Coppola Reconstructs the Cinematic Traditions of Characterization, Mise-en-scene and the Relationship Between Lead Actor and Audience in The Godfather:
Throughout his masterpiece, The Godfather (1972), Francis Ford Coppola manipulates the relationship between his viewers—‘viewers’ is extensively applied here because The Godfather engenders an ever-growing and cross-generational following, garnering both critical and commercial success—and his central star, Marlon Brando, the foundation of character evolution and devolution in Godfather as well as the pinnacle of American stage and screen acting. Coppola aligns the intricate dynamics throughout the criminal and domestic environments with the psychological complexities of the audience members and their ‘star.’ Employing several mise-en-scene techniques, most notably the actor, props and costuming, Coppola unveils the universal desire to empathize with and cognitively become the protagonist of a film. The Godfather provides an examination of countless human experiences, interactions and catastrophes. Most importantly, the film illuminates the exchange between the star actor—both as a fictional character and as a public icon—and his audience.
Coppola highlights the distinctions between Brando’s Don Corleone and all other characters immediately. The introduction of the criminal and familial man is purposefully paradoxical in its presentation; while deliberating a plan of action (and, because this is The Godfather, all “plans of action” result in death), Don Corleone is holding a cat. Coppola juxtaposes a domestic animal with the Don’s famed black-tie attire; this ironic placement of the prop and the costuming reveals the Don’s central characteristics. The Don is able to exist both as a criminal and paternal figure.
The Don’s presence upholds the aesthetic and amoral foundations of crime: he looks effortless and delivers the dirty deeds smoothly; his minimalist performance underscores the brutality of this detached ruthlessness. Indeed, Coppola operates within the conventional constructions of masculine crime. The Don deals the deaths and handles the fates of the individuals surrounding him, performing the sinister criminal activities in the darkest corner of his home.
Yet, Coppola captures the death of the Don through organic, idyllic and domestic esthetics. Within the emotional sanctity of a garden, the Don indulges in the fantasies of his grandson, Anthony. Quite suddenly, the Don passes away. Interestingly, his death is seemingly natural, furthering the ironic undertone that pervades Coppola’s representation of the criminal: though he causes bloody deaths, the Don himself dies a bloodless, seamless death, one that is validated by the innocence of his young grandson. Coppola one significant question concerning the previous standard of criminal presentation in cinema: how does the filmmaker reconcile the familial qualities within a criminal mind; the entirety of an individual character—memories, loved ones, psychological neuroses—is not captured in one single-minded view. Accordingly, The Godfather is a million stories in one single frame, displaying family ties, criminal activities, the denial of female subjectivity, sexual relationships, domestic violence, corrupted authority, loyalty, the definition of masculinity and the cinematic/literary representations of the ‘tragic hero.’
Perhaps, Coppola develops these complicated themes through the central character and actor. Brando is an intense, multi-layered icon: though he hangs on the walls of countless freshman college dormitories, he is also critically acclaimed and symbolizes the totality of an actor and American celebrity figure. Brando and the Don are irrevocably and symbolically tied, providing Coppola’s audience an even richer avenue for analysis and deconstruction. Furthermore, the continued cultural significance of Brando places The Godfather within a rarer realm of timelessness: this story is injected into countless dramas, both on the large and small screen, so commonly that the allusions themselves become separate artworks.
In The Godfather, Coppola furthers the abilities of the protagonist: the Don is the prop—through realist and formalist shots—and aids the film’s ceaseless narrative progression.
Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone, embodying both the domestic and the criminal on one advert for ‘The Godfather.’
A Looking in View... 