The Rise In Gangster Film

Ever since the theater has been around people have flocked to go see movies because they touch them in a certain way or the film has a connection to a certain event that might have played a key role in their lives.  But the gangster genre was a little bit different then the rest of the film genres.  People were not normally notorious criminals like we see on the movies or television shows.  So when the organized crime film came out the cinema going audience was intrigued but not until the start of prohibition did the public flock to go see the likes of people that resemble John Dillinger or Al Capone.

After Capone and his men shot at the St. Valentines Day massacre the public wanted to indulge into gangster life.  They found the closest thing the living the real life of a gangster was to go see what they would produce in the cinema.  Once the gangster film started to catch on many different studios picked up the genre and started to cash in on the phenomenon know as gangster films.  There is one type of gangster that has been an underlying theme of society ever since gangster had come to the knowledge of society and that is the African American Gangster.

The best example of this movie would be that of American Gangster.  These African American kids would look up to these gangsters and idolize them.  When Frank calls his poverty family and tells them to move up into his mansion you begin to see why these kids would idolize an gangster over a business man.  His family moves from a small house to a huge one up on a hillside because of what Frank does.  The have shoes on their feet because what he is doing, and coming from nothing this would look like a very viable option for someone that did not come from very much which was Franks family.

Back when racism and prejudice still ran everything corporate there was no African Americans in the position of power, and as a matter of fact it is still very white male ran organizations.  You can see why this black gangster that has all of this nice stuff, can put money and food on the table could be idolized.  They live the dream that many of us Americans look as a lavish lifestyle.  So when you look at black gangsters I can almost see it as a societal problem and not as one of those of the African American community.  If the only options that they are given were to be poverty stricken their whole live or become a gangster and live a life you could only imagine which would you choose?

The fantasy of having things such as beautiful women, cars, money, and fame is a more common motive then many would like to believe.  These motives drive people to do unimaginable things even when they do have money, if your race had been oppressed for thousands of years and society was not to give you a shot at living the American dream the right way, why would you not reach out and grab for something you never though would be obtainable.  So I ask this question, Is the American Gangster to blame as a person? or is our whole society as American grounds a breed for gangsters that the cinema just helps us fantasize with?

References

Benshoff, H. M., & Griffin, S. (2004). America on film: representing race, class, gender, and sexuality at the movies. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub..

Goines, D. (1991). Black gangster. Los Angeles, California: Holloway House Publishing Company