Form & Meaning-Implicit & Symptomatic in Gangster Film

In every cinematic adventure that we depart on while watching a film there is some factors that lay at the core center or every film.  Two of these factors are form and meaning without these factors the film would be completely lost upon the audience that has went to view it.  In gangster film this is extremely true because if we do not take what we are perceiving in order to make sense of what is going on the significance and symbolism of the gangster movie will be lost upon us.  Thus it will make the movie very hard to follow itself and unenjoyable to watch.

In gangster movies there are two different times of meanings that I will be examining.  The first of the two meanings is Implicit Meaning.  Implicit meaning is described that the film has left the meaning for the viewer to discover by them selves upon analysis or reflection, so the meaning is broad, and left up for interpretation by the viewer.  Symptomatic meaning is the second type that we will explore, its meaning the film divulges most of the time against its will, either by the stories history or the social context that the story is in.

Films meaning and the forms that they come in are so different from each other in the underlying layers of the films we see.  This is why we can go see a film that may look like a film that we have already seen before but it will have a completely different meaning to us because of our past experiences with these types of films and the way that we perceive the world around us.  I found it very interesting that people can come up with such different meanings of the same film just because of their own personal experiences.

 

With that being a said a good example of a gangster movie with implicit meaning in it would be American Gangster.  Even though every person that watches this movie will most likely have a different implicit meaning then I have because we all have experienced different things which helps us perceive the world as it is.  I believe that the implicit meaning for this movie involves the african american struggle.  Though it is based on a true story I believe that it shows many of the struggles that a black man, let alone a black gangster would have to face during these times.  Not only the hardship of being a gangster, but being a successful African American in society during these times and the scrutiny that he would have occurred not only because of his profession but because of his skin color.  That would be my interpretation of the underlying meaning of the movie.

Symptomatic meaning is a little more tricky then implicit meaning.  In a gangster film the symptomatic meaning would be that even though the gangster himself may have a rough exterior and his life is based on crime and killing, that on the inside the gangster really has a fear of being inadequate or has some problem in his past that makes him the way that he has become.  So at some point within the film against the will of the hardcore gangster this inner secret of his will eventually come out and be revealed to the audience as the meaning of why he is the way that he is.

Barsam, R. (n.d.). Chapter 1: Looking at Movies | Looking at Movies, 3e: W. W. Norton StudySpace . Home | W. W. Norton & Company . Retrieved November 22, 2011, from http://www.wwnorton.com/college/film/m

Grant, B. K., & Mitchell, E. (2003). Apes and Essences: Some sources of Significance in the American Gangster Film. Film genre reader III (pp. 219-228). Austin: University of Texas Press.