One of the many reasons The Godfather works so well is that we're brought into this very insular world in which the inhabitants live according to their own implacable and complicated set of rules. We don't really see them living in our world, and therefore we don't need to judge them according to our usual moral standards. This is what allows us to be drawn into the story, and it's why we're able to see the characters as sympathetic in spite of their lifestyle.
An overarching theme of family strength and family loyalty is woven throughout the story, and given Obama's own commitment to family it's not surprising that he'd find some resonance here. Perhaps an armchair psychologist might find some currency in the film's strong patriarchial tone — women are of little or no importance in this world — given the President's own largely absent father and a life surrounded by strong and capable women.
The story's central character, of course, the one in whom we become primarily invested, is Michael Corleone, played to perfection by Al Pacino. Michael is the character with an actual story arc. When we first meet him, he's fresh from college - an idealistic young man whose future seems to lie in a different direction from that of his immigrant father (the President has a foreign-born father as well, but not one who molded his world the way Vito Corleone molds that of his sons).
Michael refuses to be drawn into the family business, and in fact the family itself considers him the one to break out into respectability. But as well we know, he does indeed enter the family business, and in spite of his intentions to "legitimize" the family's interests, he gets his hands just as dirty as his father's and his brother's before him. Eventually he does manage a veneer of legitimacy, but he out-dons the Don in the process. Once the family business sucks you in, there's no turning back, idealism or no.
Obama came to the presidency with just such idealism. Promising to clean house and work for change, he's currently learning that Washington is not a welcoming place for idealists. Old ways of doing business are firmly entrenched. Politics is business as usual, and a dirty business it is. Money talks louder than most people's idealism. The question that we can't answer at this point in time is a big one: Will Obama's story arc follow Michael's? Is idealism always fated to die at the hands of greed or might this have a better outcome?
Article comments
1 - Christopher Rose
A great collective feature to launch the new era at Blogcritics, well done everybody.
2 - Eric Olsen
thanks Chris! There's plenty more to come - our writers really rose to the occasion! Love to hear what more people think
3 - Aaman
Good feature, perhaps the chia should be the unofficial mascot of the new BC Magazine:)
4 - Eric Olsen
ch-ch-ch-chia!
5 - Arch Conservative
Obama is a joke.
An embarassment to this nation.
A completely worthless media creation.
The joke's on the American people, but not being a complete fucking idiot I knew this last fall.
6 - Arch Conservative
Everyone that voted for this teleprompted jerkoff should be forcibly sodomized with the pointy end of the "yes we can" sign they toted last Fall.
7 - Arch Conservative
And then Arlen Specter should be forced to lick all those sign posts.
8 - barbara barnett
NOOOOO! I hate the chiaObama!
9 - Jet
Archie you can't tell me that George Bush didn't use a teleprompter?
10 - Eric Olsen
this seems a bit of an overreaction against Obama. Anyway, this is not a political assessment, but a cultural one
11 - Bliffle
#5 - Arch Conservative
"... but not being a complete fucking idiot I knew this..."
You may want to get a second opinion on that Archie.
12 - El Bicho
Bliffle, his comments betray him. No second opinion needed
13 - Dave White
Haha love the $2008 bill
14 - Chris Olsen
I really like the new look!
15 - Eric Olsen
thanks Dave, and thanks Chris, really appreciate it!