An Analysis of Goodfellas

Audience

Age

For the film Goodfella's I feel that the age range would be 17-35, I feel that because this film contains many mature themes such as; drugs, killing, gangs etc. The film has a limited age range as other people such as children or elderly people wouldn't particularly like what this film contains, at 51:10, the scene denotes how Tommy kills Billy as he jokes around with Tommy who takes it to heart. From this scene which connotes a lot of violence, it illustrates how children shouldn't watch it and elderly people wouldn't want to watch it either.

Gender

I think this film is very male orientated, as the film is based on the mafia and mob members i don't think it would particularly appeal to females. You can see this at 1:12:00 this denotes how Henry has thrown Karen to the ground and is very angry because she held a gun to his head. i feel that females wouldn't like how first he manipulates her and then throws her around.

Interests

The interest of this primary audience i think would certainly be action films and thrillers. Outside of films i think that other interest maybe going to parties with friends, smoking, cars and watching sports as well as maybe gambling. Some of these interest can be shown at 19:20 this scene denotes Henry,Tommy and others having a good night out drinking smoking telling jokes. I feel this is the sort of thing that the audience would also go an do.

Location

For location of the audience i think its primarily based in America, as the film is all based in america, as well as there being a number of real life mafias that lived in America. At 4:56 the scene denotes how Henry is still a teenager and parking the big Cadillac's for the people. that seen really connotes america, with the american car company the way the girls are dressed, it a stereotypical scene that would be shown in american films set in the 1960's.

Ethnicity

Primarily the ethnicity for this film would be all, whilst the characters in the film are white with exception to one, i think the film its self appeals to everyone. it doesn't have any racial comments so i think that because it doesn't pick up on any racism then it can be enjoyable to anyone. we can see at          that the scene denotes Stacks and others in the bar having a drink and everyone is acting equally. This scene connotes how others see Stacks as one of there own which i think the audience like and appreciate because i think it could have been easy for Martin Scorsese to write in racism in some parts.

Institution

The worldwide box office for this film was $46,836,394, the production company for Goodfellas was Warner Brothers. The UK theatrical distributor was Warner Brothers as well as being the US distributor.

Representation   

In Goodfellas i think that the protagonist would be Henry, as he is the main character we follow throughout the film, we see that he recognizes the bad from the ugly. Whilst he is still a member of a mob, he still realizes that people die unnecessarily and some people shouldn't have died. Although he is not a hero and doesn't do the right thing, mainly through the film he doesn't do anything that is really dark and disturbing. At 1:08:50 the scene denotes how Tommy kills the bartender who is very young as he gets drinks for everyone playing cards. When the scene cuts to Henry the audience can see his expression connoting how he realized that it was unnecessary and quite disturbing by Tommy. The scene connotes to the audience how we like Henry because he wont do the ugly things.

Many people would think that the antagonist would be Tommy, he kills people for no reason, he's very aggressive and generally gives the audiences many reasons for us to hate. When Tommy dies we aren't particularly sad either, but i think that the main antagonist is Jimmy, because he wants to kill Henry. Through the success of the heist and taking millions of dollars, Jimmy will start to kill everyone in connection, so he can take all the money and ultimately go for Henry too. At 1:43:30 where the shots are denoting people being killed or already dead and we are seeing bodies discovered, i think that's the point the audience realize who the antagonist is. As the audience i never fully trusted Jimmy but that scene connotes everyone turning on him and hating him, more then we hated Tommy.

I think other notable characters in the film was Pauli he took Henry in as a teenager, looked after him and brought him up to be a gangster, i felt he was very much a 'good guy' and actually i wanted to see more of him throughout the film. He was a character that the audience liked and was a real let down to see Henry go behind his back, even in trouble Pauli was still there for him and in the end let him go do what he wanted to do. Pauli almost acted as a father figure, i think we sided with him so much because he was a calm character and we didn't see him kill or do many things that was particularly ugly.

Genre

Themes

The themes for Goodfellas would be things like guns, killing, drugs, action. As the film is based on gangster life in the 1960/70's, the film portrays many illegal acts as would happen in a mob. You can see at 1:25:10 where Henry, Tommy & Jimmy have a stashes of cocaine and money which they they are about to sell. They do this behind Pauli's back as they attempt to make more money and at this point Pauli seems to become irrelevant as Henry is a full on gangster. this scene connotes one of the main themes of drugs which can be seen in other parts of the film but there are many other themes that can also be seen throughout.

Stock Characters

Stock characters would include people like Stacks and Morrie being victims as they are soon killed off so that they dont receive any money from the heist. Tommy would be a helper as he helps Henry and Jimmy throughout the film being a gangster ultimately though through his own choices he will die. the other main characters would include Henry and Jimmy which are the protagonist and antagonist. 

Setting

The film was set in New York predominately in the 1960's. The film denotes the city as well as the outskirts allowing to show bigger detached houses. The film was actually filmed in parts of New York so re-creating aspects of the city was not needed as they could already use everything they needed to. You can see the main parts of New York at 14:50 this of course connotes how they used some real life shots and didnt have to make much of the set up for filming.

Mise-En-Scene

The film set mainly in the 1960's can be seen a number of ways, one of which is the costumes that the main characters wear. At 17:30 you can see Tommy in a suit talking to others, the shirt of his suit denotes a big collar which is closed very tight and is almost touching which covers the knot of his tie. from this it connotes the fashion of the suits in the 1960's that the gangsters would wear. 

In terms of props we can see how everyone carries a gun, wears a gold chain and drives a Cadillac of some sort. possessions that many gangsters will have, their money effectively  is 'dirty' so they spend it on luxurious things to look like they have a lot of money.

Set Pieces

I think the main set pieces of this film were when Henry and others were in the bar, it was a regular occurrence throughout the film that they would spend much of the night smoking, drinking and either planning their next robbery or joking around. one of these scene can be shown at 1:29:30 this denotes Henry, Tommy & Jimmy among others celebrating at the bar after they had just pulled off the biggest bank job in history. This set piece connotes how whatever happens to an individual of the group they always have somewhere they can o to escape or to talk. i think its also good to have this for the audience because otherwise we are constantly jumping from one location to the next which at times can be a bit confusing.

Sound

Much of the sound i felt was alright, gunshots didnt seem unrealistic enough to be annoyed over them. Much of the continuity sound of car boots shutting or doors closing also seemed fine. In terms of the music they used i thought it was very conventional it was quite slow classical music almost which can be heard at 14:42. Although a number of other songs were played throughout the film as which can be heard at 30:40 through the track shot.

Narrative 

Equilibrium

This is where we see Henry as a teenager in the 1950's in New York. The audience sees how he aspired to become a gangster and make money, so we see him working part time for them which soon turns into full time and not going to school anymore. this is shown at 2:45 we are seeing the story line being set-up and the background of Henry's family.

Disruption

At this point Henry is working full time for Pauli, and is introduced to Jimmy and Tommy. Henry and Tommy becomes partners together as they work for the mob, we see at 13:00 how the scene denotes Henry and Tommy selling cigarettes to people at which point Henry gets arrested by police. this scene connotes disruption because the story is starting to take shape and the audience are seeing how the film is a real gangster themed.

Recognition

during this point most of the film is playing out Henry has grown up got married and now a full time gangster. Henry, Tommy & Jimmy are now all partners doing whatever they want, they feel untouchable but as the audience we have grown to hate Tommy and not trust Jimmy either. The main part of recognition is where Henry, Tommy & Jimmy a successful in the heist we can see this at 1:29:30. This is the all time high for the trio the biggest bank job ever has been pulled off. I think you can start to see some tension and almost frustration for Henry as at times you can see he doesn't agree with things that Tommy and Jimmy do.

Repair

Through this point we are showed Tommy's death, but i don't think that's the highest point in the film, i think repair comes from Jimmy killing everyone that helped with the bank job so he can have all the money for himself and next he will come for Henry, which is seen at 2:09:17. These scenes connote the climax of the film and show the highest amounts of tension between Henry and Jimmy which is illustrated at   . 

New Equilibrium 

This ending of the film is where Henry has escaped Jimmy and he and the family move into the witness protection program, away from the gangster life which is shown at 2:13:56. Whilst i don't think that it was a great ending to the film it is the new equilibrium, for me i wanted to see more, i wanted to see Jimmy and Henry have some sort of conversation or meeting at the end, i wanted to see Pauli for a final time. thus, it didn't happen and the film established the new equilibrium by Henry escaping that life.