Kevin week 3

Is Micheal a hero?

Micheal is a double edge charater after his father has been shot. at first place, he did not want to be related to his family; however, he needs to take revange by showing the loyalty to his father. After he has kill McCluskey and Sollozo, he knows that he would be the next Don of the Mafia; but, his goal is to make the family become legitimate. At the end of the first movie, he did not reach his goal but end up killing the 5 heads of the 5 family, and Carlo for betraying the family. in my opinion, Micheal did the right thing; he knows that the 5 family will destroy the Corleone after the godfather is dead. Micheal makes the best option to protect his family.

KEVIN week 3

symbols
i noticed that there a lot of objects that symbolizes something

the door-it means separation between men and women, which means mafia's business is kept secret from women. until the end of the movie, kay saw Micheal has been called the Don

The windows- means the separation between public and private life of living in the Mafia

Chairs- the chair has a lot of symbols including thrones, place of relection, place of isolation. One example would be when Micheal plans to kill McCluskey and Sollozo.

Oranges- symbol of death. The end when Don Corleone dies with the orange in his mouth

Horse's head- life, power, bearty, the name Khartoum is a capital city where 2 nile rivers intersect, the horse also worth $500,000

Harroop's Godfather: Week 4

Literary Features:

• One literary feature that I saw in the movie is foreshadowing. Before Don Corelone got shot there were oranges that Don Corelones was holding and was shown while he was heading towards is car. Then before he died there was also oranges shown. This reminded me of in 1984 when Winston tries to remember a poem which is "Oranges and Lemons"Say the bells of St. Clements"I owe you five farthings"Say the bells of St. Martin's". Which may not be very important but it seems that oranges link to death in some way.
• Another part of the movie which I didnt understand is when there is a child crying constanty in the movie in the Corleone family and I think it represents something wrong occuring in the family even though no one is paying attention to it outside of the walls and people who are actually part of the business only really know what is happening. Kay is really the only one who knows what is going on and sees it happening.

Hero or a Villian:

• Although it seems like Michael is being a villian by killing his brother in law, he was actually being fair becaue he kills anyone who goes against him or betrays him and that even if Carles is in the family he cannot let emotions over come him and feel bad for him, and this represents a hero who sacrifies his sister's love for being fair and being powerful and being a good new godfather. This is why I think Michael is a hero even if he may not have shown it directly he is doing it for good by doing what people think is immoral or evil. Even though Connie hated Michael and he knew that would happen Michael did it because Carles decieved his own family but eventually Connie would realize that he use to hit her which was worse than him being alive which was better for the greater good.

Snippets:

• Michael seems to have changed and be cold hearted and didnt seem to be affected by his father's death however before his father was shot he was far more emotional and that is when we started to notice that he was becoming the godfather.
• I thought the scene which seemed to me as the climax was incredibly interesting which was of Michael becoming godfather to Connie and Carles' daughter and in between there are scenes which are violent and people are being killed. In my opinion this may represent how Michael is becoming the godfather and how he is controlling around him by being a part of the family while people are being killed under his order.
• There was also a major change in Michael's behavior with women like when he was with Apollonia he was far more polite but after that he wasnt the same he started to yell at Kay after becoming the new godfather.
• One scene which was beautiful, was the ending when Michael is in the room where he does business with people his employees and Kay is looking through the door from the kitchen and in my opinion this represents how there is a seperation between family and business but Kay knows exactly what is going on and perhaps she has now lost Michael. In the end the door closes the movie but the tears in Kay's eyes and as she looks at Michael through the door it seems like there has to be more to the story because it does not look like the story is completed.

Kevin's Godfather Blog: Week 2: The Human Condition

So far, the movie, godfather is pretty intense. Even though Don Vito Corleone is the chair of a gang family, he loves his family and did everything he can to protect them.

There is a interesting relationship between Micheal Corleone and Marjan Satrapi from Persepolis. Marjane is a free willed, rebellious character; however, she is also an outsider of the society that she lives in eventhough she is the protagonist of the story . In the beginning of the godfather, Micheal states that he is also an outsider of the gang society since he worked for the US military; however, it turns out that he become the centre of the gang.
Is it fate that pulls or attracts both of them to become so important to their own story or is it themselves who tries to get in?

Harroop's Godfather: Week 3

Literary Features:

• In the godfather the literary feature which we see a lot is foreshadowing. On time it was when Kay comes to see Michael but instead she meets Tom, and then she asks why is the broken and Tom tells her that there was a car accident. Then later we see Sunny murdered in his car. This may be stretching it but I think the director shows so many incidents of foreshadowing because a hero like in comic strips is sometimes someone who can see the future or can predict it so the director maybe be doing this to show us this relation. I don't know if this has any significance but I noticed that when something tragic or someone dies in this film its mostly at a car. Like Don Corleone was shot when he was about to sit in the car, Sunny was killed beside his car and Apollia was killed in a car as well. So this may be significant but it may not be.

The Journey of a hero:

Michael going to Sicily was an experience for a hero because first we think that maybe he was going just to hide but then he gets married so we think that maybe Michael was there to meet partner but then when she dies, so I didn't understand why he went there. But all along I think it was just a heros journey. Usually we see someone who is good and an average person loses the person (usually women) they love so they become a villain. Like this it is possible that Michael may not be able to forget his wife's death so decides to kill people and get his revenge.

Harroop's Godfather Week 2

Human Condition:

• In the godfather I see Michael as a character who trys hard to rebel against his family and run away as far as possible from the truth that his family is the most powerful gang in New York. From what we have seen I think Michael is someone who is trying to find himself and is not even aware of who he is becoming. Michael reminds me a lot of Marjane who is fighting to find her idenity and only finds out who he is through experience and life changing events like Michael. This is also an archtype of a quest for idenity. Since Michael's father,Don Coreleone was shot and nearly killed he has become someone different from who we met in the starting of the film. When he is planning a meeting with the Coreleone gang to kill Sollozzo, Michael starts to become the leader of the gang, the way he talks, his clothes and even the way he is sitting starts to make him look a lot like his father. In the begining of the film, he is wearing his army uniform and does not even associate with his family. Like Michael Marjane is someone who is fighting for freedom and goes against the Irian law by drinking and having a boyfriend, however while trying to be free she gets married to her boyfriend but then later realizes that she did exactly what she was going against and was being trapped.

Class Act:

• During our class Mr.Mcguigan made a insightful comment on Michael being a foil of his brothers. He has all the characteristics of his 3 brothers. Like fredo he starts off with being a coward but later on he starts to become a thinker like his brother Tom and then like Sunny he becomes a little revengeful which can be good and bad. But I also think he exhibits characteristics of his father, he is someone people can believe, respect and persuades. With all these characteristics he can be The next Godfather.
  

Archtypes:

• An archtype which I think is in this movie is of a quest for vengence because we know that Michael planned to kill Sollozzo and the police officer even though they wanted to make a truce. He wanted to get revenge for his father which could make him a hero for his family but in others eyes also someone who is a villian. He is someone who starts off with being rebellious towards his family but soon gets dragged back to his family because of emotions and starts to join the business. So it is a journey of being a villian and by becoming a part of his family again he might be considered good or a hero for his family.
  

Harroop's Godfather Week 1

Characters:

Don Corleone: He is the main character who people respect but fear and is the leader of the Corleone gang/family.

Michael: Don Corleone's younger son. He is the outsider who excludes himself from his family

Sunny: Don Corleone's older son, who follows his father but does not seem to have to much interest in the family business or is not very good at it.

Tom Hagen: He is Corleone's patient adviser who does more in Don Corleone's family business then his own son's.

Kay: She is the seductive love of Michael's life, who also seems to be an outsider like Michael.

Do Humans like the same type of story?

• I think this question is really interesting because a lot of people like the same type of story or movie and so did people from generations before. The reason why I found this interesting is because The Godfather is also remaked as a Hindi movie named Sarkar, it was a bit different with the same storyline and was huge hit in India. Even though it was presented to people across the world from North America, with very different cultural values the movie was loved. If you put some from Canada and someone from India they probably would never be able to get along and their thinking would be completely opposite. But it is interesting that human minds may be built to like the same type of stories