conventions

I decided on the crime genre, big surprise.

I covered this in my previous blog from last year, but since I want to specifically target Italian Americans as a social group in my short film, I'll focus mostly on media examples with Italian American portrayal, 

The basic conventions portrayed in most crime/gangster films or tv shows are the following

1. Highlighting and/or glorifying the life of a crime figure or crime victim. prevalent throughout Scorcese's "Goodfellas" (the restaurant scene especially) 

2. Power struggles and conflict with law figures, competitive colleagues, rival gangs, etc. ace (DeNiro) with his power conflict with Nicky (Pesci) 

3. Usually set in large cities to provide a view of the world of a criminal, usually providing a view of their accumulated wealth. depicted in almost every gangster film I've watched, especially De Palma's Scarface. 

4. Main characters are usually materialistic, immoral, self-destructive but smart, evading the police and their rivals. a great example of this being, Narcos, where the main character, Pablo Escobar fights to escape the law with all of his power. 

5. A rise to power while showing an ambitious desire for success and recognition usually because of their upbringing. (pursuit of wealth)