Goodfellas narrative structure essays

Goodfellas narrative structure essays The movie GoodFellas based on Nicholas Pileggi's book Wiseguy and directed by the highly praised Martin Scorsese is probably one of the best mafia movies ever made. GoodFellas is the story of Irish-Italian American, Henry Hill, and how he lives day-to-day life as a member of the Mafia in the 60s and 70s in New York City. Based on a true story, the plot revolves around Henry, his wife, and his mafia partners. Joe Pesci plays Tommy Devito, a pure bred Italian gangster, who turns out to be Henry's best friend. Robert De Niro plays Jimmy Conway, the man who puts the two of them together, and runs some of the biggest hijacks and burglaries the city has ever seen. Hill (Ray Liotta) rises through the ranks of his Brooklyn neighborhood's organized crime branch, and with money from the mob he begins living the good life, complete with a beautiful bride, Karen (Lorraine Bracco), a fancy home, and the best seats at the most exclusive restaurants. A messed up robbery lands Henry in prison for a few years, and when he gets released, his reckless infidelities and drug abuse damage his associations with his adopted family forcing him to sell out his friends to stay alive. The movie is told through the view of Henry and also through the view of his wife Karen. Martin Scorseses unique narration structure of using two narrators creates a truer representation for the audience to see how life was like in the mafia. This is made clear when you look at the films exposition, cultural verisimilitude and subjectivity. In GoodFellas, the storys exposition or background information is given out through the narration and through flashback. The beginning of the film is one big flashback. It is during this time that Henry informs the audience about his childhood and how and most importantly why he got into the mafia. In his narration he says he felt like, the luckiest kid in the world growing up and working for mobsters...