Two Families Essay Example for Free

Two Families Essay In the Godfather we have the family as an organized crime syndicate, in Boyz in the Hood, we have African American referring to each other as brothers. I got the title for this paper because that is the biggest similarity in between the two movies, the family connection. The Godfather is a classic film making 3rd in the AFI’s top 100 movies of all time. One of the reasons it is a great and compelling movie is that it focuses on the realities of an alternate world where people have to make dramatic choices every day. It does this without trying to politicize the movie; it shows the struggles of a crime family in a fight for their literal life. Boyz in the Hood is a very political movie and that is its downfall. While it pretends to be interested in the welfare of the family, mostly the son, and African Americans in general, it posits many positions about race that are absolutely ridiculous. In the movie the father blames white society for all of the problems of the black race, including liquor stores and gun shops. I guess I just haven’t heard yet how the government subsidizes these. When talking about drugs he says, we don’t have the resources to bring the drugs here, we don’t have airplanes and ships. Somehow Columbians are now responsible for the African American plight. I’m sure that Columbian’s can’t get sleep at night because they are worried about how to bring African Americans down, that is the only rational explanation for what is happening. Contrast this to The Godfather and you see they never blame white men for their problems. There is a few times that they are called negative names, and the story in the beginning, where the undertaker asks to have his daughter’s attack revenged, he never says that they did what they did because he was Italian. It could have been because of that because the attackers were implied to be white, but it was never mentioned. I think it was interesting that one of the sons was adopted and not Italian. There is an implication in this that although the Mafia is largely an Italian organization, it does not discriminate against some races, although the use of the work â€Å"nigger† by Sonny does show negative attitudes towards those people. He says this when he says that they should sell drugs just to African Americans. The reasoning was because they wouldn’t get in as much political trouble. This seems logical and is a much better explanation than that there is a conspiracy against African Americans. This is not an acceptable situation either, and we need to focus on bringing all of America together rather than tearing America apart. I am reminded of the quote by John Donne from Meditation XVII of Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions. No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were. Any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. For if the plauge of rasism blinds the eye to injustice, is it not in some way my innocence that cries to the heavens for justice. Is this to be cured by the isolation of a race from those who are percieved to have caused the injustice? No, it is caused by communication in between two two races, because communication casues understanding. The other key ingredient is personal responsibility. The main character in Boyz in the Hood acepted personal responsibility and was able to espace the circle of violence that plauged the comminity. It also seems like the Maifa was more concerned with power and the ability to do business than to be upset by petty arguments. In Italy Michael noticed there was no young males and his bodygaurd said it was because of the vendettas. It seems like we can all learn from this another lesson from â€Å"For Whom the Bell Tolls,† when you participate in voilence you are the person who will suffer the most, because there is always repercusions of your actions. In The Godfather the enemies were the same as they were, they were organized criminals. In Boyz in the Hood it was much the same. I wonder if they think about the similarities in the oposing gangs, and if that has any effect on them. The best thing that either could do would be to join forces with their adversaries and put away petty differences, although this would mean a loss of control by the leaders of the gangs/families. Both were torn apart not by outside forces, but by their own kind. It seems like in The Godfather at least they were honest about that. They realized that their biggest opponent was the organizations like them. They knew that the only thing they would understand was violence. The Godfather didn’t want Michel to have the same life he did, but in the end he was more violent that what the Godfather was. It was a payback for the life he led, and was probbably worse for him than any personal repercusion he felt. There are two families represented here, two of a whole miriad of families that we have in the United States. The families have different colors, different religons or none. The families have different values. Sometimes the colors and values are different in a single family. Most of the time there is no violence, although most families have their black sheep. When we become a single familiy a lot of the problems we face will be gone. This wont happen by blame, but understanding. A movie like Boyz in the Hood should have helped create that understanding, but it fell on its face blaming eveyone and increasing the gulf in between black and white. Works Cited Print Sources Donne, John, Meditation XVII of Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions. 1624 Web Site American Film Institute’s web page. 2006. American Film Institute. April 11, 2007. http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/movies.aspx.