1st Draft

Hollywood and the glamorization of crime 

Hollywood has been the go to place if you would want to become a movie star and to help influence the masses through roles the actors play, But what if the role in films create devastating after effects unforeseen by most people except the executives and the writers in Hollywood. This essay is created to help shed light on the dark truth of crime inspired by films such as Natural Born Killers and Goodfellas. 

Firstly, Hollywood help inspire killers and potential killers due to the creation of films such as Natural Born Killers (Natural Born Killers, 1997). The reason for me mentioning the film Natural Born Killers is that it has inspired a devastating school shooting in columbine high school in columbine, Colorado. This school shooting was committed by two high schoolers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold who were bullied and abused by their fellow students Just like in Natural Born killers where The character Mallory Wilson Killed her abusive father  due to the years of tournament she received from him and took her revenge by killing him. The way Hollywood help inspire both Dylan and Eric to commit such a heinous act is that as Mallory took revenge on killing her father the boys took their revenge on the entirety of columbine high school. 

Relating to the columbine shooting and natural born killers is a recent murder trial in the UK that was inspired by both films and the events in columbine. In 2018 two boys wanted to kill both students and teachers at a school in Northallerton, North Yorkshire. During the court case an ex-girlfriend of one of the boys said that he was going to go full “NBK” (BBC News, 2018) as reference to Natural Born Killers.  Later in the case it was stated “The boy was described by the prosecution as an outcast who wanted to make society pay and that his Instagram page had been removed after he posted images of dead babies and suicides” (BBC News, 2018). The article goes on to state that the boy was an outcast who wanted to make society pay. This relates to how both Eric and Dylan wanted to make their fellow students pay in the same way as this boy from Yorkshire, it was also presented that these boys idolized Both Eric and Dylan “In the interview the girl said before he recruited his co-accused he wanted her to be his Dylan Klebold and saw himself as Eric Harris”. This quote stated in this interview presents that if the boys idolized Eric and Dylan that means they idolized everything they believed in, such as that society had to pay and the way they planned on committing these acts of violence is by following Natural Born Killers example that Hollywood helped to create. 

The subject of the film Natural Born Killers has been given criticism for the events that take place in the film such as murder, robbery and rape and because of these events of the film it has inspired a few copycat killers in the 26 years it has been released. One such example Is the murder of Paul Savage and Patsy Buyers by 2 copycat killers Sarah Edmondson and Benjamin James Darras the important events that lead to these murders is that they are both linked with the viewing of Natural Born Killers. 

Before Sarah Edmonson and Benjamin Darras Committed these copycat killings it was found that beforehand   they had it was revealed that they “had prepared for the trip by dropping acid and screening Natural Born Killers on a continuous loop throughout the night.”. 

The significance of this quote has helped reveal that for one they had prepared for the murders, 2 it is now known that they had taken acid which has been known for making people “hear and experience the world in a different, "trippy" way. Colors may become intensified and sounds distorted.” (nhs. , 2017) even If both Sarah and Benjamin only took a small dose it still would cause hallucinations and irrational thinking as there brain would be experiencing the world in a different way but the key factor is that they watched Natural Born Killers on a loop for hours on end while on the influence of hallucinogens that helped them commit the murders stated before.  

This article helps state the obvious hand that Hollywood helped play in these murders as it helped them style there murders of the acts written and scripted by executives and writers in Hollywood presented by a film published and shot in Hollywood then released to the masses by Hollywood. 

The theory that was created to prove events such as the copycat killings of NBK. Its called Social Learning Theory, this theory uses 4 factors: Attention, Repetition, Reproduction and Motivation (Mcleod, 2016). Each of these have hold in copycat killers such as in the columbine shooting when after they paid attention to the film Natural Born Killers they started to repeat and reproduce scenes from the film in their own personal films then with them being bullied at school by the jocks they had motivation to conduct their shooting. Even if Hollywood didn’t implant this theory intentionally, they helped imply it by glamourising serial killers in Natural Born Killers. 

Secondly, the American mafia has been represented as mostly Italians that are both crazy and respectable in their own ways as presented in films such as The Godfather and Especially GoodFellas. 

 "The two major stereotypes regarding Italian Americans are that this group is inextricably linked to the Mafia and that Italians are fun-loving buffoons" (Gesualdi, n.d.)  

This quote represents the stereotypes of the culture that helped create the organized crime genre in American film and tv as some of the most popular films that include the American mafia are mainly represented from the Italian-American side of the spectrum such as in the Godfather in 1972 (Coppola,1872) , the godfather in the actual film is represented as a very sensible, wise and respectable character that takes care of both his family and his community even though he is shot during the film he stays respectable after the fact and not acting irrational and taking revenge on his attackers. 

Whereas in films such as Goodfellas the Mafia presented in this film are as referenced in the quote “fun-loving buffoons" (Gesualdi, n.d.) and are not as honorable as their godfather counterparts as the main character in this film Henry Hill is a real mobster who got out of the life by going  into witness protection. In this film it also shown that the Italian American mafia as not as honorable as it is represented in The Godfather as during Goodfellas They are shown to beat their wives steal and kill on a whim and act out in revenge if they are threatened or angered at someone or something. 

The difference in representation from both The Godfather and Goodfellas is drastic and due to Hollywood glamourizing both of the different representations of the Mob it has helped create a sort of idealization of these criminals such as a fellow mobster from the Chicago Outfit of the mob Alphonse Gabriel Capone or more abbreviated Al Capone or Scarface who became famous for the ST valentine's day massacre where seven of his rivals were gunned down in broad daylight and due to this event it has helped give birth to the rise of mobster films from Hollywood such as The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, 1967) 

The life of an American mobster has been glamourized and fictionalized from the real-life events that are being replicated in the films created by Hollywood. 

An example of the glamorization that was created from the mob comes from an ex mob boss of the Columbo crime family and he is called Michael Franzese. He has been arrested for a Gasoline racket he ran under the family with cooperation with the Russian mafia. (Michael Franzese on Joining Mafia, Stealing Millions, John Gotti, Michael Jordan, 2019), (Michael Franzese on 'The Irishman', Chin Gigante, Sammy the Bull, Rudy Giuliani, 2020) 

He ended up leaving “the life” after a stent in prison in 1991-1995 after becoming a born again Christian and ended up retiring from the Colombo family after being released from prison in 1995. Since then he has done public speaking, inmate rehabilitation programs and he has done interviews to help explain what he did during his mob life but has never became a witness for the federal government and has never snitched on any of his colleagues but during some of these he's helped debunk a few mob films that were created by Hollywood. 

In an Interview for the YouTube channel INSIDER. In this interview he was shown scenes from several famous mobster films such as Goodfellas, The Godfather and The ST valentine's day massacre, He used his knowledge of the mobster world to show what has been left out of these glorified films. 

During this video he was shown a scene from the film goodfellas where the mobster henry hill was shown as a relevant man in the mobster family showing that in this bar, he was shown in the film as being a popular person. In this scene a few feared and famous mobsters where shown including Michael Franzese who was being played by the actor Joseph Bono. 

Franzese ended up exposing what Henry was really like compared to the glorified version shown in the film. What Hollywood did to the persona of henry hill was that he was made much more powerful and popular then he really was Franzese revealed that Henry was weaker and not as powerful as he was presented, he further went on to say that one of the factors that the film got right was Henrys drug problem.  

With this revelation it could also be presumed that Hollywood tried to cover up Henrys real problems by making him more powerful and dangerous than he really was, by Glamourizing him. 

By glamourizing him Hollywood have indirectly inspired members of their audience to contemplate joining or getting involved with “the life” by showing the “wealth” and the glamorous side of the life it has made those who wish for power find a way to grasp it. 

In conclusion due to the information presented in this essay and the question of “Hollywood and the glamorization of crime" has been proven true as through the examples of films such as Natural Born Killers and Goodfellas. As presented previously Natural born killers was exposed to the public by Hollywood and not thinking of what could happen if people saw this horrific acts committed in this film and now because of the social Learning theory producers and writers can now tailor films to get a certain reaction from the public even though they might not get the reaction they wanted such as past buyers and William savages murder. Hollywood can still be lead as accountable for these crimes committed due to their hand in the creation of the films listed in this essay. 

References 

BBC News. (2018). Boy wanted to be 'natural born killer'. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-44006542 [Accessed 2 Mar. 2020]. 

IMDb. (2020). Hoffa (1992) - IMDb. [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104427/ [Accessed 2 Mar. 2020]. 

Mcleod, S. (2016). Albert Bandura | Social Learning Theory | Simply Psychology. [online] Simplypsychology.org. Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html [Accessed 5 Mar. 2020]. 

Michael Franzese on Joining Mafia, Stealing Millions, John Gotti, Michael Jordan. (2019). [video] Youtube. 

Michael Franzese on 'The Irishman', Chin Gigante, Sammy the Bull, Rudy Giuliani. (2020). [video] Youtube. 

Natural Born Killers. (1997). [film] Directed by O. Stone. United States of America: Warner Bros. 

The St Valentines Day Massacre. (1967). [film] Directed by R. Corman. Hollywood: Los Altos. 

MY EVALUATION OF DRAFT 1 

I thought that my first draft was good in a first draft standpoint.

The reason I thought it was good was due to the techniques I have used such as the Harvard referencing system and the essay structure system that contained an Introduction, the main content that contained a PEE format within the paragraphs that helps explain the quotes and the sources I have presented within this dissertation. It also included a conclusion that should've answered the question Hollywood and the Glamorisation of crime, I also wrote the dissertation in third person as I didn’t want to put any personal beliefs in the dissertation I just wanted to focus on the facts which I reference at the end of the essay as well as through the quotes I have used. 

Below that I have also listed the sources I have used in the Harvard referencing system I also used the in-text format that will help improve my referencing for my eventual final draft. The sources I have used include Books, Articles, news websites and YouTube interviews. 

What I could work on for my next draft is the use of Grammar and punctuation as well as the use of more educational journals and the of more books that could help back up my ideas. The question did evolve a few times within writing this first draft but overall, the title I ended up with is the title I want to keep for my final draft as I have found and have been given relevant sources and information towards this question. 

The best part about the title is that I can attack it from anyway I want but in this draft in have chosen 3 sides NBK, the Italian/American mafia and the social learning theory. These 3 points are good in my opinion as I have plentiful information and academic sources. But I want to try and extend it further as it can help the dissertation overall. 

In conclusion I think that as a first draft I think it is pretty good yeah there's mistakes here and there, but they are easily fixable I plan to get feedback by my fellow peers and improve on any sections that is needed to be done.