Nostalgic Gangsters and the Mafia Filone
Nostalgic Gangsters and the Mafia Filone
This chapter examines a filone of mafia films that proliferated in Italy between 1972 and 1974, and analyses how they inherit, recycle and perpetuate a number of pre-existing popular myths that frame the mafia as a repository for elegiac nostalgia. Transatlantic myths that crystallised in The Godfather are themselves shown to emerge from traditions of representation and stereotyping, in which the mafia film has always acted as a chronicle of cultural displacement. The Italian mafia film, meanwhile, is shown to be a component part of a broader tendency to stereotype the 'backward' southern regions of Italy as a window into the nation's history and a forum for taking stock of the contemporary moment in relation to a benighted past. The mafia filone of 1972-1974 is thereby seen to be an illuminating document of production decisions, marketing ploys and ruminations on the state of contemporary Italy.
Keywords: Mafia films, The Godfather, Mafia stereotypes, Italian mafia films
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