tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939909775405220345.post8624566998611610091..comments2024-03-01T10:16:11.283-08:00Comments on AmericanStudies: February 1, 2011: Erased RiotsAmericanStudierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06483077716534996778noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939909775405220345.post-80814218421446471642011-02-01T17:51:12.300-08:002011-02-01T17:51:12.300-08:00Thanks for the further thoughts! I don't want ...Thanks for the further thoughts! I don't want to beat this horse too much, but I will say that I think that naming DiCaprio's character Amsterdam at least suggests that his story _is_ the story of NYC to at least an extent. So there's that part of it for me too.<br /><br />Again, thanks very much, lots to think about here.AmericanStudierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06483077716534996778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939909775405220345.post-86877981248007759342011-02-01T14:37:41.869-08:002011-02-01T14:37:41.869-08:00Hey Ben
I see where you are coming from in respect...Hey Ben<br />I see where you are coming from in respect to the singularity of Gangs. This is one of the few films of Scorsese's where he steps out of our recent past. However, I can only conceed to your assertion the narration is equally distributed between the development of America's identity and that of Amsterdam's in the last image montage of the film. I can't remember other parts of that movie that insist the American identity on the viewer as much. Granted there were many needless exposition scenes describing the gangs, their respective MOs and NYC in general. However, I cannot agree (and do not suspect that you are stating) that these bits of trite exposition are American identity developments.<br />I'm not actually a Scorsese fan... actually I hate most of his movies, I just had to watch them because god-forbid Charlie Roberts find out we hadn't committed them to memory... he'd have us skinned alive. We read Scorsese like he was Dickens.<br />Anyway, I get ya, I don't didn't think the riot scene was supposed to be central to the plot, just a device of it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939909775405220345.post-91461050088914363502011-02-01T14:00:01.505-08:002011-02-01T14:00:01.505-08:00Hi Anonymous,
Thanks for the thoughts! I agree wi...Hi Anonymous,<br /><br />Thanks for the thoughts! I agree with the take on Scorsese in general; although I'm not as big a fan of his films as you, I think he is good at using narrative in that way, and can see the connection to _Gangs_ (particularly in our complex sympathy-antipathy dynamic toward Bill the Butcher).<br /><br />But I do think _Gangs_ is distinct from _Departed_, and every other Scorsese film, inasmuch as it is centrally focused on recreating and representing this very distant (ie, not the 1970s or something similarly close to our own era) and very foundational historical moment and era in New York. In my reading, the film is at least as much a historical epic as it is a character study (and I think the closing images and statements about New York's evolution would support that reading), and so I think that in this particular case it's imperative that we analyze what history he includes and how he represents it, not only for purposes of characterization but as its own central subject. (And for that matter, the final minute suggests he is trying to persuade about the history as well--that we should better remember these origin points of NYC and perhaps America--making such analysis that much more relevant.)<br /><br />Thanks,<br />BenAmericanStudierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06483077716534996778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939909775405220345.post-74360657156597160242011-02-01T13:31:14.745-08:002011-02-01T13:31:14.745-08:00Funny Gangs of New York is up for criticism. Whil...Funny Gangs of New York is up for criticism. While not a fan, it's not historical inaccuracies or blatant hypocrisy of white-washing the draft riots bothering me, but Cameron Diaz.<br />However, I take issue with the assertion Martin Scorsese is irresponsible by over-simplifying the draft riots. Scorsese’s narrations usually revolve around a singular character's struggle for identity. The protagonist, usually a “shady” character, is only identified to the audience after they have been seduced to logic and world view. If the audience reminds themselves crime is bad, the story does not work because they will not sympathize with these characters. This, however, is where Scorsese’s talent as a director (and story-teller) lies. It is his ability to identify and sympathize with a character whom audiences would never identify with in real life. I would cross the street to avoid most of them (Diaz). Think about The Departed. Who elicited the most sympathy from the audience? Nicholson. The other characters are static, or don’t occupy enough film and/or story demanding our sympathy. Damon’s character is ambitious, which audiences usually identify as flawed, and untrustworthy. DiCaprio’s character isn’t given enough screen time to develop a real relationship with him and while on screen, he’s acting a part; the audience isn’t supposed to form trust with him. Walhberg’s character is too busy announcing his sexual prowess to be an effective cop. (Interesting in the end he’s our hero – spoiler alert).<br />Nicholson is not playing a good guy. He’s playing an ugly guy (based on a real life ugly guy – See Whitey Bulger), and that is seen from the start. The reason he is brought into this mix is to show not how Scorsese treats characters, but how he treats events. His opening narration is placed over another riot, the Southie Busing Riots. But that’s Scorsese, almost laughing at his audience, saying “go ahead hate him. You’ll feel sympathy for him right up until you find out he was the FBI snitch… spoiler alert. What Scorsese communicates (brutally) is we (white America) often tolerate racism to listen to rhetoric we wish to hear. Note his last line of that narration, “no one gives it to you, you have to take it.” This is an exceptionally American idea. Unfortunately it’s proceeded w/ a racial slur and followed up w/ a truly monstrous scene in which Scorsese proudly paints Nicholson as both villain and hero. Nicholson enters a bodega to collect tribute, threatens the owner/father, eye-rapes the clerk/daughter then bonds w/ Sullivan (Damon’s character) providing him groceries, which he pays for from the tribute. The audience is confused; this violent and racist man “takes care of his own?” He’s a working-class hero (to paraphrase Lennon). The problem wasn’t w/ the misrepresentation of people, but events, and that’s fair. Here’s my “however”. The Boston riots earned about one minute of screen time, but that image is burned in and the rest of the movie audiences will think, “this all started with moms throwing rocks at little kids on school buses.” That uncomfortable feeling of falling for the fallacy stays with the audience, long after the image is gone. Scorsese placed in the audience’s mind a painful reminder (to Bostonians at least) our history is ugly, and it is making our present ugly. However, Scorsese isn’t telling the story of the Southie Riots, or the 1863 Draft Riots, he’s telling the story of a man who is trying to find his identity in a conflicted community. His responsibility is not to inform, but to persuade. You want information, watch the History Channel or on second thought watch PBS. The persuasion is, within chaos, the protagonist can complete his goal and satisfy his ambition.<br />Scorsese’s narrative prowess lies in his ability to misdirect the audience’s attention away from what they know and believe and place focus on what he wants them to accept, if only for two and a half hours. This is a common technique, but Scorsese does it well. He takes ugly and then paints it beautiful for his audience.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com