I'm going to come out and say it. I really like gangster flicks. I've always loved the whole law and lawlessness of them and how the bad guy can end up being a hero in comparison to what are supposed to be the good guys. That said, seeing the older gangster movies from a time period of mob warfare and rum running I noticed the relationship movies had with gangsters.
Back then movies had the code which held that most actions a criminal makes on film shouldn't be shown, that they should be an unsympathetic character that ends up show casing the evils of crime and how the police (or good) will always win. But you never get the sense of the police's involvement in these criminal acts. The Prohibition era saw police corruption on wide scales and some criminals were subjects of admiration (or at least urban legend and story). The movies at the time seemed to ignore these facts in hopes of removing possible influences for crime.
By comparison today we have movies and entertainment that show criminals in lighter, more sympathetic tones, sometimes making them out to be better than the police. Gangster movies of the last few decades show the criminals as heroes (or anti heroes by action) and some movies spur on hero worship of criminal characters (Scarface for an easy reference). You also have the police, who are protrayed as pure good in older films, who are shown at times to be corrupt or evildoers themselves (Training Day, Street Kings, American Gangster). In real life however criminals are more vilified than ever. It is interesting to see how the relationship with the portrayal of crime compared to real life has shifted in film.
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That's an interesting point, Jameson. Showing police corruption or involvement was against the Production Code, which is one reason for the difference.
ReplyDeleteI agree, it interesting that kind of twist with the portrayal of crime. Perhaps by having those codes, it did help with crime not being idealized ( therefor having less crime). But because of those codes everyone had the perception that ALL police were heroes or the good ones, making it easier for the police to actually get away with being corrupt. Nowadays I think its much harder for police to get away with those things with the codes gone and maybe the life of crime is more appealing to kids by watching films with the bad guys winning.
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