for this is
because the gang culture can relate to Tony Montana, because they understand
what it is like to have a rough upbringing and they know that the only way that
they could become rich and successful is through the hard way, they lived their
lives just like Tony did. They understand what the character goes through and
why it happened, and they sympathise with him because to some of them, the
gangster life is all they know, even now with all their money and wealth. The
film is about a self- made man who came from a horrible background who rises at
the top of the food chain the only way he knows how, and through this, the
rappers and ultimately, the gang culture and the Black community see themselves
in it. I have to say, though. It isn’t just the Black community who embrace Scarface, but anybody who has a massive
interest in ‘thug life’, and even something as minimal as the poster is seen on
many different things that we have come to know and identify with as gang
culture. If anything, the poster is just as iconic as the movie, itself,
becoming an instantly recognisable image in film and popular culture.
Genre conventions- The main convention of a gangster film actually serves as the story premise of this movie. A low life thug who only knows about crime is determined to rise through the ranks of criminality and become the World's top gangster. This premise is used in a lot of gangster films, and of the three films that we have watched in class (City of God and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels) all have that one, or four characters that want to overthrow a higher power (in this film, the higher power is Frank and in Lock, Stock, we have Harry) although the hero/villain dynamic is very odd in this film. but, I will get to that when we talk about representation. The main character, Tony is also an immigrant who heavily dislikes his own status in life and wants more, and the only loyalty he feels is for his own immigrant roots. His wealth and power is shown by his material goods such as his fancy clothes and his mansion, and also, his wife, Elvira, who is, like all women in a gangster film, is also just a symbol of his success. In the end, this backfires and Tony's supposed success backfires.
Representation- The representation of characters in this is highly conventional for a film in this genre. The men (Frank and Tony) all play up the 'machismo' aspect of powerful men, they flaunt off their wealth at any given occasion, and the two characters' personalities reflect the level of power they are at. The female characters seen in the film are all ported as either a nagging mother (who is really just a minor character) or an overly sexualised junkie (Elvira and Gina), who happen to be very close to the lead character, Tony. This shows that the female characters are portrayed in a negative way, even if they are the main characters' wife, Elvira or his sister/second love interest?, Gina. Other minor female characters and extras that are female are also strippers or dancers, or just a girl that is being flirted with by Manny. Even though Elvira Hancock and Gina Montana can be seen as relatively strong characters who stand up to Frank and later, an aggressive Tony, they're still no match compared to the rest of the characters who are all male and happen to be very powerful in the drug trade. One thing I can say is different, though, is that even though Tony is still an aggressive, evil man, he has compassion and a heart, we know this because he seems to care a lot about his mother and sister's well- being when he brings money to them. On one assignment, he even refuses to detonate a bomb attached to a car due to the fact that there is a mother and small child inside, this is very unconventional for a drug lord character.
Narrative- The story of 'Scarface' is the most well known and conventional cinematic criminal story seen on screen; a low life immigrant thug who is sick of his own status in life decides to change that and make a success of himself in a huge drug trade in America. This story is so well known that it even inspired other titles to have similar stories, that are, for the most part, tweaked. In Rockstar Game's 'Grand Theft Auto: Vice City', a low life Italian criminal named Tommy Vercetti attempts to rise up in the ranks of criminality and eventually makes his way up to a drug kingpin, the story even features the same mansion action set piece at the end and is set in the 1980's. Other examples of some form of inspiration include the television series, 'Breaking Bad', where the main character, a mild mannered chemistry teacher, Walter White is diagnosed with lung cancer, and so, to ensure that his family has money for after his dies, he enters the drug business making meth to raise enough money and eventually transforms into a notoriously dangerous drug kingpin named 'Heisenberg'. Finally, in Rockstar Games' 'Grand Theft Auto IV', the main character is an immigrant named Niko Bellic who has travelled to America to seek revenge, but is accidentally dragged into the life of a criminal for a second time. It's other films/games like these that show how influential the story of 'Scarface' is to modern pop culture. The film and its story have many narrative conventions that was made more popular with other gangster films that were made after it. This is a 'cult' film, which means that it was, at first unpopular critically and commercially when first initially released, but over time garners the respect it deserves. Another cult gangster film starring Al Pacino and directed by Brian De Palma is 'Carlito's Way', which can be seen as a 'what- if' story of 'Scarface', and what would have happened if he survived and had a big personality change. This film and 'Scarface' share sort of similar plot lines, although in 'Carlito's Way', instead of Carlito Brigante being a low life thug and wanting to become a high rise gangster, he is a former, well respected gangster to wants to raise enough money to leave the Country he lives in and begin a better life. Both of these films have been influential to many gangster films made in the future, due to their cult statuses.
Representation- The representation of characters in this is highly conventional for a film in this genre. The men (Frank and Tony) all play up the 'machismo' aspect of powerful men, they flaunt off their wealth at any given occasion, and the two characters' personalities reflect the level of power they are at. The female characters seen in the film are all ported as either a nagging mother (who is really just a minor character) or an overly sexualised junkie (Elvira and Gina), who happen to be very close to the lead character, Tony. This shows that the female characters are portrayed in a negative way, even if they are the main characters' wife, Elvira or his sister/second love interest?, Gina. Other minor female characters and extras that are female are also strippers or dancers, or just a girl that is being flirted with by Manny. Even though Elvira Hancock and Gina Montana can be seen as relatively strong characters who stand up to Frank and later, an aggressive Tony, they're still no match compared to the rest of the characters who are all male and happen to be very powerful in the drug trade. One thing I can say is different, though, is that even though Tony is still an aggressive, evil man, he has compassion and a heart, we know this because he seems to care a lot about his mother and sister's well- being when he brings money to them. On one assignment, he even refuses to detonate a bomb attached to a car due to the fact that there is a mother and small child inside, this is very unconventional for a drug lord character.
Narrative- The story of 'Scarface' is the most well known and conventional cinematic criminal story seen on screen; a low life immigrant thug who is sick of his own status in life decides to change that and make a success of himself in a huge drug trade in America. This story is so well known that it even inspired other titles to have similar stories, that are, for the most part, tweaked. In Rockstar Game's 'Grand Theft Auto: Vice City', a low life Italian criminal named Tommy Vercetti attempts to rise up in the ranks of criminality and eventually makes his way up to a drug kingpin, the story even features the same mansion action set piece at the end and is set in the 1980's. Other examples of some form of inspiration include the television series, 'Breaking Bad', where the main character, a mild mannered chemistry teacher, Walter White is diagnosed with lung cancer, and so, to ensure that his family has money for after his dies, he enters the drug business making meth to raise enough money and eventually transforms into a notoriously dangerous drug kingpin named 'Heisenberg'. Finally, in Rockstar Games' 'Grand Theft Auto IV', the main character is an immigrant named Niko Bellic who has travelled to America to seek revenge, but is accidentally dragged into the life of a criminal for a second time. It's other films/games like these that show how influential the story of 'Scarface' is to modern pop culture. The film and its story have many narrative conventions that was made more popular with other gangster films that were made after it. This is a 'cult' film, which means that it was, at first unpopular critically and commercially when first initially released, but over time garners the respect it deserves. Another cult gangster film starring Al Pacino and directed by Brian De Palma is 'Carlito's Way', which can be seen as a 'what- if' story of 'Scarface', and what would have happened if he survived and had a big personality change. This film and 'Scarface' share sort of similar plot lines, although in 'Carlito's Way', instead of Carlito Brigante being a low life thug and wanting to become a high rise gangster, he is a former, well respected gangster to wants to raise enough money to leave the Country he lives in and begin a better life. Both of these films have been influential to many gangster films made in the future, due to their cult statuses.
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