Reflection
I have used my short screenplay, Australian Violence, to extend upon the values, ideals, and genre conventions present in the opening scene of “The Godfather”. I have used a variety of generic elements existing in both the opening scene and my own screenplay in order to clearly express these ideals and values as Ford-Coppola has.
In Australian Violence I have focused on Coppola's ideal of presenting the misuse and manipulation of violence. As Vito Corleone in the Godfather I chose “Les” as my generic patriarchal main character as he is the catalyst for presenting the issue of violence and is the embodiment of moral duality. Les wants to keep his family life and business separated though, as the story makes clear, violence and family are both inextricably linked. As Coppola uses this irony as an expression of his cynicism concerning the justification of violence I also present this theme . I chose to use visual and thematic elements typical of the genre to express this issue. The generic element of light and shadow was used Coppola's opening scene to represent duality, I also used the noir convention of light in order to represent the duality of Les, his violent criminal, life and his family life. When the lights are off and shadows cover the characters Les is conducting "business". This is seen in many of the shots as in the prologue and when he enters his office after he see's Crystal . These two lives never completely meet unless Les is on the phone talking to his son and his wife. The most important shot of the film is at the conclusion when Crystal witnesses her husbands murder at the hands of her father. When Crystal turns the light on in the darkly lit room it is symbolic of the inevitable convergence between Les' criminal life, dark, and his family life, light. I used this technique to comment on the flawed nature of justifying violence when done in the name of "family" As Les claims "a man should know you don’t mess with someone’s family without getting the bloody roof pulled down on ya." In the opening scene of the Godfather Vito's actions are similar as he claims he can only help Bonasera if he becomes part of the "family" therefore the criminal act becomes honourable.
I also dealt with the issue of justice and its tenuous nature. Coppola addresses this issue by employing the generic element of creating moral ambiguity by blurring the boundaries of the “hero” and the “villain” as we empathise with the cause of Bonasera and consequently Vito, the generic anti-hero, and therefore support their intent of “heroic” retribution and therefore “justice” through “villainous” acts. I chose to use this technique of moral ambiguity too as Les is the hero of the story. He loves his family and treats them with kindness and he seems to genuinely care for their well-being, so when Crystal is mistreated it seems as though Les is acting with honour and therefore we support his intent and empathise with him, yet we doubt the manner in which he goes about this "justice". Crystal however makes clear the final moral standing of Les and his actions as she states "You will never be able to justify what you’ve done."
As Coppola explores patriotism, I represented chose to represent patriotism as is done in the Godfather. Bonasera states “America has made my fortune”. In my screenplay I chose to present this ideal Act 1 when Les is at the barbeque with a shot showing an Australian flag. I then extended upon Coppola's thoughts on patriotism and used it as a metonym for cultural identity which I display through dialogue with lines like "mate" and "bloody". This helps form the cultural characterisation of violence and provides a contextual pretense in which to evaluate the screenplay.
Therefore it can be seen that Australian Violence extends upon the ideals and values found in the opening scene of The Godfather such as the manipulation of violence, the concept of justice and patriotism through the use of generic elements and techniques.