Think about the following quote from Warshow's essay and cinematically apply it to The Public Enemy. Use this quote (and the entire article) as a starting point to think about the themes the movie is portraying through cinematic language. Use one scene to back up your points and be sure to present details in your formal analysis.
"...the initial contact between the film and its audience is an agreed conception of human life: that man is a being with the possibilities of success or failure. This principle, too, belongs to the city; one must emerge from the crowd or else one is nothing. On that basis the necessity of the action is established, and it progresses by inalterable paths to the point where the gangster lies dead and the principle has been modified: there is really only one possibility--failure. The final meaning of the city is anonymity and death."
The Public Enemy was considered, on a sliding scale, somewhere between a mediocre and typical gangster pre code crime film when it came out in 1931. Now it is well known for it’s ability to show the audience how the gangster himself felt, which was a perspective that was barely acknowledged by early American crime films. It seemingly moralized the criminal’s perspective, while demoralizing that of the public eye, making the viewer question their own morals. Many reviewers at the time of it’s release didn’t realize this, even the NYT calling it “just another gangster film,” and it being only the 9th highest grossing film in 1931.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of appreciation at it’s release only lead to the deeper understanding people feel towards it now. In context, many gangster films showed the gangster as the antagonist, with the moral compass of the society still showing what is correct, and there being a lesson. With The Public Enemy, the gangster is the protagonist, therefore making the public and the laws the antagonist, which was seen as unorthodox because generally the filmmaker doesn’t go against the laws. This is presented through the scene in which Matt is getting married to Mamie and they go against what the general procedure of this would be, which is let the marriage go through and then kill some people (ex: the Godfather), but instead Tom follows Putty Nose home and shoots him, ignoring general gangster procedural killing (especially with Italian Americans: always honor family traditions).
The Public enemy is not an impressive gangster film although it follows the formula for a gangster film it has no shining star feature that places it a cut above the rest. However it is the perfect model for modern gangster film left over from the era that was pre-code film even if it seems tame compared to many modern gangster movies. As Warshow discusses The Public Enemy, like many other films of its nature, is a story of a city just as much as it is a story of the gangster himself. Though the film focuses on the gangster first and foremost it tells the tale of the city he exists both within and as a part of through his interactions and actions.
ReplyDeleteIf one is to examine the scene in which Tom Powers, the gangster that the public enemy focuses upon, storms a meeting of the rival gang that has taken his down then they can see a few key examples of how the film tells the story of the city through Tom’s. The first key detail of this scene is the fact that aside from Tom and the rival gangsters the streets are empty and completely quiet save the heavy rain. This communicates to the viewer that the city is a place of danger, somewhere that no one should be after dark. Next we look to the labels on on the windows of the meeting place which reveal that the business is not a bar, as we’ve seen with every other gangster gathering so far, but a chemical company. This tells us as viewers that the corruption of the city as we understand it so far is merely the tip of the iceberg. This one detail suggests a deep rooted potentially bottomless corruption at the heart of the city. However since the story of the city is told so subtly it is also clear to see that if the viewer pays attention to Tom as more than the tool he is that they would overlook his true anonymity as a piece of the city and its story.
In most gangster films the city is actually a character in which the gangster gets caught up in or has an obligation to. Public Enemy is directly related to this quote. Because it follows the conventions of a regular gangster story. A man who gets caught up in the city and tries to pull back, but then can't because of his involvement. In the first scene we see a normal boy getting involved in trouble because of his home family life. He is driven toward the gang. This kinda is exemplary of this time and what city people went through. This was a time of prohibition so that sprung up a lot of illegal action due to the reliance of the US on beer for recreational uses. This brought a lot of violence to the cities and in this scene we see the setting for the movie, the city. The cities were extremely populated and because of that jobs were scarce and you had to find other means to provide for your family. There is a long shot that basically introduces us to the main character Tom Powers and the things that affect his life. There is a shot that moves close on the carrying of beer and then there is another shot once it moves away that shows a US Army band parading through the streets. Two major things that affect him and also pull him into the city.
ReplyDeleteThe smuggling of alcohol is a big business at the time and there is a lot of money in it and at the time his brother is away at the army and can’t be home to provide for ma. He may not have wanted to enter that path, but he did and in the end he wanted out, but couldn’t. The “necessity” of joining a gang was presented, but in the end his morals were “modified” and eventually it lead to his death. In the scene you can see little Tommy standing next to his friend Matt. But, in the frame they take as much room as full grown adults. The door behind them doesn't look big, be we know they are children. We also are introduced in a major theme, that Tom is more interested in money and business than getting married, or women. This does pull throughout the entire movie because Matt decides he wants to marry Marnie. Not only that but there is a montage sequence of them getting in trouble. They were raised getting in trouble in the city and they will die that way. It is really interesting to see this because it actually almost as if the city is a trap and even though he might have lived a long and fulfilled life, we see it within an hour and twenty minutes, and because all we see is him and the city, we actually think that he is trapped in the city. It gives a feeling that he could never have gotten out of the gang and lived his life even if we decided 5 minutes after he joined. It is what the city does.
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ReplyDeleteIn the 1930s, the genre of gangster film was growing in popularity in the United States. A film such as The Public Enemy is a perfect example of one of these films, exciting and appealing to crowds with action and dialogue. Though it important to look past these parts and towards how the gangster genre as a whole and The Public Enemy make a commentary on how the American Dream can destroy the lives of those who reach for it. Gangsters represent the everyday American people that go to see these films, whether successful or struggling. By warning through popular films what can happen to one when they are engulfed by the city, filmmakers hoped to improve the lives of these Americans and make the 30s a better decade for city life than the 20s had been.
ReplyDeleteFilmmakers such as William Wellman, who worked in the gangster genre, really had to get across the dangers of the city to those viewing the film. In order to truly get his point across, I believe that the last scene is used to make sure viewers leave the film with a heavy heart and disgust towards the corruption present in their society. Two cinematic elements that are utilized well in order to have a large effect on the audience are framing of Ma Powers and the costume design, specifically that of Tom after he has been killed. Ma Powers is ecstatic after she receives news of Tom coming home. When she is upstairs getting his room ready, she is framed in a closeup many times, which can be perceived as how the family is what gets most harshly effected by the life of crime that gangsters take. Ma Powers closeups have a deeper effect after the audience learns that Tom has died. The focus on the mother means she is left even that much more devastated. The other strong cinematic technique is the costuming of a dead Tom. He is wrapped so that audiences and characters can barely recognize. This is representative of how the life of crime and harshness he has been through has taken away not only his life, but his identity as well. After the gangs took him in, he became nothing but a pawn of crime lords and the filth in the city.
Wellman’s The Public Enemy is an example of the simple narrative of a gangster film. This film was released in pre code Hollywood before censorship or ratings occurred. After 1934 censorship was at an all time high with married couples sleeping on different beds, and a lot more of the scandalous things took place as symbolism in the dialogue rather than on screen. The common topic that revolves around every gangster movie is that the gangster is a bad guy but he represents the “everyman” in society. Warshow wrote in his essay concerning The Gangster As Tragic Hero because the gangster represents all that the everyman wants to express. For example in his essay he speaks of “therefore by the logic of which we can all recognize the necessity, it becomes an obligation of citizenship to be cheerful”, here Warsow is saying that society creates this morn of cheerfulness and the fact alone that the gangster breaks away from that, he is fufilling our deepest desires. Warsow also goes onto say “he is what we want to be and what we are afraid to become.” In The Public Enemy, cinematic elements such as lighting, and shot composition forces us to secretly aspire to become James Carney.
ReplyDeleteThe final scene of this film successfully conveys the theme Warsow is trying to explain, that we aspire to break free of societal binds and become Carney but the city and life is cruel so that any action similar to breaking free or living as a gangster results in failure For the majority of the movie until the final scene he is surrounded by people with power but remains powerful even in his death when his body is filmed in the doorway he is filmed at an incredibly low angle for the allusion of a coffin, and not only do we see this symbol but we see the immense amount of power he held fall to the ground. The kid angle shots of women he is affiliated with, and a very interesting shot at their friends funeral which shows every characters face, aside from Carney, covered by a plant, which forces the audience to direct out attention to him in an event that is meant for the deceased. I believe the entire movie is meant to set up the great ammount power he holds so that the final shot of his death incredibly enforces Warsows theme that failure for the gangster is inevitable.