The Godfather Drawing From Its Cultural And Social Aspects

Name Tutor Course Date Understanding and analyzing filmic and televisual adaptations: The Godfather Since the beginning, the making of films and television shows has been inspired by many forms of art, but none of them has had a substantial impact like literature, which includes written word, books, and novels. Novels offer motion pictures a large variety of topics and stories for film and television makers to choose from (Cartmell). In this light, the adaptation of written art into motion makers has in some cases been successful and in others downright terrible. Some of the most celebrated movies ever made have their original ideas from books and novels. On the same note, good books and novels have been let down by films that borrowed their ideas (Cartmell). Subsequently, there is a looming debate among critics and authors on the concept of developing films from novels. Understanding the underlying parameters of film and television adaptation is fundamental for people seeking success in the industry. This essay offers a critical analysis that will help in understanding the filmic and televisual adaptations with a focus on the novel and film, The Godfather drawing from its cultural and social aspects. Adaptations are a critical aspect of the contemporary creative industries across the globe. Adaptation can be described as the process of transposing one literary work into motion pictures. For instance, novels and comic books are often developed as presold creative works of motion picture productions (Cartmell). Film adaptation has emerged over the years and is widely perceived as a genre in its own rights that defines an approach to film production. Adaptations have existed since the beginning of cinema making, as a cultural phenomenon that offers an opportunity to develop literally works and art masterpieces into motion pictures that have a wider audience and a more appealing approach to entertainment and communication. Adaptations also function as a means of re-creating art with the intent of achieving a temporary status for the art. There is no doubt that adaptations served efficiently in elevating the status of films at the beginning of cinema. As a school of thought, adaptation is premised on the notion of intertextuality, which alludes to how different works interact with each other (Cartmell). Suggestively, the concept of intertextuality raises the argument that art is an adaptation inspired by other earlier artworks. The adaptation of one artwork to another entails the selection and interpretation of the source materials, which often raises ideological and aesthetic beliefs that might be similar or out of line with the original material. In the context of intertextuality, the proponents recognize that the novels may always precede the film and the audience can encounter the film first. Additionally, a film adaptation can be connected to earlier adaptations, and it might be developed from a variety of art forms (Cartmell). Adaptation is essential in the film industry because they address the cultural needs and pressures triggered by other art forms within the consumers. For instance the Godfather was developed at a time and period when it presented fundamental cultural and social significance in America, among the immigrants as well as the natural born Americans. The adaptation process is guided by aspects drawn from the genre, political engagement and public history, making the outcome relevant to a broad audience. From this perspective, the adaptation also alludes to the different sociocultural needs and demands that emerge at a particular period as exemplified by the Godfather in the gangster genre in the period when people were seeking more knowledge about the working of organized crime. Other factors that influence the adaptation process include the stylistic approaches and cinematic aspects of a particular period. Another importance of adaptation is to present literature to a different audience through a different approach of how they can understand the work. When carrying literature to another form of art, there is a need for some compromise, which highlights the dominant constraints that emerge in the adaptation of novels into films. Adaptation mainly entails rewriting the source material and repackaging it for a new audience guided by the norms and conventions of the industry. In this light, the film offers a less complicated form of understanding of the book, which can be appreciated by a large audience. The film industry presents an elaborate system, which is collectively regulated by different stakeholders (Dartmouth Library). Resultantly, the agendas that emerge are often disparate as each stakeholder tries to outperform the other with the intent of addressing different interests. Consequently, different influencing factors act on the adaptation process, which influences the position of the film in a more comprehensive socio-cultural context. Additionally, the adaptation is developed in line with other systems in a particular society. Critic reviews mainly focus on situations where the adaptation fails to achieve the original source standards and mediocre literature that has been developed into great films. In this light, there is need to establish how filmmakers can adapt films from books and novels without raising negative criticism, and while at the same time, meeting the needs of the consumers (Dartmouth Library). From this perspective, the film audience needs motion pictures that reflect their interests rather than critical needs and preferences. Additionally, critical literature on specific films focuses on the literature versus the cinema or original versus copy, which is often interpreted in favor of the original art form to the detriment of the film. Also, there is a failure of these literature provisions to offer a general framework that can be employed to address the issue of adaptations (Dartmouth Library). It is almost half a century since the Godfather was released based on Mario Puzo’s novel and the movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola. In both art forms, the Godfather has been a subject of discussion considering its effective adaptation and success, including winning awards and becoming one of the greatest movies of all time. In this light, Mario Puzo's novel greatest achievement can be argued to be the movie it sprawled. The Godfather is a production of the US-based film company; Paramount. The company showed interest in Mario Puzo's novel before it had been published. After publication in 1969, the novel became a bestseller with more than ten million copies (Horne). The high number of sales was an indication that a good adaptation of the film would make a substantially profitable film. The previous failure of gangster films produced by the studio was factored in the adaptation of the Godfather. The studio intended to make a low budget film that would not increase the losses if it flopped and make it fast so that it would hit the screens as the book was still in market and selling. The studio did not intend to make a blockbuster. They also engaged Coppola as the director so that they could sign him cheaply, following the failure of his previous films (Horne). The engagement of Coppola in the development of the film was a risk management strategy for the studio, with the anticipated opposition it would face from the Italian-American community as well as the Mafia at that period. In this context, the adaptation avoided referring to the crime syndicate as the Mafia or Cosa Nostra. Rather in the film, they are referred to as the five families, which is the term used by Mario Puzo in the novel. Developed on a budget of $6 million, the film turned out to be a blockbuster and grossed $150 million globally by the end of 1972, which was more than any film in history (Horne). The movie was nominated ...