Archetypes

    The Godfather follows Joseph Campbell's concept of the Hero's Journey. There are five stages of a Hero's Journey. So far, in the movie, only about two or three stages have been partially or completely developed. The first stage is departure, it is when the Hero is asked to do go on his journey but he does not want to. Marlon Brando who was casted as the godfather refused to accept because he did not want to glorify the mafia but he decided to go with it and be the Godfather. I do not think the godfather actually glorifies organized crime, he just does it for a living because he may not have any other skill.  In The Godfather, the godfather most likely did not want to do organized crime in the beginning but then he decided to because he wanted to live a life full of extravagance and after he started to do organized crime it probably became a part of him. He was probably to use to living the life of a leader of organized crime and could not help himself from withdrawing from that kind of a life.
      The second stage of a Hero's Journey is initiation, this is when the hero goes into a more dangerous world where he has to do more dangerous and important tasks. In The Godfather, this is when the wedding is over and is when Jack Woltz enters the scene and when the Godfather asks Tom Hagen to fly to Hollywood to ask Jack Woltz to let Jonny Fontane be in his movie. This is the climax of the story, before this the scenes are relatively calm and festive and not at all serious or dangerous. The Godfather is always calm, when Woltz's horse died, he did not show any emotion; he just stuck to what he was supposed to do.
       There are other archetypes that are shown in the movie. So far, the symbolic archetypes that have come up are light vs. darkness, inside vs. outside and festive and loud vs. inside, quiet and serious.Darkness, inside, quiet and serious all relate to the mafia (crime) life when the opposites of these symbolic archetypes listed above relate to normal life.All these symbolic archetypes are connected together to form the movie. In The Godfather, it is always darker inside than it is outside. When the characters are inside the mood is more serious, sad and dangerous than it is outside; where is it festive,  loud and full of happiness. For example, at the beginning of the movie, Bonasera's face is so serious when he is explaining what happened to his daughter to the Godfather and what he wants the Godfather to do to help him with his problems. As soon as the Godfather steps out of his office and attends his daughter's wedding; however, his mood changes to a happier and friendlier mood. Another place where this is happening is when Woltz's prized horse is killed. Woltz finds out that his horse is killed in the dark, when he is inside and the atmosphere is calm and quiet.
      These symbolic archetypes have been played with a lot in the parts of the movie that we have already watched in class and will most likely continue to do so throughout the movie.These archetypes may have something to do with the theme and central idea of the movie because there are many pieces of evidence that lead back to these archetypes.

Literary Features Hunt: characterization and symbolism

        Michael: one of the sons of the Godfather, is characterized as if he does not want to be belong in the Corleone  family. He is a an outsider from his family and it looks like, he wants to be."We're not taking the picture without Michael"says the Godfather. The godfather knows that Michael does not want to be apart of or have anything to do with the mafia business. "Luca Brais held a gun to his head, and my father assured him that either his brains--or his signature--would be on the contract. That's a true story. That's my family, Kay. It's not me." Michael is explaining to Kay how he is not like the rest of his family and he is not involved with illegal crime. He is trying to get away from his family and living his own life with no influence by his family for making him do the wrong thing. His family; however, still treats him as a family because they are not willing to take the family picture without him. "Santino, go tell your brothers that I went them to come with me to visit Genco to pay their respects. Tell Fredo to drive the big car... outside now." says the godfather."Sonny (Santino): "Uh, Pop... Michael?"The Godfather: "All my sons" The Godfather includes Michael in his list of who is going to come visit Genco with him even though, he knows that Michael is probably not going to attend. 

                   Symbolism is also used in The Godfather to display how Michael is trying to be extraordinarily different from his family. For example, he dresses in an army suit when he attends the wedding and he brings a non Silican girl to the wedding. Kay Adams, the girl that he brought to the wedding, stands out in the crowd and is an outsider just like Michael. When Kay arrives at the wedding she is dressed in a red dress while everyone else is wearing other colours including white. Coincidentally, everyone else at the wedding was wearing either a red or white flower, besides Michael and her. Is it a coincidence that Michael brought a girl that is dressed in red?
        Other things in the movie that contributes to the motif of outsiders include: the Godfather and his mafia crime is an outsider with the normal people (he has enough money to invite many people to his daughter's extravagant wedding) and how Tom Hagen is an outsider to the Godfather's family because he was adopted by the Corleone family. Even though Tom Hagen is somewhat an outsider to the Godfather's family, the Godfather treats him kindly and he is a big help to the godfather's business. The Godfather has a sweet and friendly heard to his family but a violent and dangerous one to others, especially if they are involved with his mafia crime.