10-Scarface sample paper

Read the first few paragraphs of this paper in class on March 5th and leave a comment on how effective you think the introduction is. 

Scarface, Not as Dangerous as its Characters

During the 1930’s while Scarface was trying to make its way to the big screen there were many people that believed that the film was too violent and would be a negative influence on the viewing public and that the film should not be released.  People such as the Chronicle ridiculed the industry because they said “the movie was infecting the public with a plague of “bedroom liquor, gangster, and criminal themes.” (Black page 109)The Ledger also added in that the movie was “poisoning the minds of the youth of this country.”(Black page 109) Herald went as far as to say they were “nauseated by the movie.”(Black page 109)  From these quotes it is obvious that a good amount of the influential figures of the time believed that this movie was a danger to the public eye.

Another quote from the New York Knights of Columbus says “that gang films “created a criminal instinct.”” (black page 129) This quote was stated after a young boy was shot by another young boy while they were playing cops and robbers. The young boy accidentally shot his play mate while unknowingly firing a loaded gun. This is when an uproar of people blamed gangster themed movies for crimes that were being committed. It seems that no one stopped to ask the question where were the parents of these young children and was the young boy really a ruthless killer that wanted to rob, steal, lie, cheat, and scandalously be with other women, or was he just a young boy who accidentally pulled the trigger.

While some would say that a movie that depicts any kind of organized crime would be a dangerous one, I would have to disagree. I don’t think that movies have as much power as these people give them. In the case of this argument we are using the film Scarface as an example. Many people at the time of its production thought the movie as a gateway to the gangster life. As quoted in Black many people believe the movie was “”the most vicious and demoralizing gangster movie” ever”. (Black pg. 124) That it would lead people in the right direction and increase the crime rate. I, however, disagree with these ridiculous claims.

In my opinion there is no movie that has been created or that will be created that will directly cause the crime rate to increase or to make people more dangerous than they already are. The movie Scarface was a documentary that was meant to depict the horrors of the gangster life at the time of the 1930’s; it was never meant to be a “how-to” book. The movie while it is violent in nature is still condemning the act of crime and violence. I don’t believe that any “sane” individual would not know the difference between wrong and right and believe that the way of life that this movie focuses on, is a just one. If anyone was to watch this movie and believe that it was a glorious and “right” way of life then they were a danger to the public to begin with and the film had no bearing on that fact.

There is nothing that would convince me that just by watching this movie it directly increase the crime rate of the 1930’s. I believe that people should actually be shown how rough and horrific the life of a gangster is, that way they can see what the big problem with it is and do something to try and put an end to it. I don’t think the public should be sheltered from events that are actually taking place; it makes them naive and blind to the world around them. When black says “although graft and corruption in America were as commonplace as machine guns, the role of the corrupt politician was struck from the film as too sensitive” I think that is the most absurd reason to cut something from a movie. Of course that’s not something people are going to want to think is going on in their country, but if things like that are happening then they need to see and know it!

While I don’t think that this movie was dangerous I do agree with some of the censoring that the Hays office made on the movie. I believe it’s because of some of the censoring that the movie didn’t appear to be such a “bad influence.” An example of the changes that the Hays office made that I agree with is that of the attitude of Mrs. Comonte. I think if she had been left the way Hawks and Hughes originally had her in the script it would have seemed as though Tony’s actions were more acceptable. In our society it seems that if your parents accept or approve of your behavior than it in general is acceptable. So I do believe that if they had of left Mrs. Comonte approving behavior in the film it would have definitely given off the wrong signal to the viewing public.

Another scene that I agree with the Hay’s office on censoring was the one dealing with the possible incestuous relationship between Cesca and Tony. I don’t really see the relevance in that being in the movie. It just wasn’t something that would have been necessary in a gangster film. By removing that plot from the film it didn’t take away from the horrors Hawks and Hughes were trying to show us. I personally did not want to watch a relationship like that take place in full force in front of me. From the version that was censored and actually produced we were still able to see that Tony was extremely protective of his younger sister and if the viewer wanted to make it into something more that was entirely up to them.

I do not believe that by simply viewing a movie such as Scarface that it could possibly turn you into a dangerous person or provide you with the sufficient amount of information to start living a lifestyle of a gangster. The movie does not show people on how to load or fire a gun, nor does it instruct an individual on how to plan a murder or a robbery. I think that people and the way they are brought up and subjected to everyday is what makes them dangerous. Some would argue that the crime rate has increased due to the violence in movies and that when or after the film Scarface was produced the crime rates increased as well. That is not a fact and there is no way of proving that correlation with the movie directly. In fact crime rates have not significantly increased since then.

I do not believe that this film was a direct dangerous influence on the viewing public. In my opinion there is a great deal more that goes into an individual than strictly a movie that will make them dangerous. I don’t think this movie was capable of having that much power over any one. While in some parts of the movie the lift style could have come across as glamorous or attractive for the “rush” of it, but in the end there wasn’t anything glamorous about Tony’s way of life. It was a waste.

I do agree with some of the “corrections” that the Hay’s office made on the movie in order to have it approved by the censorship code. I don’t think that any of the versions of the movie “glorified” the gangster life, it simply told it how it was. I believe that people need to be shown the reality of what is going on around them that way they do not become naïve or oblivious to the things going on around them. In conclusion I think Scarface was a good movie that did not directly have a dangerous influence on the viewing public. 

Work Cited Page

Black, Gregory. Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the      Movies. Cambridge University Press. 1994