Reaction Paper for the movie The Godfather (1972) Essay

Reaction Paper for the movie The Godfather (1972) - Essay Example Mobsters can sometimes seem more like cartoons than real people. However, there is one movie that sets the bar for what all others would be compared to. That movie is the Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and it tells the story of the Corleone crime family. The family, as led by Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), fights for money and power in the grimy and sometimes glamourous world of organized crime. There are three sons, one adopted son, and one daughter in the family. Set in the years following the Second World War, the main plot of the movie is that the Don is given a chance by other mobsters for his family to expand their empire by getting involved in the drug trade. The Don, however, doesn’t think this is the right thing to do. This makes the other families angry and they begin to prepare for war. The Don along with his sons, Sonny (James Caan), Fredo, and consigliere Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), prepare to do what must be done to preserve the power they have f ought so long and hard to have. The youngest son, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) has never been involved in the crime part of the family and isn’t well known to the other families. Everyone thinks he is different. They think he is a war hero and has no street smarts. He has spent time fighting on a battlefield which is so much different than the political streets of New York. In the end the movie shows he is different: he is better at being a don and a mobster than anyone else. Throughout the movie, the tension between family and crime is constantly explored. The biggest theme that this film deals with is the theme of family, shown in both a literal and metaphorical sense. For me this was by far the most fascinating part of this movie—to see how the various children of the Don have to deal with the pressures of the new responsibilities thrown on them by the war that is underway. This drama is powerfully represented in the script and

Civil Rights Act of 1964 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Civil Rights Act of 1964 - Essay Example Without question the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was and continues to be an important public policy which outlawed segregation practices, provided lasting social security and overall became invaluable to many American generations . Segregation as social phenomenon is defined as systematic denial of opportunities for particular population group (Segregation, 2009). According to report on segregation policies, "[f]or many years, the federal government itself was responsible for promoting racial discrimination in housing and residential policies" (Segregation, 2009). Segregation can be examined looking at different perspectives on individual segregation and group segregation (Frey and Myers, 2005). From the critical perspective, the initiative of an individual or population group to segregate is impacted by their social relationships and the spatial character of these relationships (Parsons, 2007). Practically, segregation is not only limited to residential segregation, but to individuals' daily life, and can manifest itself in various social environments, like work and education. This was the case with segregation and racial discrimination in American economic and social environments for many decades. During many decades prior to the year 1964, there were very few Blacks in corporate America. Companies that hired Blacks were known within the community and interested Blacks were encouraged to apply. If, on the other hand, a company was known to support segregation, no Blacks would apply. As a matter of fact, a few employment agencies were known for directing Blacks to the corporate American world. Others found their way into corporate America through advertisements in Black magazines, and from White social pressure to do the right thing. This led a few companies to hire Blacks in positions, such as clerical, personnel and record keeping, which were outside of the company's main business. However, the experience of technically trained Blacks during the 1940's and early 1950's began to be different. Due to the shortage of technically trained employees, Black scientists and engineers were the first to break the color line in major companies. Because of the treatment of many Blacks during this time, a few states enacted anti-discrimination laws. Organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) would often send qualified Blacks in to apply for employment as "test cases" (Loh, 1984, p.48). If an applicant was found to be unfairly treated, the NAACP or Urban League would threaten to initiate or initiate a lawsuit. Federal contracts also banned discrimination based on race, religion and national origin, but there was little pressure to comply. In 1961, President Kennedy established the Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity under Vice-President Lyndon Johnson (EEOC, 1961). This Commission was different from the previous ones, in that it had the enforcement authority to move against those companies discriminating against Blacks . These were the first most known policy steps that eventually led to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and subsequent abolishing of segregation practices. THE