Gangster - Martin Scorsese

The Gangster genre is a very interesting genre. The beginnings and what subjects it tries to push interest me. When it first started back in the 1920's it's key themes were people that were crooks and lawbreakers trying to to achieve their American dream. This was encapsulated in the irresponsible and ruthless ways that the gangsters lived. The audience loved this an eat it up, because it allowed them to express a side of themselves that they couldn't do in society allowing them to dwell on the violence and lawbreaking that the gangster were doing. Another thing that audiences enjoyed was the humor that films like 'Scarface' (1932) added in during the scene with a lot of action.

However after World War 2 the vision of the gangster changed, gone was the man in search of finding his dream, in his place was business man looking to make money, taken over by corporations. The first film that was shown by Scorsese was 'I Walk Alone' (1947), where the gangster would be in it for the money slowly building up an enterprise. It was in this second part of the gangster genre where the family aspect of the gangster would slowly start being implanted. Gone were the days of the lone wolves, now the gangsters were a family that you couldn't leave and wouldn't dare to leave. So when the film would show a character trying to leave the audience would be attached to them hoping for them the get what they want only to be dragged back in or taken by the Gangster gang.
It was also this genre that started to pose to the audience the question, that is 'how corrupt do you think society is?' and they did this by showing how the Mafia could control through bribes or blackmail the police and even some political figures, and due to it posing questions like that with the thrill of watching someone breaking the law draws the audience back to the genre.

It's a shame that the genre has kinda died out in modern day film as personally I think there's still lots that we can do with the genre. Even just exploring the modern day youth gangs would have a lot to show. And everyday we hear about a new corrupt member of authority so it would still work within the genre if not better showing that it's not just a few members but a bountiful amount...