Abstract
This article closely revisits and praises the long, contemplative scenes and the fast contrapuntal cutting of the violence displayed in The Godfather to show how the movie's superior editing and filming style help to overturn its own violent message. Thus, the film, however cynically, completes Girard's the victimage model without actually immolating its would-be scapegoat. By inhabiting the deconstructive "space” of the scapegoating motif, the film's bloody scenes undercut themselves and help to enact a message against the violence within the ideologies of the American Dream, capitalist competition, or any other factor that may serve to mitigate Michael Corleone's actions.
Recommended Citation
Graham, Paul
(2005)
"Revisiting Violence in The Godfather: The Ambiguous Space of the Victimage Model,"
Journal of Religion & Film: Vol. 9:
Iss.
2, Article 2.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol9/iss2/2