„I believe in America. America has made my fortune.“ These are the very first two sentences in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather from 1972 - exactly the same year when director Martin Scorsese decided to film Herbert Asbury’s non-fiction book The Gangs of New York. “Asbury (1891-1963) was a journalist and a pioneer historian of low life, whose Gangs of New York originally appeared in 1928, subtitled an informal history of the underworld.” (Christie 2003, p. 250)
At the beginning of The Godfather: Part II, a film which is about the life of an Italian who immigrates to the United States in the 1920s, the film depicts the arrival of Italian immigrants at the New York harbor. All the passengers of the ship are full of expectation. They are looking at the famous Statue of Liberty, which welcomes America’s new citizens. “Bring us your homeless and your poor”, is written in a poem by Emma Lazarus that is graven on a tablet within the pedestal on which the statue stands. (Cf. Christie 2003, p. 253) This sequence portrays the fulfilment of the American Dream.
In 2002, after nearly 30 years of preparation, Martin Scorsese’s epic Gangs of New York which is also set in New York one century before the action of The Godfather takes place, finally was released in the United States.
Scorsese’s film covers a period of New York City's history, from the 1840's through to the bloody Draft Riots of 1863, when graft and corruption permeated every level of government including the police department. The Statue of Liberty had not been built at the time in which Gangs of New York is set (Cf. Metzger 2000, p. 23), and there aren’t any Italians in the film. The movie concentrates on the struggle between the so called Native Americans and a huge number of Irish immigrants who arrive with ships every day.
The picture describes America’s birth from violence and the development of the country into the state which is presented in Coppola’s The Godfather and former pictures by Martin Scorsese like Goodfellas or Casino. Gangs of New York is in a way the foundation of which all the other movies by Scorsese are based on.
Table of Contents
1. “America was born in the streets” Introduction
2. Plot Outline
3. The Construction of Race and Nation
3.1 New York 1846 – The prologue
3.2 The depiction of the Five Points – An image of a cultural melting pot or bleak mean streets?
3.3 The portrayal of the conflict between the Irish immigrants and the Native Americans
3.4 Gangs of New York looks at the Draft Riots
4. Résumé
Objectives and Research Focus
This academic paper examines the cultural construction of race and nation in Martin Scorsese's film Gangs of New York. It explores how the director portrays the formation of the United States through the lens of mid-nineteenth-century social conflicts in the Five Points district of New York City.
- The role of immigration as a driving force for societal conflict and rejuvenation.
- The clash between native-born Americans and Irish immigrants as a defining historical struggle.
- The impact of class tensions and political corruption during the American Civil War and the 1863 Draft Riots.
- The use of cinematic imagery to reassemble and reinterpret historical narratives of American identity.
Excerpt from the Book
3.1 New York 1846 – The prologue
A close-up of two eyes and a scraping sound, this is the beginning of the opening-sequence of Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. The sequence ends ten minutes later with a bird's eye view of the peninsula Manhattan.
The detail and the epic proportions, the labour of a city and the story of the creation of a world power, Scorsese never tried to create such a monumental picture before.
Like most of his films Gangs of New York is set in his hometown. Moreover, this film is not relevant to New Yorkers only. The film rips up the postcards of American history and reassembles them into a violent, blood-soaked story of America’s bare-knuckled past.
The soul and identity of America is represented by the Manhattan of the mid-nineteenth-century, or putting it more precisely by the Five Points.
The eyes of the opening-sequence belong to Priest Vallon who gathers his faithful friends to fight a bloody battle against his enemy, the native William Cutting aka Bill the Butcher. Vallon is the leader of a gang of similar Irish immigrants called the Dead Rabbits. He helps his people defend themselves and protect the niche of land that they live on. The Irish people and Vallon’s young son Amsterdam follow Vallon's Celtic cross through the dark underground passages up to a door, which gets kicked off by Monk, a man who demands payment from Priest Vallon for fighting.
Summary of Chapters
1. “America was born in the streets” Introduction: Introduces the historical context of Scorsese's film and poses central questions regarding the birth of the American nation.
2. Plot Outline: Provides a synopsis of the narrative, covering the struggle between the Dead Rabbits and the Native Americans, and the 1863 Draft Riots.
3. The Construction of Race and Nation: Analyzes the theoretical and thematic pillars of the movie concerning identity, race, and class struggles.
3.1 New York 1846 – The prologue: Examines the opening sequence and its role in establishing the core message of the film.
3.2 The depiction of the Five Points – An image of a cultural melting pot or bleak mean streets?: Discusses the representation of the Five Points slum and the harsh realities of survival for immigrants.
3.3 The portrayal of the conflict between the Irish immigrants and the Native Americans: Investigates the rivalry between the two groups as a reflection of broader societal tensions.
3.4 Gangs of New York looks at the Draft Riots: Analyzes the climactic depiction of the 1863 Draft Riots and their historical significance in the narrative.
4. Résumé: Concludes the analysis by summarizing how the film exposes the democratic myth and unmasks the violent foundations of the United States.
Keywords
Gangs of New York, Martin Scorsese, American History, Five Points, Irish Immigrants, Native Americans, Draft Riots, Civil War, Cultural Construction, Race, Nation, Identity, Social Conflict, Immigration, Democracy
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the central focus of this paper?
This work explores the cultural construction of race and nation in Martin Scorsese’s 2002 film Gangs of New York.
What are the primary themes discussed?
The main themes include immigration, class tension, systemic corruption, historical violence, and the formation of American identity.
What is the main research objective?
The objective is to investigate how Scorsese portrays the birth of the American nation through the violent history of the Five Points district.
Which scientific methodology is applied?
The paper uses film analysis and historical contextualization to interpret the director’s portrayal of nineteenth-century New York.
What does the main body cover?
The main body covers the prologue, the depiction of the Five Points as a melting pot or slum, the conflict between Irish immigrants and Native Americans, and the Draft Riots.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
Essential keywords include Gangs of New York, immigration, American History, race, nation, class conflict, and Scorsese.
How does the author interpret the opening battle in Paradise Square?
The author views the opening battle as a symbolic representation of the violent birth of New York, where blood on the snow signifies the sacrifices made to create the city.
What is the significance of the film's ending according to the author?
The author argues that the ending, which features the city's skyline growing over the graves, serves as a message that the film is about the individuals who built the nation despite its incomplete identity.
- Quote paper
- Boris Kirfel (Author), 2004, The Construction of Race and Nation in Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/23065
