The Hero's Journey of Michael Corleone

Michael Corleone is currently The Head of Family, but how did he get there?  Michael has followed the hero's journey very accurately, from start to finish.  He started out by being an outsider.  He was late to his sister's wedding, and stuck out like a sore thumb.  He told Kay Adams that he was very different than his family, and that killing people was the family's business, not his own.

In a way, Michael had two supernatural aids in his journey.  Kay, who was leading him to the clean and good side, while his father, and his two brothers, lead him to the family business.

Michael was not persuaded into the family business until his father gets shot, and that is when Michael crosses the first threshold.  For the first time, he makes a few decisions with Tessio and Sonny to decide how to protect The Don.

As the story continues, Fredo moves to Nevada, Sonny dies, and so does The Don, which leaves Michael to be The Don.  It was quite interesting though that Vito Corleone told Michael that he wished for Michael to have never been in the family business, and wished he could call his son "Senator Corleone" or "Governor Corleone".

Michael finishes his hero's journey by mastering the art of balancing good and evil.  He controls his love life, becoming the Godfather of Connie's child, and avenging Sonny, while killing the other four head of family people to settle business.  

Even though Michael finishes his journey, it is questionable whether he grew as a person, and whether losing his ethics counts as finishing his journey as a hero.  He can be seen as a violent, vengeful character in the end, so it will be interesting to see what Mr.McGuigan thinks about this.

A Simple Request That Hopefully Makes Me Look Good

To Mr.McGuigan, could you please read my blog on "Christian Allusions".  I feel as though it is a blog where all my ideas came together.  Thanks

Women...What Is Their Role?

Women all together is a mystery that will never be solved by man, but a mystery that can maybe be sorted out is the role of women in The Godfather.  


At the start of the film, women have been of lesser importance.   The men have dominated the movie.  They have had all the fights, the killing scenes, the drama, and really, the women have just been there.  Either Coppola is making the viewer feel sympathy for the women, because the men in The Godfather always speak to women as un-equals, or Coppola is expressing how he thinks women are treated in the real world.  


However, two women have been shown in scarlet, orange or red clothing multiple times, and that lead to the conclusion that Coppola was portraying them as Babalon, also known as The Scarlet Woman.  The Scarlet Woman is defined as a Goddess who represents the female sexual impulse and the liberated woman.  It also just so happens that both women who have been shown as Babalon have been close to Michael Corleone, Kay Adams and Apollonia.  


Apollonia fits into the hero's journey nicely.  Michael had already ran away to killed The Turk and The Captain, which was crossing the threshold into the life of a Mafia man.  He had already ran away to Sicily, which was him going into the belly of the whale, and then, he met Apollonia.  Apolonnia is without a doubt the  meeting with a goddess, and then a woman as temptress in Joseph Campbell's hero's journey.  It is fitting that her name is Apolonnia, which close to the name of a god Apollo.  


So really, it is still unclear what the role of the women in The Godfather will be.  Will they still be treated as 2nd class citizens, or maybe they will be equal the men in the end?  It is unpredictable, kind of like women themselves.  

Life is a railway, I wanna ride it all night long

Excuse the title, which is a parody of "life is a highway" by Tom Cochrane.  However, the title is relevant to The Godfather.  


Michael Corleone has been portrayed as the hero of the story.  He has followed the steps of Joseph Campbell's hero's journey, and when he kills Sollozzo and Captain McCluske, he is "Crossing The Threshold" (Campbell).  The class has been paying attention to camera angles, and the colour orange throughout the movie, but when Michael kills Sollozzo and McCluske, the sound effects are key. 


When Michael finds the gun in the bathroom, and is about to leave the bathroom, he looks at the mirror, and looks as though he might not kill Sollozzo and McCluske after all.  He has a reflective look on his face.  While this is happening, a train sound effect is playing, and it is crescendo-ing  It was debatable at first, whether it was important, but the train sound effect plays again when Michael actually kills the Turk and the captain.  As the class reflected on this, we concluded that when Michael made the kill, he had chosen a path for his life that  he can not get away from, kind of like how one cannot turn around on a train track.  He had chosen the path as a Mafia man, and that would be his life for the rest of his life.  

Christian Allusions

It is incredible that The Godfather has consistently been one of the top liked movies in the world.  Is it the violence?  Is it because people feel as though they have to like it?  Is it the Christian allusions that show up repeatedly?  Well there are many Christians in the world, so maybe they like to see their religion being shown subtly.

It starts with the fact that from the beginning, The Don is a holy character.  With a nickname like The Godfather, it is clear he is a god in the Mafia community.

The camera angles Coppola used characterizes The Don as a god.  There is a camera shot where The Don's head is in the middle of a window, where there is light all around his head, as if it was a halo.  Not only that, but in the same shot, half of the screen is black, because of Bonosera's black suit.  This is a classic "black and white" shot, with the Don in the light, and Bonosera in the dark.

Coppola is interestested in the relationship between God and people.  It just so happens that the first scene happens on the day of The Don's daughter's wedding, where The Don cannot refuse a request.  Even though The Don is so powerful, much like God is viewed, when people ask him for a simple request, much like prayers, he cannot refuse, even with all his power.

Later in the movie, The Don is shot five times, but survives.  Five shots could be viewed as unnecessary from Sollazzo, because he is angry at The Don, but it is not a coincidence that Jesus Christ was struck five times, and after he died, he came back to life.

Michael, The Godfather's son, is moving up in the family business now, so I am personally interested in what is going to happen, and if it will somehow be connected to another Christian allusion.

What is a hero, and who is the real hero of The Godfather?

The definition of "hero" is "a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities" (Dictionary.com).  Another definition using Classical Mythology is "a being of godlike prowess and beneficence who often came to be honored as a divinity" (Dictionary.com). This early into "The Godfather", it is hard to distinguish the hero of the movie, but using those two definitions, Vito Corleone, known as The Don and The Godfather, is the hero of the movie.  

It is intriguing that the leader of a gang could be the hero of the movie, but using the definitions, it is true. Because he is so powerful, many people would like him dead, and it makes him courageous for even showing his face in public.  

The definition of a "hero" using Classical Mythology is the most interesting, and connects well with The Don.  The fact that his nickname is The Godfather, and a hero is "a being of godlike prowess", it is evident that Coppola wanted to portray The Godfather as a hero in his movie.