Bernardo Bertolucci, the Italian director, was best known for his 1970 masterpiece The Conformist, which was a great inspiration for Francis Coppola when he filmed The Godfather in 1972 The Conformist centers on the life of Marcello Clerici, a hitman who worked for the Organization for the Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism during the reign of Benito Mussolini. The Godfather, considered one of the greatest films of all time, centers on mafia drama and focuses on the powerful Italian American crime family of Don Vito Corleone. Both the cinematic representation of Clerici's character and that of Don Corleone were built on an identity image based on the most requested values of the time: incorruptibility, honesty, crime fighting and, finally, law and order. These were the social contradictions that plagued the world in each film. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To understand more about each character, you need to understand the basics of each film. The conformist follows Marcello Clerici, a young Italian who, in order to rise in the fascist party, has the mission of approaching an anti-fascist militant, an old friend and teacher of the protagonist. On Mussolini's orders, Clerici must earn the teacher's trust and help orchestrate his murder. The work is divided between Marcello's journey to fulfill his mission and flashbacks showing his life and interaction with the teacher before the plan is executed. The Godfather, arriving shortly after the Vietnam War, when the feeling among Americans was one of disillusionment with the government, ultimately bridges the gap and turns the Godfather into a charismatic figure. It is with this gaze that viewers come into contact with Coppola's mafioso. Although it does not hide the character's violent side, the work shows his paternalistic role. In The Conformist Bertolucci analyzes how trauma remains alive in the human psyche to the point of creating cold and cruel citizens. For example, in one of the scenes in which we accompany Clerici on his way to the teacher, the editing alternates his journey and images of his childhood, showing the abuse he suffered as a child. There are also moments that develop his relationship with his mental hospital father. Bertolucci uses his cinematographic skills as an analysis of the human condition, and the way the editing inserts his flashbacks, dryly breaking the planes in which Marcello emerges thoughtfully, making the scenes a journey into the protagonist's memories, which help the audience to understand the coldness and even cruelty that Clerici gradually demonstrates. Likewise, in The Godfather, Vito's saga begins in the sea of violence. The defenseless boy witnesses the cold-blooded murder of his mother in an attempt to avenge her husband's death. Such brutal violence would certainly mark the Godfather's modus operandi. This, combined with other life circumstances, becomes the driving force behind his choices. It is as if all his life he has tried to repair the loss and the void, using the discourse of justice to explain his criminal actions. To become Don Corleone, he understands that it takes a certain emotional influence and the exchange of favors between people. This sense of debt was more effective than fear, threat and violence. Furthermore, his obsessive quest to keep all his children around is the main sign of Corleone. Unknown to him, he tries to be the present father to everyone. It is possible to imagine an unconscious attempt not to leave anyone as defenseless as one felt during childhood, which curiously also embodies the image of the missing mother. Don Vito Corleone's background can enterin the idea of a highly fragmented man who is afraid of losing his importance compared to others. The love of the followers around him ensures that he is the sun god around which all his cubs orbit. The Godfather uses a cultural language that allows the film to range across practically all strata of the population, dealing with themes such as family values, honour, friendship and the failure of the State, with a historical approach to the phenomena of era. These points are explored and point to historical situations as a key factor in the analysis of mafia films, as they interfere with the social and ideological functions of the genre. Therefore, the messages are strategically distinct but symbolically intelligible. The American ethical crisis of the 1970s is the motto that permeates the narrative of The Godfather, just as the rise of fascism and lack of individuality permeate The Conformist. The narrative of the film shows the displacement of the dissatisfaction of a segment of the population, which has transferred the distrust in the current economic and political structure to organized crime and thus reinvents the mafia myth, while Bertolucci's masterpiece manages to evoke the pathos of work, especially at the historically inevitable end. Since Bertolucci was once a member of the communist party, a strong criticism of fascism is found in all his works, although this criticism is always one-sided. It is necessary to understand that the popularity of some productions can provide information on the social environment in which they are born and circulate. In this way it is possible to understand what is happening in contemporary cultures and societies. The Conformist and The Godfather, more than 40 years after their prominence, still impose themselves as objects of reference and intertextuality, one of the most characteristic practices of the cultural industry. Films depicting the structure of organized crime, especially that of Italian origin, began to appear at the beginning of the 20th century. Since the inception of the genre, the narrative and ideological paradigm in mafia films has brought to light the evolution of organizational themes and gang stories and made the genre a blockbuster. However, it was The Godfather who stood out as one of the greatest representatives of the category for having imposed an ideological function on the mafia myth. It is argued that The Godfather reinvents this myth and represents the permutation of a genre convention by exposing populist antagonisms, such as white-collar crime or hostility towards ordinary service companies in the United States at the time of the film's release. The mafia narrative, in the case of Coppola's work, provides a strategic gateway from all the anger generated by the American system and unethical standards that led to the deterioration of life in the United States in the 1970s. In a similar tone, Bertolucci, with The Conformist, criticizes Italian fascism and bourgeois society prior to the Second World War. Bertolucci chooses to present this criticism through the protagonist, who lives perfectly at peace with his role in Italian fascism, not so much out of conviction, but because it is what he has only known. Fascism emerges as a system that thrives on the lack of personality of many, without the strength to oppose, preferring the path of least resistance, that is, the blind execution of orders precisely because it is easier to do so. Bertolucci works to an alienating effect, which was driven more by a distinctive late 1960s combination of Freudian psychology and Marxist ideology. The film is a sort of essay on fascism, from the point of view of human motivations (or lack thereof). Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay The success of Coppola's film can.
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