Mafia at the Movies

This course will be a study of the mafia, and, by extension, of Italy’s “dark heart,” in its historical, social, economic, cultural, and political dimensions. By looking at a wide range of films on the mafia, from documentary to comedy, the course will also be an opportunity for considering what are the possibilities and the limits, inherent to cinema, to represent cultural and social realities, but also to act upon them.

Aug 27, 2019. Introduction to the course

Aug 29, 2019. Before Cinema

Readings
  • John Dickie, “The Genesis of the Mafia 1860–1876,” from Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia, pp. 35-68. Available here.

Sep 3, 2019. Before Cinema

Readings
  • John Dickie, “The Mafia Enters the Italian System 1876–1890,” from Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia, pp. 69-87. Available here.
  • Eric J. Hobsbawm, “Mafia,” in Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries. pp. 30-56. Available here.

Sep 5, 2019. Before Cinema

Readings
  • John Dickie, “Corruption in High Places 1890–1904,” from Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia, pp. 87-131. Available here.
  • D. H. Lawrence, “Cavalleria Rusticana,” from Cavalleria Rusticana and Other Stories. Available here. Students in Preceptorial can replace the readings from Lawrence with: Giovanni Verga, “Cavalleria rusticana” available here.
  • D. H. Lawrence, “Preface” and “Gramigna’s Lover,” from Cavalleria Rusticana and Other Stories. Available here. Students in Preceptorial can replace the readings from Lawrence with: Giovanni Verga, “L’amante di Gramigna” available here.

Sep 10, 2019. The Mafioso and the Anglo-Saxon: Early Cinema in the US

Film Shorts
  • Wallace McCutcheon, Black Hand: The Story of a Recent Occurrence in the Italian Quarters of New York (1906). Available here.
  • Sidney Olcott, Poor Little Peppina (1916). Available here.
Readings
  • Salvatore Lupo, “Amid the Great Flood of Migrants,” from The Two Mafias: A Transatlantic History, 1888-2008,, pp. 11-32. Available here.
  • Madison Grant, “Introduction to the Fourth Revised Edition” (pp. xxvii-xxxiii) and “Race and Language” (pp. 69-75) from The Passing of the Great Race: Or, The Racial Basis of European History (1916). Available here.
  • “Introductory” (pp. 1-12); “Italian” (pp. 81-85); “Sicilian” (pp-127-128), from Report of the Immigration Commission: Dictionary of Races of Peoples (1911). Available here.

Sep 12, 2019. Can the Mafioso Speak? Classic Hollywood

Movie
  • William A. Wellman, The Public Enemy (1931). Available here.
Readings
  • Salvatore Lupo, “Roaring Twenties” and “History and Myths of Organized Crime,” from The Two Mafias: A Transatlantic History, 1888-2008, pp. 33-92. Available here.

Sep 17, 2019. Can the Mafioso Speak? Classic Hollywood

Movie
  • Mervyn LeRoy, Little Caesar (1931). Available here.
Readings
  • Fred Pasley, Al Capone: The Biography of a Self-Made Man, pp. 1-30. Available here.

Sep 19, 2019. Can the Mafioso Speak? Classic Hollywood

Movie
  • Howard Hughes, Scarface (1932). Available here.
Readings
  • Fred Pasley, Al Capone: The Biography of a Self-Made Man, pp. 31-61. Available here.
  • Robert Warshow, “The Gangster as Tragic Hero,” Partisan Review (1948). Available here.

Sep 24, 2019. Detectives

Movie
  • Fritz Lang, The Big Heat (1953). Available here.

Reading

  • Leonardo Sciascia, The Day of the Owl, pp. . Students in Preceptorial will read “Reversibilità” and “L’esame” from Il mare colore del vino. Available here.

Sep 26, 2019. Detectives

Movie
  • Mike Newell, Donnie Brasco (1997). Available here.

Reading

  • Leonardo Sciascia, The Day of the Owl, pp. . Students in Preceptorial will read “Western di cose nostre” from Il mare colore del vino. Available here.

Oct 1, 2019. In the Name of the Law. Court drama

Movie
  • Francesco Rosi, Salvatore Giuliano (1961). Available here.

Reading

  • Andrea Camilleri, Excursion to Tindari, pp.  Students in Preceptorial will read xxx.

Oct 3, 2019. In the Name of the Law. Court drama

Movie
  • Terence Young, The Valachi Papers (1972). Available here.
Reading
  • Andrea Camilleri, Excursion to Tindari, pp.  Students in Preceptorial will watch Andrea Sironi, La gita a Tindari.

Oct 8, 2019. Fall Break

Oct 10, 2019. The Age of The Godfather

Movie
  • Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather. Part I (1972). Available here.
Reading
  •  Carlos Cortes, “Italian Americans in Films,” Melus (1987). Available here. Students in Preceptorial can replace the reading from Cortes with: Salvatore Lupo, “La mafia americana: trapianto o ibridazione?” Available here.

Oct 15, 2019. The Age of The Godfather

Movie
  • Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather. Part II (1974). Available here.
Readings
  • Alexander Stille, Excellent Cadavers, p. 3-59. Available here.

Oct 17, 2019. The Age of The Godfather

Movie
  • Marco Tullio Giordana, I cento passi (2000). Available here.
Readings
  • Alexander Stille, Excellent Cadavers, pp. 60-120. Available here.

Oct 22, 2019.  “Just Business”

Movie

  • Alberto Lattuada, Il mafioso (1962). Available here.
Readings
  • Nelson Moe, “Modernity, Mafia Style: Alberto Lattuada’s Il mafioso,” in Mafia Movies: A Reader (2011). Available here. Students in Preceptorial can replace the readings from Moe with: Leopoldo Franchetti, La Sicilia nel 1876 (1877), pp. 63-65 e 155-162. Available here.

Oct 24, 2019.  “Just Business”

Movie
  • Martin Scorsese, Casino (1999). Available here.Readings

Claudio Bisoni, “Narrating the Mafia, Las Vegas, and Ethnicity in Martin Scorsese’s Casino,” from Mafia Movies: A Reader, pp. 114-119. (from Sakai)

Oct 29, 2019. Men

Movie
  • Brian de Palma, Scarface (1983). Available here.

Oct 31, 2019. Men

Movie
  • Lina Wertmüller, Mimì metallurgico ferito nell’onore (1972). Available here.
Readings
  • Thomas Harrison, “Smaller and Larger Families: Lina Wertmüller’s The Seduction of Mimi,” from Mafia Movies: A Reader, pp. 212-218. Available here.

Nov 5, 2019. Women

Movie
  • Roberta Torre, Angela (2002). Available here.
Readings
  • BarisCayli, “Performance matters more than masculinity: Violence, gender dynamics and mafia women,” in Aggression and Violent Behavior, Volume 29, July–August 2016, Pages 36-42. Available here.

Nov 7, 2019. Women

Movie
  • Marco Amenta, La siciliana ribelle (1997). Available here.
Readings
    • Jane and Peter Schneider, “Gender and Violence: Four Themes in the Everyday Life of Mafia Wives,” from Mafia Movies: A Reader, pp. 26-39. In Sakai resources.

Nov 12, 2019. The Italian-American Thing

Movie
  • Brian De Palma, The Untouchables (1987). Available here.
Reading
  • Paul Lopes, “The power of Hyphen-Nationalism: Martin Scorsese’s sojourn from Italian American to White- Ethnic American,” Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture (2017): pp. 562-578. Available here.

Nov 14, 2019. The Italian-American Thing

Movie
  • Martin Scorsese, Goodfellas (1990). Available here.

Nov 19, 2019. Globalization

Movie
  • Edward James Olmos, American Me (1992). Available here.
Reading
  • Cesare Mattina, “The transformations of the contemporary mafia: a perspective review of the literature on mafia phenomena in the context of the internationalisation of the capitalist economy,” International Social Science Journal (2011): pp. 229-245. Available here.

Nov 21, 2019. Globalization

Movie
  • Ridley Scott, American Gangster (2007). Available here.

 

  • Reading
    • Roberto Saviano, “The Port”; “Angelina Jolie”; “The System,” Gomorrah

Nov 26, 2019. Thanksgiving

Nov 28, 2019. Thanksgiving

Dec 3, 2019. Globalization

Movie
  • Matteo Garrone, Gomorrah (2008). Available here.
Reading
  • Roberto Saviano, “Hollywood”; “Aberdeen, Mandragone,” Gomorrah

Dec 5, 2019.

Movie
  • Pif, La mafia uccide solo d’estate (2013). Available here.