Originally posted by Machiavelli:
In the book, The Godfather, Don Corleone bullies union members. He believes that monopoly is efficient. So let's face it, Don Corleone is a degenerate slime of the first class.
Since he seem to have no regard for the law or for values, why do we all love him so much?
I think that Puzo makes us love him and his family with several strokes of genius. we think of Don Corleone as a modern day Zorro or Robin Hood. And we are fascinated by the imply power of the Don when he camly tells his godson that he would get what he want.
Then later in the book Puzo shows us that Don Corleone has limits even in his illegal activities: He would not deal drugs under any circumstance. Then the only favor he asks Bonasera in return is, him, Bonasera, fixing his dead son so he would look good for his mother. These little details can only make us love a man even if he's a criminal.
What do you think? What were the tricks used by Puzo that made you love his characters or even dream about being a Don?
Yes Puzo was very clever at making us take the characters to heart. Showing the family scenes around the table and the love they all have for each other. The film to me is more a study of family and the disintegreation of it than an out and out mobster film.
We think the characters are not all bad because of the morals they hold in other areas of life like for family or Vitos reluctance to enter the drug trade. Hell,I even ended up feeling sorry for Michael who was a right bad ass underneath the nice college boy exterior.
Puzo is a genius
Tho I have seen it wrote some people thought by doing this he glamorized the mafia style and made it not so much a black life as a varying shade of grey
FH
