Literary Feature Hunt

          We talked in our class about how Micheal and Sonny are character foils of each other.  This became noticeable when these two shots were put together.  When Micheal was walking with Appoliona, it shot the back of Micheal with a bunch of followers that were following him.  RIght after this scene, it showed Sonny walking away with the camera facing his back, and he had followers that were the Mafia.  This just shows that these two are character foils of each other.  These two people are both in line to be a Godfather, and they both came from similar beginnings; however, they make different choices.  Francis Ford Coppola is asking the audiences which is the right choice that you make.  These are both leaders with followers.

How is Light utilized in the film?

          The Godfather has many scenes with the use of lights.  There is a specific way that Francis Ford Coppola places the lights.  The angles of the lights like, at the start of the film where there was a halo around Don's head, were placed there for a reason because Francis could have been sending a message to the viewers that Don is actually a good person like an angel.  When Sunny was sitting in his chair later on in the movie, there was no halo above his head because maybe Francis Ford Coppola was portraying that Sunny was not a good person or son.  It was also very obvious in the scene when Sollozzo was talking to Tom Hagen, and half of Tom's face was white, and the other half was dark.  This just shows that Tom is actually half good and half bad because he wants to make that deal with Sollozzo, but he knows that it is wrong to. 
         
          The colour orange has also appeared many times because orange could mean something bad is going to happen.  Don was picking oranges when he got shot, and also when Micheal was going to kill Sollozzo and McClusky.  The lights all around him was orange, and this just shows that orange could mean death, so I will be looking for more examples of the colour orange and how it relates to death.

          Later on, this light and dark side occurred again when Micheal was talking with his sister's husband.  Half of Micheal's face was dark and half was white which is very true because he can sometimes be good, but sometimes he could be evil.  This time, it was showing the evil side of him when he killed the husband because he kept on beating his sister.

Archetypes: The hero's jouney and the scarlet woman

          Francis Ford Coppola decided to show follow the hero's jouney with two scarlet women that appeared in the film.  The first scarlet woman was when Micheal Corleone was with Kay Adams, and he left her later on in the film.  Kay was shown wearing scarlet when Micheal was about to leave her to kill McClusky and Sollozzo.  Micheal then went into hiding which follows the hero's journey again because he is going into the, "innermost cave".  In his "innermost cave", he saw another scarlet woman that he met in the town called Corleone.  This scarlet woman is actually "the temptress" in the hero's journey, and may bring about the downfall of Micheal Corleone.  Her name was Apollonia which is also a name of a goddess, and she ended up marrying Micheal.  Apollonia then died later on in the film, and Micheal was suprised that one of his bodyguards were working for another person. 

         I feel that Micheal is going to go into stage 5 in the hero's journey, which is to return to America and get revenge on the people that killed his brother.  Micheal has somehow been reborn because he was affected when his new wife died.  He is troubled, so I think that he is going to sort it out sooner or later.  Well how is he troubled?  He is troubled because he feels that he is losing his family and the mafia gangs are supposed to be close to family.  His brother Sunny died, and his father is still recovering from his wounds, so Micheal knows that he has to do something instead of hiding in Corleone.  Micheal is going to be the next godfather in line, so that is why he is troubled and why he is going to return to New York to help out.

Archetypes: The Hero Turns to the Dark Side

           At first, I thought Micheal Corleone was a hero because because he just came back from World War 2, and he fought for the U.S.A.  I also thought that he was a hero because he did not want to get involved with the family business.  He knew that it was wrong, so he refused to get involved with the mafia.  The Hero's Journey is a person that wants to be a hero but doesn't want to get involved with evil.  Later on in the movie when Micheal is with his father at a hospital, Micheal said that he was going to be with him.  This could be foreshadowing because it could mean that he is going to be a part of the mafia, even though he said at the start of the movie that he wasn't going to get involved.  This could mean that Micheal is actually not a hero, but he feels that he has to help his family in order to protect his father.

Something Fishy

          In the scene where Luca Brasi was trying to get information from the Tattaglia family, it showed a glass pane with fish. This fish scene was shown twice which was shown at the start of the scene, and the end of the scene. This scene showed foreshadowing because it was going to relate to what was going to happen. This scene showed Luca Brasi trying to make a deal with the Tattaglia family, but failed to because he was killed. This assignment that Don gave to Luca was private so no one knew what happened to Luca Brasi. Don was later on shot, and there was a meeting that Micheal attended to. There was then converstaion about Luca Brasi, and the Corleone's started trying to call Luca. Clemenza then brought a package that had fish wrapped in a vest. Clemenza then said that Luca Brasi was dead, and it meant that he was swimming with the fish which came from the Sicilian religeon. This just shows you the foreshadowing of the fish that was on the glass pane.

Class Act

Doors were shown frequently throughout the movie so far because the director meant to.  In the scene where the horse was killed, it seemed like you were walking through a door.  Doors could mean a separation, invitation, or a transition.  In the scene of Luca Brasi, it seemed like you were watching him and part of the movie.  It somehow made me feel like i was separated by the door.  Another scene was when Luca Brasi went to Tattaglias to get some information about them.  This scene was shot through a window or door, and again it seemed like you were separated.