Verified Document

Mean Street Term Paper

Life on Scorsese's Mean Streets: A realistic fictional film with a pseudo-documentary style all its own How could a film that is supposed to be about New York City, shot on the streets of Los Angeles 'feel' so real, so truthful to these characters that aspire to be good, but fail? The pseudo-documentary style adopted by Mean Streets is one reason that the gangster film has such a strong sense of verisimilitude, despite this apparent contradiction. Even a student of film who knows the location 'truth' behind this historical cinematic production finds him or herself taken into the 'world' of the film, believing that he or she is transported into modern Little Italy, and the crimes and blood feuds that characterize its mean streets.

This is evident early on in the film, as its use of voice over to give articulation to otherwise inarticulate characters in street vernacular immediately suggest film has a documentary sensibility. The characters act like animals quite often, the voice over from afar explains and...

These individuals would seem like thugs, if the voice over did not exist and provide moral guidance.
The famous opening voice over, "you don't make up for your sins in church; you do it in the streets; you do it at home. The rest is bulls-t, and you know it," is not simply cursing, its wording sets the tone for the theological context of the setting of Little Italy. This is a place where faith and context matters. An ethical Christian framework may seems to defy the life and appearance of the gangsters and made men, but these men aspire to such ideals, however imperfectly.

Unlike a documentary, realism in film and fiction subjects the protagonist to a central ethical dilemma. Charlie in particular is torn by a series of ethical obligations. He wants Johnny Boy to pay off his debt to a local loan shark. Doing so involves Charlie deeply in the neighborhood's dirty dealings, something he wished to avoid. Charlie wants…

Sources used in this document:
Work Cited

Mean Streets. Directed by Martin Scorsese. 1973.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Street by Ann Petry Racism
Words: 1932 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

The gothic elements in the novel serve to portray even better the squalor and the fierceness of the environment in which they were impelled to live. Even though Harlem was an African-American community, the life of the black woman was by no means improved by this fact. The place itself was degenerate and full of crime and as such, it did not offer any protection. All this was due

Street Justice Cramer, 2007 Details
Words: 559 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

The actions by O'Neal and Prince are clearly more than just poor decision making. They represent irresponsible and unethical behavior. Years after the Enron diabolical, boards of certain financial institutions seem to lack transparency into the decision of their corporate executives and company financials and are not demanding adherence to appropriate levels of risk. Sarbanes was meant to increase accountability, but CEOs are still intimidating those who question their actions

Occupy Wall Street Movement Began on September
Words: 1898 Length: 7 Document Type: Research Paper

Occupy Wall Street movement began on September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park in New York, NY. It has continued to be in session in multiple cities around the world, with no set end date in sight. The primary goals of the protest are to raise public awareness of corporate greed, banking sector malfeasance, corruption, and extreme income inequality. The general feeling of the American populace is that the banking sector

Effects of Street Racing on Today's Youth
Words: 1361 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Street Racing on Today's Youth Street racing has existed for generations. Actually, one could say that it goes back to before the invention of the automobile when horse and buggy racing was popular among the rebels of society, such as in the movie, 'Friendly Persuasion' when Gary Cooper rebelled against his Quaker roots and took pleasure in a Sunday race on the way to church. However, it was most likely

Wall Street
Words: 1583 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Wall Street Compared to what it looks like and implies today, Wall Street had relatively humble beginnings. Its towering skyscrapers and art Deco architecture, its digital tickers and wireless waves resemble little the original New Amsterdam road. Named after an actual mud -- and timber wall built by original Dutch inhabitants of Manhattan Island, Wall Street has morphed beyond its geographic location, and has come to symbolize American corporate culture in

Down These Mean Streets
Words: 6074 Length: 22 Document Type: Term Paper

Down These Mean Streets believe that every child is born a poet, and every poet is a child. Poetry to me was always a very sacred form of expression. (qtd. In Fisher 2003) Introduction / Background History Born Juan Pedro Tomas, of Puerto Rican and Cuban parents in New York City's Spanish Harlem in 1928, Piri Thomas began his struggle for survival, identity, and recognition at an early age. The vicious street

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now