The Evolution of the Gangster

I am currently in the process of preparing my senior thesis for next year, my senior year. As a communications major, it is required that all students have a developed thesis statement and an idea as to what form their project is going to take.

For my paper, I hope to prove that the portrayal of the iconic mobster in film and television has gradually evolved over time to reflect the changing values of American society. Being that I love the HBO television series The Sopranos so much, I felt this topic would be very enjoyable for me to research.

I plan on studying/analyzing a variety of mobster features dating back to the 1930s, such as Public Enemy, The Godfather (parts I, II, and III), Scarface (both the original and re-make) and of course Goodfellas!

So far, I have found a substantial amount of research that proves the mobster has transformed over time. For example, in Public Enemy, the issue of prohibition leads protagonist Tommy into a life of crime. Gangsters of the 1930s –1940s are characterized by aggression, violence, mental instability and alienation from mainstream society. Thus they represent the conflicted values of postwar America.

Years later, in The Godfather, a new trend in gangster cinema was created. Its Director, Francis Ford Coppola, incorporated the style of the 1970s into the film and the evolution of the gangster. During a time in American society when the power of the “individual” was being replaced by the power of the “corporation”, the main family in the film, the Corleone’s replaced the individual gangster, Tommy (Public Enemy).

These are just a few examples of what I hope to demonstrate within my thesis.