Romeo And juliet

Signifier                                   Signified

The Shattered Glass                It is a connotation of what is to follow, such as Mercutio's death.
The Soundtrack                       It leads and builds up to an unfortunate ending.

'It's just a scratch'                     Mercutio already knows he is dead

Tybalt is wearing black            Dark colours such as black represent dark and evil

'You shall find me a grave man'    Suggests that he will be in his grave tomorrow

'A plague on both your houses'     A plague is a deadly disease, according to mercutio, this deadly     disease will avenge his death.

The Grey Clouds'    - Grey Clouds suggests that somehing dull is looming acroos them.

The thunder     -     Represents a storm is at large

Legally Blonde

Legally Blonde.

The yellow rose may suggest the girl is classy and happy.

The girl on the right facial expression suggests she is nervous.

The outfit these girls are wearing are really pretty it suggests they are on the mission to impress.

The girl in the middle is wearing pink, she may be a really girly girl as she also wears the yellow sunflower.

The girl in the right seems to be reluctant to do a certain action.

Scarface Analysis.

Scarface Analysis. 

This version of the movie focuses more on a distorted view of the American dream. The opening credits shows us a montage of Cuban refugees heading for America. The stand out moment in this montage is a Father pointing out the American flag to his son showing the idea of the American dream, wishing for a better life. Tony Montana, another Cuban refugee distorts the American dream by saying he "didn't come here to break my back" and wants all the luxuries he can get through corruption along a one way road of greed and excess. Being naturally ambitious, Tony makes himself known through a drug deal which is now infamous for its graphic violence. Tony and his unfortunate cousin are doubled crossed resulting in his cousin being cut to pieces by a chainsaw. Follows nextis a gory bloodbath where nothing but a mess of decay is left. 

This can be seen by some as excessive violence with no meaning but to entertain yet it is an early shocking reality of the life Tony is leading, which has no real worth to it and no one succeeds for long. Tony does not see this and is seduced by what such actions can reward him. He soon becomes surrounded by an atmosphere where state of the art designs excel in the homes of his criminal associates and the overly produced pop songs playing at Tony's regular night spot are as fake as the people Tony engages with. 

To the passive viewer this may seem like tacky 80s styles but more engaged viewers will realise the emptiness and the danger of this so called luxurious lifestyle. This emptiness mixes with Tony's growing possessive and dangerous nature. Once working with the big boys of the criminal underworld, Tony cannot help himself but attempt to take it all. Stealing away his bosses' woman along with taking down the boss himself shows the reckless nature of the drug business along with the grim nature of Tony's American dream, rising to the top of the food-chain in a string of violent acts. The sub plot of Tony's sister Gina gives the audience an insight into his possessive nature which later plays major a part in his downfall. The close ups on Tony's eyes watching Gina in an intimidating manner shows how extremely possessive he can be attempting to control everyone and everything with force. Unintentionally, he corrupts his sister Gina into his insignificant lifestyle leading to a great explosive confrontation where his Mother tells Tony that he is no good and puts hard working Cubans to shame, bringing back into focus Tony's distortion of the American dream. 

The general nature of Tony Montana brings him down along with those around him. His drug addiction, the materialistic mansion, stylish objects and dangerous behaviour are all factors to his decline yet the clinical moment was Tony ironically acting out for a morally good purpose. After Tony gains a moral conscience and aborts an assassination attempt in order to protect a woman and her children, some don't share Tony's moral view (his partner who he is business with) showing once more the violent reality of the drug business. This results in the famous climax where Tony is given a violently horrific death with the ironic sign 'The World Is Yours' being shown as a reminder that it never really was. He may have had all the money in the world and ambition but in truth, Tony was living on a dangerous edge where his surroundings only thinly paved the reality of his calamitous nature and the unsteady world he created for himself, the American dream corrupted.

Goodfellas Analysis.

Goodfellas Analysis.


Goodfellas’ is a picture directed by Martin Scorsese.gangster. It is an American gangster film; we know this because of the iconography that is in the opening sequence. After the credits, the first thing we see is a car. The car is a Pontiac which is an American car, you would not find one of them in Britain, and this is the first piece of iconography that shows us we are watching an American gangster film. After that shot we see a black screen with the appearing words New York, 1970 written on it. It was around these years Italian American mobsters ruled the streets of New York, via the likes of reputed mob bosses John Gotti and Joseph Bonanno. This information tells us for certain that we are watching an American gangster film. The final iconography that tells us that we are watching an American gangster film is the voice over; he (Ray Liotta) has a very strong Brooklyn accent. The audiences generic expectations of a gangster film are met during the sequence by the clothes of actors, the characters are wearing very smart expensive clothes. They are wearing 3 piece suits, silk shirts etc, These are stock costumes for this genre, these types of clothes also appear in films such as ‘Scarface’, and ‘The Godfather’, 'Donnie Brasco; although in ‘The Godfather’ the suits look different to the ones you see in Goodfellas as The Godfather is set at a different period in time, around the 50's, it still gives you the impression of smartly dressed gangsters. The audiences expectations are fulfilled with the bat the end of the opening sequence when we see a body in the boot covered in blood, and one the characters starts hacking at him with a knife. The opening sequence does conform to the characteristics of the genre, the people are all dressed smartly, they are violent, and they use foul language; everything we would expect from a gangster.


The mise-en-scene of the scene reinforces our image of the gangsters. The scene is filmed at night, this tells us that they are bad guys and really portrays the dark side of the underworld. When watching films youre most likely to see that if there is something against the law occurring, it is being filmed at night. The fact that they are travelling at night could imply that they are trying to stay low key away from the police. When the car is travelling and when it pulls over we can see that is on a small country road well away from cities and towns. We know this because there is no street lighting along the road and because they are driving through a wood. Woods can be seen as a stock location in gangster movies because that is where they bury anybody they have murdered, such as the scene in Martin Scorcese's 1995 classic, 'Casino', where Joe Pesci's character is being killed off. The combination of the dark back road and the wood say to us that the characters have just broke the law or at least have done something that they would like to keep secret. When the characters get out of the car and go to the boot they are bathed in a red light, this connotes blood and violence. The opening shot is a tracking shot, which then proceeds to pans left and comes along side the car, this shows us the car that we are about to go inside and it gives the audience the idea that we are following the car, so we know that the people inside are going to be the people that are the main characters throughout the film. It almost puts you in their shoes. When we see a shot inside the car it is a medium close up shot of the driver, but we can also see the other characters in the car. The director uses the rule of thirds to show that all the people within the car are important, but we get the impression that the driver is the main character as the camera is mainly concentrating on him and his reactions, and the other two characters are slightly out of focus. We then go to a long shot when the characters walk around to the boot, the director uses this shot to show the background, and to show the characters in the red light, this portrays the characters as demonic and dangerous and the red light is a connotation of blood, which we see in the next scene. We see a point of view shot, which tracks in on the boot, this shows us that the noise we hear is coming from the boot. Sound is used to anchor the images during the opening sequences by the way that before we see the images of the car we can hear the sound of passing traffic anchors the image of the car. Scorsese also uses sound bridges, a good example of this is when one of the gangsters starts stabbing at the man in the boot, we can still hear this going on, but camera cuts to a reaction shot of one of the other gangsters. From the script and the dialogue these characters use, we learn that these are tough men, two of them swear in their first line of dialogue. The non-verbal language shows us that the men are tired, one of them is asleep and the driver is rubbing his eyes with fatigue; this tells us that they have been up along time and it reinforces the fact that they are driving at night.


It is structured narrative so that it does not run in linear sequence, at the start of the film we are already halfway through the story, we then flashback to the beginning of the story. We know it is a flashback because the voice over says ‘As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster. The narrative then works its way up to the point at which we started and the story then expands from there. The audience is placed in the style of objective treatment; we are treated as a person watching the film, not as part of the film. An example of this would be, is when we the follow car, and when we go into the car with the characters. This is objective treatment because the camera inside the car is positioned on the windscreen looking at the characters, if it was subjective treatment we would be viewing the inside of the car from a point of view shot or the camera would be positioned in an empty seat. The voice over at the end of the scene is another example objective treatment, because it addresses the audience.


The social group that is represented in the opening sequence of ‘Goodfellas’ are middle-aged, white males. They are all Italian American. They are portrayed as anti-hero’s. Even though they are the villians, we instantly like them. Gangsters are bad people, so we shouldn’t like them, but we do. Another ideological discourse within ‘Goodfellas’ is gender. Gangster films are very male films and ‘Goodfellas’ backs this point. The characters in the opening sequence are male, and there are not many females throughout the whole film. The females that are in ‘Goodfellas’ are portrayed to be lower in status to men. An example of this would be how Ray Liotta's character cheats on his wife without her knowing.  Capitalism is an ideological discourse with the majority of western films; this is because people are always reminding us of the values of our society, and capitalism is the belief that the foundation of our society is layered upon. ‘Goodfellas’ is about making money, it is not one of the main themes in the film, but it is without a doubt one of them. Making money is a capitalist ideology.


The target audience is for ‘Goodfellas’ is young adults in the age range of about 18-30. There is a lot of violence and other adult topics that younger children would not understand, and it is rated an 18 so anyone under that would not be able to view this film in a cinema or purchase it. The characters are predominantly white, so the target audience is white males, so the audience can relate to it. Gangster films are normally a male film; they seem to find all the violent scenes and drug abuse more entertaining than women do. British society is very similar to the society of America, and we hear about America in our media. So, I am able to understand the majority of the film, because I have some knowledge of the Italian american lifestyle, however I am sure there are some parts of the film that I would have been able to acknowledge better if I was an Italian American, and was brought up in Italian neighborhoods such as Little Italy or East Harlem.

The Godfather Analysis.

The Godfather Analysis.

Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather tells the story of the lives of Vito Corleone, and the story of the Corleone crime family of New York, as an analogy for the pre- and post-World War II gang scene. Drawing inspiration from the real Five Families made up of Lucchese, Gambino, Bonano, Genovese and Colombo crime families of New York, Coppola and Marlon Brando, the actor who portrays Vito Corleone managed to produce a movie about the importance of family, the presence of tradition and stone aged morals, masculinity and femininity, the rise and fall of bosses and their empires, the gaining and loss of power, the weakness of the American Dream.

Through a series of three films, the last of which considered to be the weakest entry in the trilogy, and the film that wasn't nominated for an academy award unlike the first 2. Coppola masterfully crafts a convincing tale of loss, gain, and loss again through his expert portrayal of the characters from Mario Puzo’s masterpiece. Simply put, The Godfather Part II, The Godfather Part III, and I.

The first film begins with a scene in Vito Corleone’s study, where he and his oldest son Santino “Sonny” Corleone, are talking to a man detailing the humialating attacks experienced by his daughter at the hands of a non-Italian boy and his friend. This labelling and casual racism is consistent throughout the course of the franchise and simply coats the film with age and tradition that is associated with Italian American heritage. The scene continues as Vito berates the man for only coming to him because he cannot refuse a request; after all, it is well known that no self-respecting Sicilian man denies the request of anyone on the day of his daughter’s wedding. Constanzia “Connie” Corleone is marrying a friend of Sonny’s, though it’s later shown that the man is vicious, unfaithful, disrespectful, abuser and power-hungry; we also learn that Vito, once again due to tradition, cannot intercede in his only daughter’s marriage because of Sicilian morals and values.

Through another piece of dialogue, we learn that Vito is distrustful and uninterested in the small time criminal, Carlo Rizzi, because he is not off Sicilian heritage.

Sicilian men, in Vito’s eyes are real Italians; they love their families above all, their businesses are kept away from their personal home lives, and nothing is more important than the safety of the family, even if this family consists of gangsters, kingpins, and their underlings (Capos, Soldats, and Consiglieres). 

The Sicilian men we see in the films are cruel, dangerous and conceited, and we wonder what, if anything, Vito sees in his countrymen. Even his oldest son, who has already been chosen as the next Capo di tutti Capi (boss of all bosses) once Vito retires or dies, is nothing short of amoral; he continuously cheats on his wife with a mistress we see him get with on the day of his sister’s wedding, which is very ironic, whilst one marriage is happening another marriage is breaking.

This loyalty and dependability on one’s family is what drives Vito, even though none of his sons or daughters express a similar form of loyalty to their own families; it doesn’t help that his children have learned from the negative influences Vito has around him at all times, but they’re not very pleasant to their parents, even though they seem to carry around their father’s moral codes and values at all times. Michael Corleone, once his father steps down as Don Corleone and his brother dies at the hands of another Sicilian crime family, goes on a killing spree, killing anyone and everyone who could potentially be a threat to the “Legalization” and expansion of the Corleone family and then outright states that the family (whether it be his wife and children, or the Corleones) is the most important part of his life and decision. He concludes Part I by ordering the assassination of some of Vito’s best capos, all in the name of the prosperity of the family.

Family is the driving force in The Godfather. Michael is frankly the opposite of his father: he’s a boy who grew up with everything, and his father lost his family at the age of nine and was forced to claw his way up into the criminal underworld of the growing Italian gang-scene; known formally as La Cosa Nostra. Michael was the youngest male among three males, while Vito had no family and was therefore his own teacher and father figure; Michael is a business-minded Don, while Vito spent his entire life gathering favours and contracting “Friends” into helping him. That’s their most separating factor: Vito treats the people he works and affiliates with as friends, mingling with them and interacting with them on a personal level to the greatest degree that his lawyers and advisors will allow it.

The ultimate difference is that Vito seems to regard anyone who owes him a favour, or anyone who treats him to coffee in their home as family, while Michael has no family. He discusses more murder with the ex-Consigliere-turned-Corleone-lawyer Tom Hagen, who was an orphan adopted by Sonny in the boys’ youth, and produces the line “I don’t feel the need to wipe everyone out, Tom. Just my enemies.”

At this point, Michael Corleone is out of enemies; no single family poses any sign of a threat, his greatest foes have all been slayed, all the right people have been bribed, yet in his single-minded view of conquer and expansion, Michael fails to see the irony in eliminating anyone when everyone’s already dead. It’s even more powerful when you combine it with the knowledge that manifests itself as Vito’s views on avoiding war, and the importance of discussion, mediation in order to avoid the needless deaths of those caught in the middle of gang warfare. Vito is an old man at this point, and has lived a life filled with fear and his non-violent approach is understandable when compared to Michael’s reckless battle cries, but Michael refuses to see the pointlessness in his battles. He’s already won, but in his mind he’s only just begun.

Of course these characters are brought to life because of their old aged morality; they aren’t meant to be extremely evil or perfectly moral characters, but as grey compilations of what could be and what is. Vito Corleone, we later learn in Part II, is not the moral family man that his old-age makes him out to be; in his younger days he was as wreckless as his sons, though in a more refined and classical approach. He promises his friends to arrange results, and finds a way to actualize each promise. He’s vicious, but only when he needs to be, something he emphasizes in part one where the mafia committee has a meeting just after his sons death. He’s vindictive, but only when he knows he’s arranged every piece in the right order, and only when he knows he can’t lose. Dealing with the Sicilian Don that killed his family (Don Fannuci) , Vito waits for power and money in America, before returning to Italy and seizing revenge. Vito was a man but flair, style, and enough intelligence to know when to stop, a trait his sons never seemed to inherit.

It’s difficult to outline the exact point that the tone of the series shifts, but it’s around the time that Michael returns from Sicily and approaches his future wife, and mother of his two children, Kay; it’s at this point that the story becomes less about the work of Vito’s life, and more about his fall, and more about Michael’s rise. Part I details the fall of Vito, and the rise of Michael, while Part II attempts to piece together unknown facts of Vito’s young life. Part II is about the fall of Michael, and the early rise of Vito, and the juxtaposition isn’t obvious until Michael loses his family and Vito finally gains closure from his parent's death. I didn’t realize that their lives were being so carefully juxtaposed until it fell on me how similar their stories are, and how different their failures were.

Ultimately, Vito failed because he relied too much on his family, and his death in the garden with his grandson is a fitting way to end the life of a man who spent his entire life working for his children, for his family, for his underlings, and for his legacy. Michael’s death, alone with nothing but his dog, was the perfect way to end the life of a man who spent his entire life fighting for his independence and for himself; it’s also the perfect way to end the life of a man who was never truly together until he was separated from his family and their concerns.

The true end of the series, excluding Michael’s expected death in Part III, ends in the opposite way that Part I begins. Instead of Vito, Michael is alone with nothing but his thoughts, and instead of being surrounded by members of the family and his son, Michael is left solitary with nothing but a cigarette. Michael has always been alone, and his desires and thoughts have never been understood; Michael was the missing child, and was dubbed the so-called “Black sheep” of the Corleone family. Throughout the films, it seemed that the family always uttered the phrase “Where’s Michael” because he never really seemed to have a presence in the family. He never really wanted to be part of the family in the first place, hence the now infamous quote from Part III, “They keep pulling me back in.”

Part II ends with a surprise party for Vito, who is celebrating on the same day that the Japanese Forces bomb Pearl Harbour. The Corleone boys are discussing politics while Connie is introduced to Sonny’s friend Carlo for the first time. It’s also the same day that Michael went against Vito’s wishes to enlist. As the patriarch enters the home and the guests move to surprise him, Michael is the only member left at the table. Part II ends as the antithesis to Part I’s beginning. Ultimately, however, Michael is still missing from the celebration, and the entire family has been affected by Michael’s decisions and actions. Truthfully, there’s nothing more important than family, and that’s an inevitability that neither Michael, or anyone, can ever truly escape; "the family", our families, more or less determine every aspect of our future except for the futures themselves.