Historical Context of...... The Godfather!!!
The 60’s was a memorable time for many people. It was a time where pop music and fashion went through a revolution. It was also the time that one of the greatest inventions was mad available to the public, it was also the time of war and protests. This decade was also known to some (myself included) as the age of the hippies. It was the 1960’s and it was a critical part of American history.
The early part of the sixties was not very extraordinary for fashion. The in-style look of for women of the fifties still very much remained. This meant Chanel suits and full skirts. However, as the mid-sixties came along it was out with the suits and full-shirts and in with short hair and miniskirts, and after that came some of the more famous styles (and one of my personal favorites.) It was kaftans, long flowing hair and hippie beads to match. But for men, the main part of the sixties was very much the same throughout all America. It was the time of Mod gear, which entailed a smart suit with narrow lapels and tapered trousers, with a slim tie. And while the fashion world began to take of so did the music industry. More so, in the pop genre, this all led up to the famous festival. During this time the horizons of pop music were broadening, artists were coming up with more “colorful” ideas for their music. And most of that music was about spreading the love, and trying to get the world live in harmony, something that greatly influenced the music biz was the fighting. The Vietnam War was occurring at the time and many were against it, this led to a breakout of protest in both song and speech. Artists took it upon themselves to spread the message in a different way then those who did it by speaking out and parading around signs or sitting out on the front lawn of the school. It was a time of great displeasure but there were a few bright spots which were all mainly in music but there was also the release of the internet or ARAP to the public. The learning phenomenon for children Sesame Street debuted. There was also something everyone enjoyed. It was the famous Woodstock Festival where everyone gathered together as friends that came to end that decade in 1969.
The novel The Godfather is the tale of the Corleone family and in this case the rise, the fall, and the rise again of the Family. It starts out with Sollozzo a Turk who is starting early in the “business of the future,” narcotics. He approaches Don Vito Corleone the Don of the family who has the most power in New York; he also holds most political power. However, Don Corleone politely declined the offer, and so started all the trouble. Sollozzo teams up with the Tattaglias and secretly the Barzinis. These were two other parts of the Five Families of New York, one was probably the weakest and the other was most likely the second strongest do to their crude strength and brute strength. With Don Corleone declining the deal the narcotics operation could not go through, so Sollozzo planned to assassinate the Don and work out a deal with the most likely heir to the throne Santino (Sonny) Corleone, the Don’s son. They fail to do so however, the Don takes five bullets in the back and lives! But Sonny has to take over while the Don recovers, and therefore takes over all operations, problem is Sollozzo and his cop buddy Captain McCluskey are trying to go after the Don again, so they have to be dealt with. It’s decided that Michael, the Don’s youngest son who wants nothing to do with the family business, is the only one who can do it when Sollozzo demands that Michael be the go-between man for him and Sonny. At their first meeting Michael murders both Sollozzo and McCluskey hopefully ending the problem. But Michael is forced to leave the country until it’s safe to return which is almost three years later. During Michaels time out of the country Sonny is murdered by the Tattaglias and the Don is forced to leave is sickbed and return to his throne before fully recovering though it’s hard to tell he hasn’t recovered. A peace meet comes into play and an era of peace occurs but not without the great price of the Corleone family losing almost all their power, but the Don sacrifices this to get his son Michael home safely. After Michaels return, he begins his training to take over the Don’s position. He and his father begin to plan how to regain their position at the top, while all the other families wait in fear for what the Don. Unfortunately, the Don suffers a heart attack and dies before he can finish planning the Family’s future with Michael, so Michael is thrust into the top position and therefore, had to make some tough decisions and put his plan of putting the family back on top into action. He starts by getting vengeance for his brother Sonny; he also organizes the assassination of the heads of the Five Families. E also starts to set up meetings in Las Vegas in preparation for moving the family’s operation there. The novel ends with the move to Las Vegas still in process and it starts to show the widening rift between Michael and his wife Kay Adams.
The novel The Godfather was written over a period of 5 years and published in the year 1969. However, the story takes place from 1900-1925 and 1930s-1940s. In the story, it is the time of immigration and where the Mafia was a very strong presence because it was something immigrants had brought with them from their homeland. But in real life Mafia was not very prominent in all areas and the fashion was changing, as for the story fashion was very much what it was in the 40’s and 50’s throughout the tale and didn’t change much. One thing that was common between them was how big movies were and they were a big money-making business, that was something that stayed the same through the decades. Therefore, everything was different while everything was being revolutionized in the sixties, Mario Puzo author of The Godfather was keeping you in the 1930s-1940’s. Using that time period as his basis that was very much the same of how America was during those decades.
The Godfather was a novel that even though it was written in the 1960s it was a not a novel of the 60s. It was a book that told a tale from the past, a book that contained the world that was decades ago, not what was now. The novel helps to remind us of what thing were like in those especially for New York since that was the main work area for the Mafia. I cannot really say if any part of the sixties really influenced the tale of The Godfather, but I can say that The Godfather embodies what the Italian Mafia was in their first decades in American. In addition, I can safely say that this tale will transcend time and continue to please readers for years to come.
Citations for this report:
"American/World History 1950-1969." American History and World HIstory at Historycentral.com the Largest and Most Complete History Site on the Web. MultiEducator Inc., 2008. Web. 03 May 2011. http://ww.historycentral.com/dates/1900.html.
The early part of the sixties was not very extraordinary for fashion. The in-style look of for women of the fifties still very much remained. This meant Chanel suits and full skirts. However, as the mid-sixties came along it was out with the suits and full-shirts and in with short hair and miniskirts, and after that came some of the more famous styles (and one of my personal favorites.) It was kaftans, long flowing hair and hippie beads to match. But for men, the main part of the sixties was very much the same throughout all America. It was the time of Mod gear, which entailed a smart suit with narrow lapels and tapered trousers, with a slim tie. And while the fashion world began to take of so did the music industry. More so, in the pop genre, this all led up to the famous festival. During this time the horizons of pop music were broadening, artists were coming up with more “colorful” ideas for their music. And most of that music was about spreading the love, and trying to get the world live in harmony, something that greatly influenced the music biz was the fighting. The Vietnam War was occurring at the time and many were against it, this led to a breakout of protest in both song and speech. Artists took it upon themselves to spread the message in a different way then those who did it by speaking out and parading around signs or sitting out on the front lawn of the school. It was a time of great displeasure but there were a few bright spots which were all mainly in music but there was also the release of the internet or ARAP to the public. The learning phenomenon for children Sesame Street debuted. There was also something everyone enjoyed. It was the famous Woodstock Festival where everyone gathered together as friends that came to end that decade in 1969.
The novel The Godfather is the tale of the Corleone family and in this case the rise, the fall, and the rise again of the Family. It starts out with Sollozzo a Turk who is starting early in the “business of the future,” narcotics. He approaches Don Vito Corleone the Don of the family who has the most power in New York; he also holds most political power. However, Don Corleone politely declined the offer, and so started all the trouble. Sollozzo teams up with the Tattaglias and secretly the Barzinis. These were two other parts of the Five Families of New York, one was probably the weakest and the other was most likely the second strongest do to their crude strength and brute strength. With Don Corleone declining the deal the narcotics operation could not go through, so Sollozzo planned to assassinate the Don and work out a deal with the most likely heir to the throne Santino (Sonny) Corleone, the Don’s son. They fail to do so however, the Don takes five bullets in the back and lives! But Sonny has to take over while the Don recovers, and therefore takes over all operations, problem is Sollozzo and his cop buddy Captain McCluskey are trying to go after the Don again, so they have to be dealt with. It’s decided that Michael, the Don’s youngest son who wants nothing to do with the family business, is the only one who can do it when Sollozzo demands that Michael be the go-between man for him and Sonny. At their first meeting Michael murders both Sollozzo and McCluskey hopefully ending the problem. But Michael is forced to leave the country until it’s safe to return which is almost three years later. During Michaels time out of the country Sonny is murdered by the Tattaglias and the Don is forced to leave is sickbed and return to his throne before fully recovering though it’s hard to tell he hasn’t recovered. A peace meet comes into play and an era of peace occurs but not without the great price of the Corleone family losing almost all their power, but the Don sacrifices this to get his son Michael home safely. After Michaels return, he begins his training to take over the Don’s position. He and his father begin to plan how to regain their position at the top, while all the other families wait in fear for what the Don. Unfortunately, the Don suffers a heart attack and dies before he can finish planning the Family’s future with Michael, so Michael is thrust into the top position and therefore, had to make some tough decisions and put his plan of putting the family back on top into action. He starts by getting vengeance for his brother Sonny; he also organizes the assassination of the heads of the Five Families. E also starts to set up meetings in Las Vegas in preparation for moving the family’s operation there. The novel ends with the move to Las Vegas still in process and it starts to show the widening rift between Michael and his wife Kay Adams.
The novel The Godfather was written over a period of 5 years and published in the year 1969. However, the story takes place from 1900-1925 and 1930s-1940s. In the story, it is the time of immigration and where the Mafia was a very strong presence because it was something immigrants had brought with them from their homeland. But in real life Mafia was not very prominent in all areas and the fashion was changing, as for the story fashion was very much what it was in the 40’s and 50’s throughout the tale and didn’t change much. One thing that was common between them was how big movies were and they were a big money-making business, that was something that stayed the same through the decades. Therefore, everything was different while everything was being revolutionized in the sixties, Mario Puzo author of The Godfather was keeping you in the 1930s-1940’s. Using that time period as his basis that was very much the same of how America was during those decades.
The Godfather was a novel that even though it was written in the 1960s it was a not a novel of the 60s. It was a book that told a tale from the past, a book that contained the world that was decades ago, not what was now. The novel helps to remind us of what thing were like in those especially for New York since that was the main work area for the Mafia. I cannot really say if any part of the sixties really influenced the tale of The Godfather, but I can say that The Godfather embodies what the Italian Mafia was in their first decades in American. In addition, I can safely say that this tale will transcend time and continue to please readers for years to come.
Citations for this report:
"American/World History 1950-1969." American History and World HIstory at Historycentral.com the Largest and Most Complete History Site on the Web. MultiEducator Inc., 2008. Web. 03 May 2011. http://ww.historycentral.com/dates/1900.html.
