Discussion: Scarlet Woman

In mostly every scene that we see Kay Adams in, she is wearing scarlet clothing (scarf, hat, dress, coat or shoes). She sticks out from the rest in all of the scenes. However, in the scene where Michael comes back to ask for her hand she isn’t wearing scarlet, instead her students are wearing scarlet attire. Discuss why you think she isn’t wearing scarlet clothing during this scene or Why the students are wearing scarlet attire?

Oranges in The Godfather

There is an evident symbolic relationship between oranges and major events in The Godfather: Part 1. Mainly the oranges represented deaths in The Godfather. The first sight of oranges in The Godfather that i came across is when Tom is having dinner at Wolts' place. There is a bowl of oranges set on the table. The death that occurs after this is of the horse. When Vito got shot 5 times he was buying oranges. Before Santino gets massacred at the till-booth, he passes a billboard that advertises an orange company. When Vito Corleone dies he is eating an orange. All times that an orange comes into view, there is either an death or an assassination attempt. After doing some research about oranges in The Godfather I have also found out that when Sollozzo first meets with the Corleones, there are oranges all around them. Also, when the heads of the five families are having the meeting, oranges are placed in-front of Vito Corleone, Don Barzini and Phillip Tattaglia. These different examples of Oranges shown in important scenes proves that there is a relevance of Oranges to The Godfather.

Literary Feature Hunt: Foil

In the Godfather, Santino Corleone and Tom Hagen are shown as foil characters of Michael Corleone. Santino Corleone is hot-headed, quick, and violent. Tom Hagen is more of a slow person, he wants to deal everything after thinking it through and he uses his businessman skills to help him. Michael is between the two he wants to get everything done quickly, he is violent, he deals everything after thinking through it and he is calm. In the scene when they’re thinking of their next move, Michael is situated between his two brothers. This is a symbolic relationship to foil, showing that he is mix of both his brothers.

Archetypes:

I believe that The Godfather is following the steps set out by Joseph Campbell’s: A Hero’s Journey. At the start of the movie, Michael is shown useless to the family. He comes late to his sister wedding, he sticks out from the rest of the crowd and he says “That’s my family Kay, not me” As the story moves along his personality changes. When he sees his father in the hospital it touches him and after that he becomes involved in the family business. He gets called a hero a lot throughout the movie (even gets called a war hero). Following Joseph Campbell’s: A Hero’s Journey, Michael is at stage 2: Initiation, he is becoming more involved in his family matters.

Literary Feature Hunt: Allusion

In The Godfather, allusion is used when Vito Corleone gets shot 5 times. The Don could have easily been killed by 1-3 shots, but instead he gets shot 5 times. When watching The Godfather one might think that The Don getting shot is the more important part of the scene, however, it actually isn’t. The 5 shots are more important because he gets shot in the same place that Jesus got shot (left & right hands, left & right feet and his side.) This illuminates the idea that The Don is a mock Jesus. To further validate this idea, Vito lives after getting shot 5 times and when Vito gets better, people come to see him which is similar with Jesus and that people came to see him.